MLB, MLBPA, CBPC Haven’t Reached A New Agreement – What Does This Mean For Winter Ball?

Baseball fans across Mexico and the Dominican Republic were looking forward to the Serie del Tequila.

The preseason matchup was to have pitted last year’s Caribbean Series finalists — the Charros de Jalisco of the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico and the Leones del Escogido of LIDOM — against one another for a pair of games at the Charros’ home ballpark, Estadio Panamericano in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico.

But on Tuesday, the plug was abruptly pulled on the series just four days before the first game would have been played. And while heavy rain and ballpark maintenance at Panamericano were cited as factors, so too was the lack of a new Winter League Agreement between Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Player’s Association, and the Confederacion de Beisbol Profesional del Caribe.

The series was cancelled as Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association continue negotiations on a new Winter League Agreement, which governs the conditions by which players signed to contracts by MLB organizations can participate in the winter leagues in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Mexico.

“… The lack of approval of the Winter Agreement between the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation and Major League Baseball, which generates restrictions on permits and medical insurance for players affiliated with the system to participate in international matches,” was a major reason behind the cancellation of the Serie del Tequila, the Charros de Jalisco noted in a press release announcing the cancellation.

Without a new Winter League agreement, is possible that some events, including the LIDOM/LBPRC All-Star Game and the Serie del Cibao, both of which are scheduled to be held at Citi Field in New York in November, could be imperiled, and the winter league participation of players under contract to MLB organizations is in doubt, ESPN’s Enrique Rojas reported yesterday.

The negotiations for a new Winter League Agreement have been ongoing since September, according to a post on social media site X.com by ESPN’s Enrique Rojas, who noted that this is the first time that the MLBPA, the labor union that represents players in MLB and its affiliated minor leagues, has been involved in the negotiations.

Falta menos de un mes para inicio de ligas invernales del Caribe y aún no hay "Winter League Agreement", ese contrato con MLB que regula participación de jugadores de su sistema en el béisbol invernal.
Sin ese documento, hay un caos.
La novedad en esta ocasión es que la…

— Enrique Rojas/ESPN (@Enrique_Rojas1) September 19, 2025

With less than two weeks to go until the regular seasons get underway in the LIDOM, the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico, and the Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional, there is significant urgency to getting a new agreement in place.

The Winter League Agreement governs, among other things, how winter ball teams can obtain permission for players with MLB or minor league contracts to play, how winter ball teams and MLB organizations will handle insurance for players and divide financial responsibility for injured players, regulates minimum standards for playing fields and team facilities, and puts forth best practices for game operations, press facilities, and security.

While there is no agreement yet, it is likely that the winter league seasons will start on time regardless of whether or not an agreement is reached by Oct. 15, when three of the four leagues’ regular seasons begin.

It is possible, however, that players under contract to MLB organizations would either not be allowed to play by their MLB clubs or would be advised not to play by the MLBPA should an agreement not be reached. In an Oct. 2 story for ESPN Deportes, Enrique Rojas reported that while some MLB organizations are open to letting players play in the winter leagues without a Winter League Agreement being in force, other organizations will not grant permission for any players to play in the four CBPC leagues until an agreement is reached.

For winter league teams, having hometown MLB players or rising prospects return, even for just a few games during the winter, can be a major draw. The 2024-25 LIDOM champions, the Leones del Escogido, had six position players and four pitchers who appeared in MLB in 2024 play for the team last winter, and had 47 players with MLB experience appear in at least one game in the 2024-25 season.

Rojas noted that the CBPC’s “teams are working under the assumption that all contracted players will be able to play in the regular seasons scheduled to begin Oct. 15, but some fear that the lack of an agreement could affect the availability of some players.”

A copy of the Winter League Agreement signed in 2014, a 59-page document greed to by the presidents of the LIDOM, LAMP, LVBP, and LBPC, as well as CBPC Commissioner Juan Francisco Puello Herrera and the then-Vice President of International Operations of Major League Baseball, Kim Ng, is available here as an example of what the agreement encompasses.

Photo: Citi Field in New York is slated to host the Serie del Cibao and the 2025 LIDOM/LBPRC All-Star Game in November, but both events are in peril should MLB, the MLBPA, and the CBPC not reach a new Winter League Agreement. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)