NEW YORK—Fans of the Nation’s favorite pastime are ecstatic that there will be baseball in 2022. Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association reached an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement Thursday, March 10 ending the 99-day lockout.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, as well as the Los Angeles of Anaheim will still play a full, 162 game season and opening day will be April 7. In the coming days, players will report to spring training, and free agency and trades will resume immediately.

The Players Union voted 26 -12 in favor of the new proposal. Tense negotiations in New York between MLB and the Players association heated up in February. Opening Day was originally scheduled for March 31.

Let’s explain what changes baseball fans will see visiting Chavez Ravine or Angel Stadium during the summer days.

There will be a Universal DH (Designated Hitter), a move which will make some baseball purists shed a tear. A 12-team expanded playoff season to make October more exciting. It also paves the way for the league to implement more drastic changes, which include a pitch clock, bigger bases and a ban on certain defensive switches. The new rules could be in effect as early as 2023.

For the Union, the minimum Major League salary will rise to $700,000. Teams will be eligible for draft picks incentives if they promote top prospects for opening day. The competitive balance tax threshold for team payroll will start at $230 million in 2022 and rise to $244 million over the deal.

There moves will encourage teams to prevent losing games in order to receive higher draft picks. Tanking has been a major problem for every professional sports league.

Earlier in the week, prospects and hopes of a season looked grim, the results of an MLB strike would have been catastrophic. The deal came in the bottom of the ninth inning, the result was a home run for baseball fans across the world.