The 2025 MLB season is complete and the Dodgers are World Series champions. They came back to defeat the Blue Jays in seven games to clinch the franchise’s ninth championship. Either the Blue Jays were going to win their first World Series since their back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993, or the Dodgers were going to become baseball’s first repeat champion since the 1998-2000 Yankees. Something that hadn’t happened in a long time was going to happen either way, and it went L.A’s way.
With the World Series now complete, the 2025-26 offseason has officially begun, and several significant events are right around the corner. Here are the important dates and deadlines for the coming weeks and months.
Nov. 2: Players become free agents, trading resumes
As of 9 a.m. ET on Sunday, eligible players (i.e. those with at least six years of service time) are free agents. Free agents cannot sign with new teams just yet. They have to wait five days for that. The first five days of the offseason are an exclusive negotiating period during which free agents can only talk money with their most recent team. Very few players re-sign during the exclusive negotiating period. Edwin Díaz three years ago is by far the most notable in recent memory. Once players get this close to free agency, they typically test the market. Trades involved 40-man roster players resume on this day as well for the first time since the summer’s trade deadline.
Nov. 2: Gold Glove winners announced
This year’s Gold Glove winners will be announced during an ESPN broadcast at 8:30 p.m. ET. The Chicago Cubs (six) and Blue Jays (six) lead all teams for finalists. In addition to the nine individual positions in each league, there is also a utility Gold Glove and a team Gold Glove.
Nov. 6: Contract option decisions
Most contract option decisions are due on this date. Some contracts specify a different date (the Yankees had to make a decision on Zack Britton’s 2022 club option in November 2020, for example), but the vast majority have to be made within five days of the end of the World Series. Club options are controlled by the team, player options and opt-outs are controlled by the player, and mutual options are kind of pointless. They’re a way to shift money to the next year’s payroll more than anything.
Some option decisions are no-brainers, like Pete Alonso opting out of his $24 million salary with the Mets or the Brewers picking up their $8 million club option for Freddy Peralta. This offseason’s notable contract option decisions include Alex Bregman (can opt out of remaining two years and $80 million) and Max Muncy ($10 million club option).
Nov. 6: Deadline to make the qualifying offer
The qualifying offer is a one-year contract worth the average of the top 125 salaries, or $22.025 million this offseason, according to the Associated Press. To be eligible for the qualifying offer, a free agent must have spent the entire 2025 season with one team and have never received the QO previously. The Blue Jays can make Bo Bichette the qualifying offer, but the Mariners cannot do the same with Eugenio Suárez because he was traded at midseason.
Nov. 6: Free agency begins
The five-day exclusive negotiating period ends and free agents are truly free. They can negotiate and sign with any team as of this date. That said, much like the regular season, MLB’s free agency is a marathon, not a sprint. We (probably) won’t see a rush of signings on Day 1 because MLB is not a salary-capped league, and free agents aren’t worried about getting left out in the cold when cap space runs out.
Nov. 6-7: Silver Sluggers announced
If Silver Sluggers are your thing, these are the dates for you. And yes, that’s dates, plural. It’s a two-day announcement now. NL Silver Sluggers on Nov. 6, AL Silver Sluggers on Nov. 7. Three years ago a utility player Silver Slugger was added, then two years ago MLB and Louisville debuted a team Silver Slugger. Finalists include Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Schwarber, Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cal Raleigh, and Aaron Judge.
Nov. 10-13: Awards week
That is Rookies of the Year on Monday, Managers of the Year on Tuesday, Cy Youngs on Wednesday, and MVPs on Thursday. The awards will be announced during an MLB Network broadcast each day. Your CBS Sports staff already picked our winners. As a reminder, these are regular-season awards. Votes were cast before the postseason. The All-MLB Team, Comeback Players of the Year, and Relievers of the Year will also be announced on Nov. 13.
Nov. 11-13: GM Meetings in Las Vegas
Generally speaking, the GM Meetings are used to handle off-the-field matters like rule changes, but when you put all 30 GMs in one place, deals inevitably get discussed and sometimes completed. Jose Siri was traded from the Rays to the Mets at last year’s GM Meetings, for example. Also, the groundwork is often laid for trades that are completed at a later date.
Nov. 18: Qualifying offer decisions
The deadline for free agents to accept or reject the qualifying offer is 4 p.m. ET. Players who accept the qualifying offer sign that one-year, $22.025 million contract and remain with their team (and cannot be traded until June 15 without their consent). Free agents who reject the qualifying offer are attached to draft-pick compensation. Their former team receives a draft pick if they sign elsewhere, and their new team has to forfeit a draft pick (or multiple) and in some cases international bonus money. Kyle Tucker and Kyle Schwarber are among the free agents who will surely reject the qualifying offer and sign more lucrative contracts this offseason.
Nov. 18: Deadline to file reserve lists
That is a fancy way of saying this is the deadline for teams to add eligible minor leaguers to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. Generally speaking, college players drafted no later than 2022 and high school players drafted no later than 2021 are Rule 5 Draft eligible this winter, as are players signed internationally no later than 2021. Among the notable Rule 5 Draft eligible prospects this offseason are Phillies righty Andrew Painter and Yankees outfielder Spencer Jones. Those two and many others will be added to the 40-man roster on this date. It should be noted there are usually several minor trades in the days leading up to the Rule 5 Draft protection deadline as teams get their 40-man roster in order. Three years ago, the Rays traded Xavier Edwards to the Marlins at this deadline.
Nov. 18-20: Owners meetings in New York
The quarterly owners meetings cover big-picture business matters and are rarely a source of hot stove news or rumors. Two years ago, the owners voted on and approved the Athletics’ proposed relocation to Las Vegas at their November meetings. The collective bargaining agreement is set to expire after the 2026 season and negotiations with the MLB Players Association will begin soon. The November owners meetings will likely to be used to discuss strategy and plan out negotiations, etc.
Nov. 21: Non-tender deadline
This is the deadline for teams to offer their pre-arbitration and arbitration-eligible players a contract for 2026. Contracts do not have to be signed yet. An offer just has to be extended. Players who do not receive a contract offer before the deadline are considered “non-tendered” and immediately become free agents. Notable players are non-tendered every offseason as teams determine their salary outweighs their performance and the trade market turns up nothing worthwhile. Austin Hays and Kyle Finnegan were among the players non-tendered last offseason.
Early December: Competitive balance draft picks assigned
These are the extra draft picks given each year to teams that fall in the bottom 10 in revenue and/or market size. There is overlap between the two groups, so there are typically 14-15 competitive balance picks awarded each year, not 20. Competitive balance picks are MLB’s only tradeable draft picks. Last offseason, picks were included in the Gavin Lux and Josh Naylor trades.
Dec. 7: Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Baseball Committee results
The Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Baseball Committee voting results will be announced during an MLB Network broadcast. The Hall of Fame has restructured its veteran committee three times in the last 13 years and the Contemporary Baseball Committee considers “players who made their greatest impact on the game since 1980.” The eight-person ballot, which could include Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, will be revealed in November.
Dec. 7-10: Winter Meetings in Orlando
This is typically when all hot stove hell breaks loose. The Winter Meetings are the busiest period of the offseason and feature plenty of trades, free-agent signings, and rumors. It is three-plus days of nonstop hot stove action. Historically, the biggest moves of the offseason are completed at the Winter Meetings. GMs can talk face-to-face with agents and other GMs to get things done. Last year, Willy Adames, Max Fried, and Juan Soto signed during the Winter Meetings while Jake Burger, Garrett Crochet, and Andrés Giménez were among those traded.
Dec. 9: 2026 Draft lottery
In an effort to curb tanking, MLB and the MLBPA agreed to a lottery to determine the top six picks of the annual amateur draft as part of the current collective bargaining agreement. The 18 non-playoff teams each have a shot at the No. 1 pick, though the worst teams have the highest odds. Here are this year’s odds for the No. 1 selection in the 2026 draft (via MLB.com):
Teams that pay into revenue sharing cannot select in the lottery in back-to-back years, so the Nationals (No. 1 pick in 2025) and Angels (No. 2 pick) are not eligible for the lottery this year. The Rockies, meanwhile, cannot get a lottery pick this year because teams that receive revenue sharing can not pick in the lottery in three consecutive years. They had the No. 3 pick in 2024 and the No. 4 pick in 2025. The Angels, Nationals, and Rockies cannot pick higher than No. 10 overall in 2026.
The lottery determines the top six draft picks. Picks 7-18 are the remaining non-playoff teams in reverse order of the standings. Picks 19-30 are the 12 postseason teams ordered by their finish, with the Wild Card Series losers coming first and the World Series winner picking last. The lottery will be broadcast on MLB Network.
Dec. 10: Rule 5 Draft
By rule, players selected in the Rule 5 Draft must remain on their new team’s MLB roster all season in 2026, otherwise they must go through waivers and be offered back to their original team. Teams don’t often find difference-makers in the Rule 5 Draft. They usually look for middle relievers, platoon bats, and lottery tickets. Most Rule 5 Draft picks don’t stick and wind up back with their original team. Last offseason’s notable Rule 5 Draft selection was White Sox righty Shane Smith, who was selected from the Brewers and went to the All-Star Game.
Jan. 9: Arbitration filing deadline
This is the deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to submit salary figures for 2026. The player files what he believes he should be paid while the team files what it believes the player should be paid. This date is only the filing deadline and the two sides can still agree to a contract of any size even after filing salary figures. The vast majority of arbitration-eligible players agree to a contract before the filing deadline and avoid this headache. MLB Trade Rumors released their 2026 salary arbitration projections last month.
Jan. 15: International sign period opens
The 2026 international amateur signing period opens at 9 a.m. ET. The annual signing period used to run from July 2 to June 25, though MLB and the MLBPA agreed to push the start of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 signing periods back to the following January because of the pandemic, and now the January start is permanent and the signing period is neatly confined to a single calendar year. MLB Pipeline has a handy ranking of the top 50 international prospects for 2026. Last offseason, Roki Sasaki signed with the Dodgers shortly after the signing period opened.
Jan. 20: Hall of Fame class announced
The 2026 Hall of Fame class will be announced during a live MLB Network broadcast. The Hall of Fame ballot will be revealed in mid-to-late November, votes are compiled over the following weeks, then the results are announced in January. Newcomers to this year’s ballot include Cole Hamels and Ryan Braun. This is Manny Ramirez’s tenth and final year of eligibility. This is also Year 4 on the ballot for Carlos Beltrán, Year 5 on the ballot for Alex Rodriguez, and Year 9 for Andruw Jones. Among holdovers, Beltrán was the closest to getting in without actually getting in last year. He received 70.3% of the vote, just shy of the 75% needed for induction. Beltrán and Jones appear to have the best chance to get into the Hall of Fame this voting cycle.
Jan. 26 to Feb. 20: Arbitration hearings
Inevitably, a few arbitration-eligible players and their teams will be unable to come to terms on a contract, and wind up in front of an arbitration panel. Each side states their case — hearings can be contentious because the team will outline the player’s shortcomings and explain why he deserves a lower salary than he believes — and the three-person panel picks either the salary the player filed or the salary the team filed back on Jan. 9. Nothing in between. Again, teams and players can work out a contract of any size prior to a hearing, even after filing salary figures. Brendan Donovan, Nathaniel Lowe, and Lars Nootbaar were among the players to go to an arbitration hearing last offseason.
Mid-February: Spring training begins
Spring training camps open across Arizona and Florida in the middle of February. Each team sets their own reporting dates for pitchers and catchers and then position players, though they’ll all be up and running by the second full week of February. Cactus League and Grapefruit League exhibition games will begin roughly 10 days after pitchers and catchers report.
March 5-17: World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic returns next spring and the games will begin with Pool C in Tokyo on March 5. Pool A (Puerto Rico), Pool B (Houston), and Pool D (Miami) begin play on March 6. The WBC pools and schedule are already set. The Championship Game will played in Miami on March 17. Will we get an ending as classic as the Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout showdown in 2023? We can only hope.
March 25: Opening Day!
But only kind of. There is one game on the schedule March 25: Yankees vs. Giants at Oracle Park. That one Opening Night game will kick off the new season, then the other 28 teams will begin play with the traditional Opening Day on Thursday, March 26. We previously broke down everything you need to know about the schedule.