MLB’s current 2022-26 CBA cycle is notably different in how this one is "playing out than the last," as the players are “not criticizing the league as publicly or as often as they did last go-around,” according to Evan Drellich of THE ATHLETIC. Drellich notes the sides are not “taking shots at each other left and right.” MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark confirmed as much, saying, the landscape is “quieter” and the industry is “seemingly in a different place.” This upcoming season will be the third year of the current deal. Last time during the third season, something “unprecedented happened: The sides briefly held midterm bargaining talks.” Those discussions did “not go well or last long,” and a lot more “acrimony followed during the pandemic.” But the CBA that "came out of those clashes," the one “now in place, has served players better than the last.” Clark: “Some of the progress that we made, in the areas that we made, we believe are having a positive effect -- not just on players and teams, but the industry as a whole.” The Opening Day average salary in 2023 “surpassed” $5M for the “first time in the sport’s history,” which was $4.71M in 2022 and $4.27M in 2021. Drellich noted a record nine teams “might wind up above the first luxury-tax tier for 2023” once final calculations are done this month. There were “six such teams last year, two in 2021.” But Drellich wrote relative quiet should "not be confused for peace and bliss,” as there are “always clouds.” Drellich: “No one dares disturb the sound of silence, but all involved can clearly hear it” (THE ATHLETIC, 12/1).
