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NEW YORK — A year removed from a labor lockout that postponed Opening Day, major league players are enjoying their biggest salary spike in more than two decades.

The average Major League Baseball salary was up 11.1% to a record $4.9 million to start this season, the largest jump for the sport since 2001, according to a study by The Associated Press.

The surge follows a spending spree in the first offseason since players and owners agreed to a five-year collective bargaining agreement in March 2022.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Texas Rangers shortstop Marcus Semien, part of the union’s eight-member executive subcommittee that helped negotiate the CBA.

The New York Mets led the way with a $355 million payroll, $70 million more than the previous high for a season’s start. Seven teams topped $200 million.

The Oakland Athletics were last at $58 million — less than the combined salaries of Mets pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, who tied for the major league high of $43.3 million.

This year’s percentage rise was the largest since a 13.9% jump in 2001.

“It’s about damn time, honestly,” said Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Zach Eflin, who signed a $40 million, three-year deal in December. “It’s been pretty much a joke the past five, 10 years about the way the players have been paid the minimum salaries.”

Aaron Judge, Manny Machado, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa and Jacob deGrom all got big deals during an offseason that saw the average shatter the previous high of $4.45 million in 2017.

“Teams are making money, players are making it. So it’s good all around,” said deGrom, who left the Mets for Texas.

Of 943 players in the major leagues on Opening Day, 546 had salaries of $1 million or more, 58%, and up from 514 last year.

“The stance that we took was great, getting players to be paid more is what we want,” Correa said. “Obviously, we bring a lot to this game. But at the same time us as players have to keep putting up the work, making sure that after we get contracts, we keep performing to the highest level for teams to keep spending and keep going big.”

Judge was third at $40 million after hitting an American League-record 62 homers. Seven of the 11 highest-paid players are with teams in New York or Los Angeles, a sign of the economic power of the large markets.

“I saw the revenue numbers for the game last year,” said Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, also a member of the players’ association’s executive subcommittee during negotiations. “So when those continue to go up, then players salaries should go up with that, as well.”

After setting a record in 2017, the average dropped by just under 1% in each of the following two years and fell as low at $4.2 million in 2021 after the pandemic-shortened season.

Unhappy with their share of spending, players endured a 99-day lockout before agreeing to a labor contract in March 2022. Spending resumed at a frenetic pace, and the average rose 6% to $4.4 million in 2022.

This winter, spending was spurred by paydays for streaming and broadcast rights, an expanded postseason format and rising ticket prices.

“It’s a barometer of the wealth of the game” agent Scott Boras said. “It’s always great business to invest in players, and this increase reflects investment in the great players of the game.”

Steve Cohen has boosted payroll steadily since buying the Mets, who were at $154 million in 2019, the last full season under the Wilpon and Katz families. Their spending rose to $186 million in 2021 and $266 million last year, when they started second to the Dodgers but wound up first after Los Angeles pitcher Trevor Bauer was suspended for most of the season without pay.

The Yankees are second at $275 million followed by San Diego ($258 million), NL champion Philadelphia ($236 million), the Dodgers ($222 million), the Angels ($212 million) and Toronto ($210 million).

World Series champion Houston is 11th at $193 million. Baltimore is 29th at $60 million, with Pittsburgh ($71 million) and Tampa Bay ($75 million) just above.

Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon was fourth at $36.8 million, followed by Angels outfielder Mike Trout ($37.1 million), Cole ($36 million), Texas shortstop Corey Seager ($35 million), Correa ($33.3 million), St. Louis third baseman Nolan Arenado ($32.8 million) and Washington pitcher Stephen Strasburg ($32.5 million).

Sixteen players earn $30 million or more, an increase of three; 53 earn $20 million, a rise of five; and 158 at least $10 million, a jump of 25. The 50 highest-paid players make 29% of total salary, down from 30% last year and 33% in 2021, and the top 100 earn 47%, a decrease from 52% two years ago.

Forty-five players earned the $720,000 minimum, which was increased by $20,000 from last year.

The median salary, the point at which an equal number of players are above and below, rose by $300,000 to $1.5 million, still below the record high at the start of 2015. Active rosters have increased from 25 to 26, lowering the median by adding more lower salaried players.

The AP’s figures include salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses and other guaranteed income. For some players, parts of deferred money are discounted to reflect current values.

MLB’s Opening Day payroll figures for 40-man rosters and luxury tax payrolls based on average annual values of contracts plus benefits, won’t be finalized until later in the season.

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Springer’s 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

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Springer's 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

George Springer had a career-high seven RBIs, including his ninth grand slam, and the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated Canada Day by beating the Yankees 12-5 on Tuesday and closing within one game of American League East-leading New York.

The seven RBIs are tied for the second most by any Blue Jays player in a home game, behind Edwin Encarnación (nine RBIs in 2015), according to ESPN Research.

Andrés Giménez had a go-ahead, three-run homer for the Blue Jays, who overcame a 2-0 deficit against Max Fried. After the Yankees tied the score 4-4 in the seventh, Toronto broke open the game in the bottom half against a reeling Yankees bullpen.

Springer went 3-for-4, starting the comeback with a solo homer in the fourth against Fried and boosting the lead to 9-5 with the slam off Luke Weaver after Ernie Clement‘s go-ahead single off shortstop Anthony Volpe‘s glove. Springer has 13 homers this season.

Toronto won the first two games of the four-game series and closed within one game of the Yankees for the first time since before play on April 20.

New York went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 3-for-24 in the series, while the Blue Jays were 5-for-7. After going 13-14 in June, the Yankees fell to 10-14 against AL East rivals.

The Associate Press contributed to this report.

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Astros’ Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

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Astros' Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

DENVER — Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez has experienced a setback in his recovery from a broken right hand and will see a specialist.

Astros general manager Dana Brown said Alvarez felt pain when he arrived Tuesday at the team’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he had a workout a day earlier. Alvarez also took batting practice Saturday at Daikin Park.

He will be shut down until he’s evaluated by the specialist.

“It’s a tough time going through this with Yordan, but I know that he’s still feeling pain and the soreness in his hand,” Brown said before Tuesday night’s series opener at Colorado, which the Astros won 6-5. “We’re not going to try to push it or force him through anything. We’re just going to allow him to heal and get a little bit more answers as to what steps we take next.”

Alvarez has been sidelined for nearly two months. The injury was initially diagnosed as a muscle strain, but when Alvarez felt pain again while hitting in late May, imaging revealed a small fracture.

The 28-year-old outfielder, who has hit 31 homers or more in each of the past four seasons, had been eyeing a return as soon as this weekend at the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now it’s uncertain when he’ll play.

“We felt like he was close because he had felt so good of late,” Brown said, “but this is certainly news that we didn’t want.”

Also Tuesday, the Astros officially placed shortstop Jeremy Peña on the 10-day injured list with a fractured rib and recalled infielder Shay Whitcomb from Triple-A Sugar Land.

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Ohtani’s 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

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Ohtani's 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

Shohei Ohtani reached 30 homers for the fifth straight season, hitting a fourth-inning drive after fouling a pitch off the plate umpire, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Ohtani fouled the ball off Alan Porter’s right knee in the fourth. Ohtani checked on the umpire and stood by watching until Parker got up under his own power. The three-time MVP then hit a 408-foot shot to center, snapping an 0-for-6 skid and extending the lead to 6-1. He tied Cody Bellinger in 2019 for most home runs before the All-Star break in Dodgers history; Bellinger won National League MVP that year.

Ohtani joined Seattle‘s Cal Raleigh (33) and Aaron Judge of the Yankees (30) as players with at least 30 homers by the All-Star break; it marks the fifth season that three players have reached the 30-homer threshold before the break (2019, 1998, 1994, 1969).

As for Ohtani, this is his third season hitting at least 30 home runs before the break, tying Ken Griffey Jr. for third most in MLB history (Judge and Mark McGwire each did so for four seasons).

During the seventh-inning stretch, Ohtani walked over and checked on Porter again before leading off.

Los Angeles scored its most runs this season in support of Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6), staking the Japanese right-hander to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

The Dodgers won for the 13th time in 16 games and opened a season-high, eight-game NL West lead. They are 16-5 (.762 win percentage) since June 8, the best record in MLB during that span.

Every run Tuesday night was scored with two outs.

Yamamoto allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked one.

White Sox rookie Shane Smith (3-6) got two quick outs in the first before walking Will Smith and Max Muncy back-to-back. Teoscar Hernández followed with an RBI single, Andy Pages hit a run-scoring double and Michael Conforto had a two-run single.

Chicago’s lone run came on Lenyn Sosa‘s RBI single in the third.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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