Will labor talks overshadow play on the 2026 diamond?

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla – With about five weeks until pitchers and catchers report to spring training, teams are scrambling to finalize rosters and lock in free agents.

That’s the easy part.

While the business of fielding a competitive team continues, the business of doing business in a financially sound environment looms significant. That’s because the present agreement between MLB players and ownership expires this coming Dec 1 and, if not settled, a lockout will likely occur. It’s a result that hardly benefits either party.

That would cancel the 2026 winter meetings, scheduled for San Diego, and place the 2027 and possible subsequent seasons in jeopardy.

Neither the players nor the owners think that’s a good idea. After all, players are reaping huge contracts and owners enjoyed a record $12.1 billion, according to Forbes, in revenue for 2025.

At the winter meetings last month in Orlando, neither side mentioned the ongoing negotiations and the effect on the game. Instead, baseball personnel discussed the usual and prevailing circumstances, such as improving segments of their individual teams and how “to get better,” as Erik Neander, president of baseball operations for the Tampa Bay Rays, repeatedly told reporters during the three-day session.

Since the last work stoppage during the 1995 season, efforts to address a widening economic fracture between players and owners commenced. That resulted in an initial luxury tax and designed to create a more even economic playing field.

In recent years, the gap has become a canyon, and now, with the current agreement about to expire after the 2026 season, there appears to be little sense of urgency to address the issue.

At least, immediately.

One possible resolution is a salary cap and that has been constantly resisted by the players. Major League Baseball is the only major team sport in North America without a salary cap, and Tony Clarke, president of the players’ union, has decried its existence.

“A cap is not about a partnership. A cap isn’t about growing the game,” Clark told the Associated Press in a July, 2025 interview. “A cap is about franchise values and profits. A salary cap historically has limited contract guarantees associated with it, literally pits one player against another and is often what we share with players as the definitive non-competitive system. It doesn’t reward excellence. It undermines it from an organizational standpoint. That’s why this is not about competitive balance. It’s not about fair versus not. This is institutionalized collusion.”

At the same time, it’s likely the owners would like some type of relief from exorbitant contracts.

In recent years, player demands have skyrocketed.

The top five leading contracts in history, all within the past few years, start with Juan Soto signing a 15-year deal with the New York Mets for $765 million, That follows in order with Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers) 10-years, $700; Aaron Judge (NY Yankees) nine years, $360 million; Bryce Harper (Phillies) 13-years for $330 million and Corey Seager (Texas), a 10-year deal for $325 million.

Still on the free agent market for the coming season are Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, and Bo Bichette.

Another issue gaining attention is the potential for an international draft.

Presently, international players make known their intentions to sign with a major league team, and the bidding war commences. Similar to the draft of high school and college players each June and the Rule 5 draft at the winter meetings, an international draft would attempt to make competitive players available to smaller market teams and those clubs with less revenue.

Talks between the players and owners are not likely to gain traction until at least the start of spring training. Then again, reading the tea leaves would be challenging.

The first comments could be generated within the next month, and that’s when players gather at their respective spring training headquarters.

Relative to the player participation, there are eight who sit on the executive board of a 38-member board, including Paul Skenes of the Pirates, Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, Jake Cronenworth of the Padres, Peter Fairbanks of the Marlins and Cedric Mullins of the Rays.

The post Will labor talks overshadow play on the 2026 diamond? first appeared on Through The Fence Baseball.

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