RANDY LEVINE

It has been an epic holiday season already for several major league teams and players a year after baseball trudged through an ugly labor dispute.

The New York Yankees are becoming a minority investor in Italian champion AC Milan, the second soccer team the baseball power will partially own after MLS’s New York City.

The exemption paves the way for Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving to begin playing home games again.

Coronavirus restrictions in Canada and New York have assured that baseball will again be affected by COVID-19 in 2022.

For all the vitriol, Major League Baseball owners and players have closed the gap in recent weeks and are negotiating on similar frameworks for a new collective bargaining agreement.

For all the vitriol, Major League Baseball owners and locked-out players have closed the gap in recent weeks and are negotiating on similar frameworks for a new collective bargaining agreement. With the lockout in its 96th day Monday, the sides remained apart to various degrees on three of the most significant items: the luxury tax, pre-arbitration bonus pool and minimum salary. MLB told the union on Monday that Tuesday was the last possible day to reach an agreement that would allow a 162-game schedule, along with full salary and service time, a deadline first reported by The Athletic.

Tony Clark was a minor league prospect in the Detroit Tigers’ system and Rob Manfred a junior lawyer on management’s legal team during Major League Baseball’s last work stoppage.

A guy who spent most of the season in the minors kept the Braves in it.

Former President Donald Trump did the Tomahawk chop with Atlanta Braves fans before Game 4 of the World Series only months after calling for a boycott of Major League Baseball.

"So if you love baseball (& protecting your community) – go to a game, get vaccinated & get a free ticket!" the governor tweeted.

The Yankees and Mets can increase capacity from 20% to 100% at their ballparks for home games starting May 19 — as along as fans are vaccinated against COVID-19.

Because the Philadelphia had just played the Marlins, the Phillies are sidelined, too, through Friday as a precaution pending the incubation period. That left a void in the schedule of the New York Yankees, who were scheduled for four games against the Phillies this week. Baltimore had been slated to play four games against the Marlins this week, two on the road followed by two at home. New Yorks four games against Philadelphia are being rescheduled for next week, the first two at Yankee Stadium. The hotel had been closed, said Ben Tuliebitz, the Yankees director of team travel and player services.

NEW YORK Yankees President Randy Levine called on the players' association to resume negotiations with Major League Baseball to start the pandemic-delayed season. Players insist they get the full prorated salaries called for in the March 26 agreement with MLB. Everyone here wants to get down to business as soon as possible and play games. From what Ive discovered, the holdup is not about the number of games or money at this time," Levine said. He has been and continues to be dedicated to play a 2020 season, said Levine, who was MLB's chief negotiator from 1995-97.