MLB CBA negotiations timeline: Where things stand as MLBPA proposes temporary roster size expansion
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- MLBPA proposed on July 1, 2026 expanding active rosters from 26 to 28 (14-pitcher max) for the first 15 days of the regular season, alongside procedural changes covering earlier 60-day IL placements, reduced optional assignments, Rule 5 Draft acceleration, and player access to club performance data.
- MLB on June 25 tied a package of free-agency changes to salary cap acceptance, including a 5-year maximum contract for players switching teams ($202 million cap value) and a new "Cornerstone Player" provision allowing 6-year deals up to $265 million for stars who stay put.
- MLB's prior cap proposal set a $245.3 million payroll ceiling and $171.2 million floor for 2027 — figures the union calls a "non-starter" that would "eliminate the free market" and pit players against each other.
- MLB offered the largest minimum salary hike in league history — $1 million for players with 2+ years of service and $900,000 for those with less — but explicitly conditioned it on union acceptance of the cap system.
- MLBPA separately proposed banning prop bets on individual players to preempt harassment, while asking that players be permitted to take paid endorsements with sportsbooks and prediction markets.
- MLB on June 18 proposed slashing the First-Year Player Draft from 20 to 12 rounds, instituting a $200 million hard-slot bonus pool, making high school players ineligible, and adding an international draft.
- Both sides are racing to finalize a deal before mid-March 2027, when failure to agree risks delaying or abbreviating the 2027 season for the first time since the 99-day lockout that opened the 2022 campaign.
Why it matters: Every MLB free-agent contract, minimum-salary check, and minor-league pathway flows from this CBA, and the owners' cap demand is the fight that could trigger the first work stoppage since the 2022 lockout. The union has publicly called the cap a non-starter, meaning the mid-March 2027 deadline — the trigger for delaying the 2027 season — is shaping up as the real negotiating pressure point for players earning the $780,000 minimum salary that MLB is offering to roughly double, but only if they accept the framework that caps everyone above them.