MLB and MLBPA Resume Bargaining Talks Ahead of Schedule

Though many are still worried about upcoming labor unrest, the MLB and the MLBPA are set to begin bargaining talks well ahead of their official deadline.

The two parties have agreed to sit down with each other a great deal of time prior to the end of the current collective bargaining agreement, which doesn't expire until the conclusion of the 2021 season.

It's surprsing simply because tensions between the two have been so high, especially in recent months.

Just this offseason, both sides were at odds over the state of the free agent market and the types of contracts that were being doled out, taking pot shots at each other's actions.

The players argued that they were being devalued by an increasingly analytically-inclined baseball landscape that placed emphasis on sabermetric stats rather than the numbers that appear in the box score.

The war of words between MLBPA executive director Tony Clark and the league made it seem as though we were destined for a lockout.

Now, though, they're at the negotiating table. It's encouraging that both the league and the Players Association seem eager to discuss the situation at hand. Hopefully, the talks are productive and can bring about labor peace.