After three months of negotiations, Major League Baseball and the Players Association (MLBPA) agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to end the lockout and put the 2022 regular season back on track and have each team play all 162 games.
Although the Los Angeles Dodgers were originally scheduled to open their season on March 31 against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium, MLB postponed three series for each club due to the lockout.
Now the Dodgers are scheduled to play their season opener on the road as they face the Rockies at Coors Field on April 8, with first pitch set for 1:10 p.m. PT. It marks a second consecutive season the Dodgers played a road game against the Rockies for Opening Day.
While the Dodgers don’t begin their season until April 8, 16 teams will play their season opener on April 7, which is considered Opening Day of the 2022 schedule.
The home opener at Dodger Stadium is scheduled to be played on April 14 against the Cincinnati Reds, with the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s MLB debut the following night.
Along with their previously scheduled Opening Series with the Rockies (March 31-April 3) that was postponed, games against the Arizona Diamondbacks (April 4-6) and Minnesota Twins (April 12-13) were also removed from the 2022 Dodgers schedule.
L.A. will need to play doubleheaders and have the aforementioned games rescheduled in order to get all 162 in. Doubleheaders will be full games rather than shortened to seven innings like in prior years.
Players are scheduled to report to Spring Training by Sunday, with games expected to begin March 18.
How key CBA changes affect MLB and the Dodgers
The key issues throughout CBA negotiations were economic matters, such as the luxury tax thresholds and accompanying penalties, minimum starting salary, pre-arbitration bonus pool, and percentage of players that would qualify for Super Two status, but rule changes were also debated by the two sides.
Through months of negotiations, MLB and the union finally agreed to set CBT lines at $230 million, $233 million, $237 million, $241 million and $244 million. With that came a fourth surcharge level for clubs that exceed the threshold by $60 million or more.
At present time the Dodgers are projected to have a payroll in the neighborhood of $235 million for the 2022 season. They exceeded the luxury tax threshold in 2021 and would face repeater penalties if remaining above it this season.
Among other CBA changes are the pre-arbitration bonus pool being set at $50 million, expanded postseason will be 12 teams, MLB Draft is 20 rounds, players can be optioned to the Minors a maximum of five times per season and implementing a universal designated hitter.
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