SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Roughly a month after the Los Angeles Dodgers finished a scintillating seven-game World Series triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Major League Baseball Players’ Association gathered in Arizona this week to discuss the future of the game and look ahead to a possible lockout next December.
Japanese stars headed by Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have sparked record international interest, in-game attendance was up in 2025 for the third straight season, and a set of rule changes that began in 2023 has produced a faster-paced game that’s been widely lauded.
High-priced stars
But the big-spending nature of the $500 million Dodgers — who were led by high-priced stars like Ohtani, Yamamoto. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman — highlighted baseball’s payroll disparity as the MLBPA prepares for a potentially contentious. Round of labor negotiations leading to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement next Dec. 1.
Union head Tony Clark said formal bargaining will likely begin in the spring, consistent with previous negotiations.
“As an organization, you start preparing for the next round of bargaining as soon as the ink is dry on the previous one,” Clark said Thursday. “You’re constantly assessing the system, you’re assessing how it is that teams and players are responding to the system.
“A year away, you’re really drilling down on what that looks like.”
The eight-person executive subcommittee consists of 2025 Cy Young Award winners Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal. Along with veterans Chris Bassitt, Jake Cronenworth, Pete Fairbanks, Cedric Mullins, Marcus Semien and Brent Suter.
There are also 30 player reps — one for each team.
“We have an outstanding group of player leaders,” Clark said. “We are better and stronger as an organization when players engage one another and are educated on the issues. Have that. It’s something we’re grateful for and something historically our organization has always had.”
Clark said the MLBPA’s main focus continues to be centered on a few large issues heading into bargaining. One is finding more ways to encourage all 30 teams to spend on the free-agent market to make teams as competitive as possible.
While the Dodgers have spent roughly $890 million over the past two years building back-to-back World Series champions. The Athletics have committed than $150 million over the same period. MLB is the only major U.S.-based professional sports league without a salary cap.
The players’ association is bracing to resist a renewed push for a cap. Demand for a cap from owners is what led to a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 and the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years.
Thirty years later, scars from that experience still remain. Clark made his MLB debut with the Detroit Tigers in 1995.
“Knowing that there are teams who have the wherewithal to compete, that choose not to and how that affects the industry,” Clark said. “In an industry where not all 30 teams are committed to that, what does that mean? Are there things that we can do to address those concerns? There are.”
The other major issue is that the MLBPA would like to see more ways for younger players to be paid in a way that’s more consistent with their on-field value. Most players are eligible for salary arbitration after three years of MLB service time and can be free agents after six years.
The union made some gains in compensating younger players in the last round of bargaining. The minimum salary jumped to $700,000 in 2022 and will be $780,000 next year. And a $50 million annual pool was established for pre-arbitration-eligible players.
Clark has no update on OneTeam Partners probe
Clark said he did not have any new information to offer about an ongoing federal investigation into OneTeam Partners, a licensing company the union founded with the NFL Players Association.
The company has grown in recent years, working with other unions that represent players in the WNBA, men’s and women’s soccer, and college sports.
“We continue to cooperate fully,” Clark said. “We don’t know the timing, we don’t know when it may wrap. But as they ask questions and are interested in information, we answer the questions and provide them information. That’s not going to change.”
(AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.)
