MLB, players finalize collective bargaining deal through ’26

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball and the players’ association finalized their collective bargaining agreement through the 2026 season on Tuesday, 14 months after reaching a memorandum of understanding for a deal that ended a 99-day lockout.

The agreement, which expires at 11:59 p.m. EST on Dec. 1, 2026, runs 426 pages, up from 359 in the deal that ended on Dec. 1, 2021. The initial agreement in 1968 was 23 pages.

This year’s agreement took nearly twice as long to draft and finalize as the 2016-21 deal, which needed seven months, 29 days.

MLB and the union failed to draft a final agreement after their 1985 strike settlement, operating through 1989 on their 1980 collective bargaining agreement as modified by their 1981 strike settlement and the 1985 memorandum of understanding.

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