On the 99th day of the owners’ lockout, shortly after the umpteenth deadline set by commissioner Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association finally reached a deal on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, just in time to preserve a 162-game schedule.

Opening Day will be April 7, 2022, so make your calendars.

The CBA was ratified unanimously by the owners with a 30-0 vote Thursday evening. The Major League Baseball Players Association in a vote Thursday afternoon went against their executive board and voted to approve the deal that the owners proposed.

The mandatory Spring Training report date for all the major league baseball clubs is Sunday and exhibition games will then begin on March 17 and March 18.

If it is ratified, both sides must then sign a memorandum of understanding, officially bringing the three-month lockout to a close. Players' headshots began to re-appear on MLB.com as clubs re-activated their Twitter handles and started to post-hype videos and graphics. Baseball is Back.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a press conference with reporters "I am genuinely thrilled to say Major League Baseball is back and we’re going to play 162 games,.. I want to start by apologizing to our fans. I know the last few months have been difficult." In a statement released Thursday evening by the Major League Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark said "Our union endured the second-longest work stoppage in its history to achieve significant progress in key areas that will improve not just current players’ rights and benefits, but those of generations to come... Players remained engaged and unified from beginning to end, and in the process reenergized our fraternity."

“The deal pushes the game forward,” Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, a member of the union’s executive subcommittee, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “It addresses a lot of the things that the players in the game should be focused on: the competitive integrity aspect of it.”

There will be notable changes such as the implementation of the DH in the National League as part of the new agreement and other interesting changes. Also, the minimum salary increase from 2022 - 2023 is the "largest in history, nearly five times larger than the $27,500 increase in the first year of the prior CBA. It also represents a larger increase than the total from the past 10 years" via MLB.com. Additionally, there will be a draft lottery where the top six selections will be awarded in a lottery system and Wednesday's sticking point the International Draft was put back into the deal where there will be exchange for agreeing to an International Draft by July 25, 2022, MLB will eliminate the qualifying offer system (direct Draft-pick compensation) for free agents.

.Other details

• Contracts for arbitration-eligible players will be guaranteed.

• Top prospects who finish 1st or 2nd in the Rookie of the Year voting will receive a full year of service.

• Clubs promoting top prospects to Opening Day rosters will be eligible to receive Draft picks if the player finishes in the Top 3 in the Rookie of the Year voting or Top 5 in MVP/Cy Young voting.

• Expanded postseason: 12 teams, with the top two division winners receiving a bye.

• Universal designated hitter.

• Players may only be optioned five times per season.