Giants, A's Ready To Play Ball!

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA — Baseball’s longest work stoppage in more than a quarter century is finally over.

The Bay Area’s two Major League Baseball teams are finally readying to welcome fans after the league on Thursday reached a tentative agreement with the players association’s leadership.

The deal is pending approval by the players, who have yet to vote on the tentative agreement.

If ratified, the five-year agreement would run through 2026, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The union representing players on Thursday voted to accept MLB’s latest offer, paving the way to end a 99-day lockout and salvage a 162-game regular season.

The union’s executive board approved the agreement in a 26-12 vote, pending ratification by all players, a person familiar with the balloting told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no announcement was authorized.

MLB sent the players an offer Thursday and gave them until 3 p.m. to accept in order to play a full season.

The union announced the player vote around 3:25 p.m. Owners had discussed the deal before MLB sent it to the players association.

The agreement will allow training camps to open this week in Florida and Arizona, more than three weeks after they were scheduled to on Feb. 16.

Fans can start making plans to be at Oracle Park and RingCentral Coliseum next month.

Opening day is being planned for April 7, a little more than a week behind the original date on March 31.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report