NEW YORK -- A year removed from a labor lockout that postponed Opening Day, major league players are enjoying their biggest salary spike in more than two decades.
The average Major League Baseball salary was up 11.1% to a record $4.9 million to start this season, the largest jump for the sport since 2001, according to a study by The Associated Press.
The surge follows a spending spree in the first offseason since players and owners agreed to a five-year collective bargaining agreement in March 2022.
"It's a step in the right direction," said Texas Rangers shortstop Marcus Semien, part of the union's eight-member executive subcommittee that helped negotiate the CBA.