When Does 2025 MLB Free Agency Start? Dates for Signings, Trades, Options, Posting

With the World Series now complete, MLB free agency season is here! Check out everything you need to know about Hot Stove season, including key dates around the qualifying offers, options and when teams can officially sign free agents.

MLB free agency begins the day after the conclusion of the World Series. However, players cannot sign with a new team until 5 p.m. ET five days after the end of the World Series - this year, it falls on Thursday, November 6th. 

Trades are not allowed from the MLB Trade Deadline until the end of the World Series. Trades can be made again the day after the World Series ends.

Options are extensions added to a player contract that can be exercised by a player or a club to stay with their current team. A "club option" means the team gets to make the call if they want to extend the player's contract for the next season. A "player option" puts the power in the hands of the player. A less common "mutual option" would only be exercised if both team and player agree. Options must be exercised within five days of the end of the World Series.

A qualifying offer is a one-year contract offer that teams can use to extend their pending free agents, typically at a value determined by the average salary of the league's top 125 players. This year's amount is $22.025 million. The value was $21.05 million for the 2024-25 offseason. This year, offers must be made to eligible players within five days of the conclusion of the World Series, and players then have until 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 18 to accept. Teams can extend this offer to players who are about to enter free agency only if they have spent the entire previous season with them and if the player has never received a qualifying offer before. The player then has