{"id":1504,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/1504","headline":"MLB offseason opens under shadow of looming lockout","dek":"Free agency officially begins November 2 at 5 p.m. ET, but the current CBA expires at midnight on December 1, raising questions about whether a deal gets done before a work stoppage.","body":"Baseball's offseason has officially begun, and for the second time in five years nobody is quite sure when spring, or the regular season, will actually arrive. The World Series is over, free agents filed Thursday morning, and teams now get a five-day window to negotiate with their own players before the open market starts.\n\nFree agency opens league-wide on November 2 at 5 p.m. ET. The bigger issue hanging over all of it is the current CBA between MLB and the players' union, which expires at midnight on December 1. That deadline has teams and agents watching the calendar closely, since a lockout would freeze most of the usual offseason business.\n\nEven with that cloud, expect plenty of activity in November, as some players and front offices may move with more urgency than usual to get deals finalized before the window closes. The free agent class includes plenty of notable names, with pitching depth highlighted by arms like Tarik Skubal among the best available.\n\nOne team sitting unusually quiet is the Mets, who had zero free agents of their own this offseason after trading or losing every pending free agent during the year. What happens with the CBA talks over the next month will shape how the rest of the winter unfolds.","published_at":"2026-10-29T21:48:43.305445+00:00","source_count":4,"written_from":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Important 2026-2027 offseason dates","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/important-2026-2027-offseason-dates-193000722.html"},{"outlet":"New York Post","publisher":"New York Post","title":"Will there be a free agency splash before MLB lockout? And three other burning offseason questions","url":"https://nypost.com/2026/10/29/sports/will-there-be-a-free-agency-splash-before-mlb-lockout/"},{"outlet":"SB Nation","publisher":"SB Nation","title":"MLB free agent rankings: Best 40 players available, including Tarik Skubal","url":"https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/1134170/mlb-free-agent-rankings-2026-2027-lockout-tarik-skubal-teruaki-sato"},{"outlet":"CBS Sports","publisher":"CBS Sports","title":"Key MLB offseason dates: When does free agency start? What else will happen before potential lockout?","url":"https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-offseason-dates-free-agency-start-lockout/"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"MLB’s 2026-27 offseason calendar: Free agents, awards, Rule 5 draft, non-tenders, arbitration, more","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/mlb-2026-27-offseason-calendar-140000093.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"MLB offseason dates to remember","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/mlb-offseason-dates-remember-140000545.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Ranking the 40 best MLB free agents after the World Series","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/ranking-40-best-mlb-free-150420545.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Thursday Rockpile: The logistics of a lockout and what they mean for the Rockies","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/thursday-rockpile-logistics-lockout-mean-160000085.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"MLB offseason important dates","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/mlb-offseason-important-dates-175918830.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Will there be a free agency splash before MLB lockout? And three other burning offseason questions","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/free-agency-splash-mlb-lockout-171001544.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"MLB’s Season Is Over. These Key Dates Are Crucial for CBA Negotiations","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/mlb-season-over-key-dates-211717825.html"}],"image":null,"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}