Could Baseball’s Strike-less Period End Soon?

For the past 25 years, baseball has gone through some struggles from the steroid era to the now declining attendance numbers. But the one thing that has not happened in this time period is a work stoppage; baseball has avoided a strike since the beginning of the 1995 season, which is a longer streak than any of the other 3 major North American sports. It is also the longest amount of time that baseball has gone without a work stoppage since the first lockout in 1972. But this could come to an end soon, with baseball’s CBA ending at the end of the 2021 season. Over the past few seasons, there has been a ton of tension between the players and the owners, mainly due to money. 

The top players are still making their money, but older players are not. Owners have been way more reluctant to give out long and high cost deals to players over the age of 30. Players have become frustrated with this process, because it takes six or seven full seasons to finally reach free agency. Many players do not reach free agency until they are in their late twenties or in their thirties. This has been a major source of anger from the players, because players believe that they are underpaid for their work. During the first seven years of a player’s career, they have three seasons of pre arbitration (where they get paid league minimum), and four years of arbitration (where they receive a salary based on their stats). That means that a player could go seven full years before they truly get the amount of money they deserve. 

This is where the tension begins. Owners stopped paying for what players did in the past and start looking at what they could do in the future. They saw players in their 30s and became concerned that they could grow old quickly. This meant that players did not get the money they deserved in their 20s (because the system was created so they would get paid later), and they are not getting paid in their 30s because the owners see the potential decline. This will definitely be the main discussion at the next CBA, and if it cannot be resolved, there will be a work stoppage. With the amount of frustration from the players, it’s easy to imagine a situation where they go on strike to change the way arbitration works.