MLBPA’s Tony Clark expects work stoppage after league’s CBA expires next year

Although the current collective bargaining agreement for Major League Baseball does not expire until Dec. 2026, there are already rumblings that another lockout is on the horizon. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred recently called a lockout “actually a positive,” which is a bizarre statement if you’re anyone other than the league’s owners or their representative, which, of course, Manfred is.

On Friday, MLB Players Association chief Tony Clark admitted the players’ union is expecting once the CBA expires in Dec. 2026. Here’s what Clarke said Friday (via Sportico):

“Unless I am mistaken the league has come out and said there’s going to be a work stoppage,” Tony Clark, the union’s executive director, said Friday morning to a few members of the media after meeting with the San Francisco Giants players at Scottsdale Stadium. “So, I don’t think I’m speaking out of school in that regard.”

Earlier this month, Manfred toned down the lockout rhetic a bit, saying he was not “going to speculate how we’re going to negotiate” and that “frankly I owe it to our fans not to get into this too early” at the outset of spring training.

Salary cap talks happen every CBA negotiation cycle and they’ve already begun, with Orioles owner David Rubenstein among those expressing support for a cap. Typically, each side begins making public statements about their goals one year before the CBA expires. This time, they’ve started two years in advance, perhaps indicating a fierce labor battle is coming.

The 2021-22 offseason lockout did not cost any regular-season games, though, at 99 days, it was the longest work stoppage in MLB history. The eight other work stoppages in MLB history occurred between 1973-95. The 2021-22 lockout ended a 26-year stretch without a work stoppage, though it would be a stretch to call it 26 years of labor “peace.” CBA negotiations during those 26 years certainly grew contentious at times.