NEW YORK – The average major league salary dropped 4.8% to just under $4.17 million on opening day from the start of the previous full season in 2019.
The average has fallen 6.4% since the start of the 2017 season, when it peaked at $4.45 million, according to a study of major league contracts by The Associated Press.
The salary downturn is yet another sign baseball could be headed toward labor strife and a possible work stoppage in 2022. Baseball’s middle class has borne the brunt of the drop.
The median salary — the point at which an equal number of players are above and below — is $1.15 million, down 18% from $1.4 million two years ago and a drop of 30% from the $1.65 million record high at the start of 2015.