MLB meets with union as salary cap, lockout talk swirls: Source

LAS VEGAS — They’re not bargaining yet, but at least for a day, they were talking.

As the baseball industry braces for the potential of another lockout after the 2026 season, Major League Baseball and the Players Association recently held a meeting to discuss the sport’s labor issues, according to people briefed on the discussion but not authorized to speak publicly.

Lead negotiators Dan Halem for MLB and Bruce Meyer for the MLBPA both participated, the source told The Athletic.

The collective bargaining agreement expires after next season, at 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1, 2026. MLB owners are expected to push for a salary cap, which players have long opposed.

Preliminary meetings are not unusual ahead of formal negotiations, which will likely not begin until the spring. In advance discussions, the sides typically share their overall views of the game and its economics. Unsurprisingly, the players and owners do not share the same perspective at this point, sources said.

Both the union and the league have been preparing for the upcoming negotiations. When the annual general managers’ meetings wrap this week in Las Vegas, the MLBPA’s annual agent meetings will begin.

Then, next week in New York, MLB’s owners will convene for their regular November meeting, where they will discuss their bargaining approach. The MLBPA next month has its annual executive board meeting.

The owners locked out the players when the last CBA expired in December 2021, creating the first MLB work stoppage since a 232-day strike in 1995. No regular-season games were missed during the 2022 season, however. A deal came together with just enough time on the calendar that a full 162-game slate was still viable.