After weeks of empty stands, unused fields, and refunded tickets, baseball season will resume on April 7. The lack of Major League Baseball (MLB) games had fans upset, yet many are still unsure on why there was inactivity in the first place.

The  lockout occurred when the owners of multiple baseball teams refused to continue with any practices or games in order to pressure the Chief Operating Officer to issue a higher pay cut-off. Currently, if a team spends more than 210 million dollars collectively on player salaries, the owners are taxed. The MLB wants to expand this limit to 220 million dollars for the next three years, whereas the Major League Baseball Player Association (MLBPA) wants to raise it to 238 million dollars, expanding to 250 million dollars by 2024.

“I do not think the MLB players should get a raise. They already make enough money, and they will get paid no matter what,” Riley Seers, freshman, said.

The major league “higher powers” want the format of the annual amateur draft changed, which determines the high school athletes that will be admitted into the major leagues. The MLB encourages adopting the National Basketball Association (NBA) weighted draft lottery, and the MLBPA is set on expanding the number of teams in the lottery to seven instead of six in order to discourage tanking, the process where a team purposely loses games to set itself up for a better draft pick.

“The MLB draft teams should definitely change because they basically cheat all the time, the owners should have changed the number a long time ago,” Jaime Herrara, sophomore, said.

After a three month wait, on March 10, the MLB and MLBPA reached a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), stating that the salary cut-off will now be starting at 230 million dollars and increase to 244 million dollars by 2026. The number of teams that are in the MLB draft lottery will continue to consist of six teams.

“I am relieved and excited to hear the news about the return of MLB, considering everyone has been waiting patiently for the end of the lockout,” Alex Kirby, senior, said.

As the lockout has finally ended, players are able to practice, and games will begin as soon as April 7. One can find an updated schedule of all baseball games here.