After what felt like an eternity, the Major League Baseball Lockout has finally ended, and we can play ball again. Baseball fans will be relieved to know that teams will play all 162 games this season. Let’s dive in on what took place during the lockout and how they ended up figuring out a way to get a deal done.

A couple of McQuaid teachers and students also had opinions about the ending of the MLB Lockout and how it affected the game of baseball.

Raymond Warth ‘23 explains why he thinks that this free agency will be the most hectic and craziest free agency period in MLB history.

“I think free agency is going to be an absolute free-for-all; in free agency it’s normally who can play their cards right and not give out deals too quick. It’s usually a waiting game. Now it’s just going to be a full sprint. Whoever gives out the best deal will get the best players, and I think that it will be a lot of fun,” Warth said.

The lockout has had a small effect on baseball because we’re getting all 162 games we’re playing baseball again. Baseball has been on the decline for a couple of years due the fact that the league has tried to “dumb” down the game to make for watchable to the casual fan.

The problem is that baseball is the hardest sport to get into (with the exception of soccer, perhaps).  People who don’t already love it can’t watch a game where there might not be any scoring until the 7th, 8th, sometimes 9th inning. What baseball needs to do is make it the best sport it can be for the fans who are already watching and loving the sport.

With the lockout happening in December, it paused free agency and players could not meet with teams for months. Once the lockout ended, free agents were once again on the market all at once. Teams frantically tried to extend offers in an attempt to get players to sign with them.

Usually teams will have time to get offers that they want, and it creates a chance to negotiate. Now teams have to give the best offers immediately and probably over pay for players that they could normally have time to negotiate with for a better contract for the team.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has been the most criticized person during the lockout because of how he has handled the negotiations. Smiling during the press conference and practicing his golf swing as the season was on the verge of ending was not a good look.

McQuaid social studies teacher Mr. Richard Bott said that Manfred was not the only problem with the negotiations.

“Manfred and the owners struck first with the lockout, but then both sides dropped the ball by waiting almost three months to really begin negotiations. I know that was a strategy of Management, but in the end it hurt the image of the game,” Mr. Bott said.

The players should definitely take some heat for the negotiation process. The fact that they had three months to negotiate and waited until weeks before the season started was inexcusable.

Even with all these problems, the fans still won in the end. We get a full season of baseball without any problems.