MLB players union gathers to prepare for potentially contentious labor negotiations in 2026

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Roughly a month after the Los Angeles Dodgers finished a scintillating seven-game World Series triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays, the Major League Baseball Players' Association gathered in Arizona this week to discuss the future of the game and look ahead to a possible lockout next December.

Japanese stars headed by Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have sparked record international interest, in-game attendance was up in 2025 for the third straight season, and a set of rule changes that began in 2023 has produced a faster-paced game that's been widely lauded.

But the big-spending nature of the $500 million Dodgers — who were led by high-priced stars like Ohtani, Yamamoto, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman — highlighted baseball's payroll disparity as the MLBPA prepares for a potentially contentious round of labor negotiations leading to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement next Dec. 1.

Union head Tony Clark said formal bargaining will likely begin in the spring, consistent with previous negotiations.

“As an organization, you start preparing for the next round of bargaining as soon as the ink is dry on the previous one,” Clark said Thursday. “You're constantly assessing the system, you're assessing how it is that teams and players are responding to the system.

“A year away, you're really drilling down on what that looks like.”

The eight-person executive subcommittee consists of 2025 Cy Young Award winners Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal, along with veterans Chris Bassitt, Jake Cronenworth, Pete Fairbanks, Cedric Mullins, Marcus Semien and Brent Suter.

There are also 30 player reps — one for each team.

“We have an outstanding group of player leaders,” Clark said. “We are better and stronger as an organization when players engage one another and are educated on the issues. We have that. It’s something we’re grateful for and something historically our organization has always had.”

Clark said the MLBPA's main focus continues to be centered on a few large issues heading into bargaining. One is finding more ways to encourage all 30 teams to spend on the free-agent market to make teams as competitive as possible.

While the Dodgers have spent roughly $890 million over the past two years building back-to-back World Series champions, the Athletics have committed less than $150 million over the same period. MLB is the only major U.S.-based professional sports league without a salary cap.

The players’ association is bracing to resist a renewed push for a cap. Demand for a cap from owners is what led to a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 and the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years.

Thirty years later, scars from that experience still remain. Clark made his MLB debut with the Detroit Tigers in 1995.

“Knowing that there are teams who have the wherewithal to compete, that choose not to and how that affects the industry,” Clark said. “In an industry where not all 30 teams are committed to that, what does that mean? Are there things that we can do to address those concerns? There are.”

The other major issue is that the MLBPA would like to see more ways for younger players to be paid in a way that's more consistent with their on-field value. Most players are eligible for salary arbitration after three years of MLB service time and can be free agents after six years.

The union made some gains in compensating younger players in the last round of bargaining. The minimum salary jumped to $700,000 in 2022 and will be $780,000 next year. And a $50 million annual pool was established for pre-arbitration-eligible players.

Clark said he did not have any new information to offer about an ongoing federal investigation into OneTeam Partners, a licensing company the union founded with the NFL Players Association.

The company has grown in recent years, working with other unions that represent players in the WNBA, men's and women's soccer, and college sports.

“We continue to cooperate fully," Clark said. “We don't know the timing, we don't know when it may wrap. But as they ask questions and are interested in information, we answer the questions and provide them information. That's not going to change.”

AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.

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FILE - Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark answers a question during a news conference in New York on March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Trump administration is making good on a promise to send more water to California farmers in the state’s crop-rich Central Valley.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Thursday announced a new plan for operating the Central Valley Project, a vast system of pumps, dams and canals that direct water southward from the state’s wetter north. It follows an executive order President Donald Trump signed in January calling for more water to flow to farmers, arguing the state was wasting the precious resource in the name of protecting endangered fish species.

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said the plan will help the federal government “strengthen California’s water resilience." It takes effect Friday.

But California officials and environmental groups blasted the move, saying sending significantly more water to farmlands could threaten water delivery to the rest of the state and would harm salmon and other fish.

Most of the state’s water is in the north, but most of its people are in the south. The federally-managed Central Valley Project works in tandem with the state-managed State Water Project, which sends water to cities that supply 27 million Californians. The systems transport water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an estuary that provides critical habitat to fish and wildlife including salmon and the delta smelt.

It is important for the two systems to work together, Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, said in a statement. She warned the Trump administration’s plan could limit the state's ability to send water to cities and farmers. That is because the state could be required to devote more water to species protection if the federal project sends more to farms.

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director at Restore the Delta, said pumping more water out would result in more Delta smelt and juvenile salmon dying from getting stuck in the pumping system, and once the temperature warms, harmful algae blooms will develop that are dangerous to fish, wildlife, pets and people. That could have economic impacts, she said.

“When you destroy water quality and divorce it from land, you are also destroying property values,” she said. “Nobody wants to live near a fetid, polluted backwater swamp.”

The Bureau of Reclamation denied the changes would harm the environment or endangered species.

The Central Valley Project primarily sends water to farms, with a much smaller amount going to cities and industrial use. Water from the Central Valley Project irrigates roughly one-third of California agriculture, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.

The Westlands Water District, one of the largest uses of Central Valley Project water, cheered the decision. It “will help ensure that our growers have the water they need to support local communities and the nation’s food supply, while also protecting California’s wildlife,” general manager Allison Febbo said in a statement.

But Vance Staplin, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association, said in a statement that protections for salmon are already weak and some runs that rely on the water are close to being wiped out. He called for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom “to file a lawsuit to challenge this unlawful federal move.”

During Trump's first term, he allowed more water to be directed to the Central Valley, a move that Newsom fought in court, saying it would push endangered delta smelt, chinook salmon and steelhead trout populations to extinction. The Biden administration changed course, adopting its own water plan in 2024 that environmental groups said was a modest improvement. Newsom did not immediately comment Thursday on the new decision.

Trump renewed his criticism of the state's water policies after the Los Angeles-area fires broke out in January and some fire hydrants ran dry. The Central Valley Project does not supply water to Los Angeles.

The president dubbed his January executive order “Putting People over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California.”

Golden reported from Seattle.

FILE -A sign reading "Farmland Needs Water!" stands along a field in Riverdale, Calif., Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - An aerial view shows Friant Dam which holds back Millerton Lake in Friant, Calif., Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)