This year, 16 Spring Breakout games will take place around the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues between March 19-22, including the Red Sox at the Orioles’ Sarasota, Fla. complex on March 20.
Starting in 2027, Major League Baseball will expand Spring Breakout from standalone games to a single-elimination tournament, the league announced Monday.
Spring Breakout was originally pitched as a tournament before its inaugural run during the 2024 preseason, a source told the Herald. When MLB shifts to that format next year, each league will crown a Spring Breakout champion.
“With more meaningful games, the Spring Breakout Tournament will take this event to the next level and create a unique experience for our fans ahead of Opening Day,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in Monday’s press release.
The notable wrinkle in this plan is the impending expiration of the collective bargaining agreement on Dec. 1. The expectation is that the league will again lock out the players, as they did for 99 days when the previous CBA expired in December 2021. An agreement was reached on March 10, 2022, two weeks after spring training games were due to begin.
Another lockout that stretches into March would prevent any players on teams’ 40-man rosters, including prospects, from reporting to spring training or participating in any club or league activities.
