MLB’s Latest Proposal Includes Trimming Season to 154 Games, Allowing Top Playoff Seeds to Pick Opponents
With the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement looming just under eight weeks away, Major League Baseball and the players union have continued to exchange proposals. Or rather, the league keeps proposing things the union won’t agree to. That’s how it seems, anyway, though the latest entreaty is much less of a non-starter than a hard salary cap.
As reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the league has proposed shortening the regular season to 154 games beginning in 2029. That’s actually been part of various discussions for a while now, and it’s how many games they played prior to 1962, so it’s not very surprising. Playing eight fewer games would mean having a day off every week, which I have zero problems with.
In exchange for that reduction, the divisional postseason series would increase from five to seven games. I’ve not seen reports about pushing the Wild Card series to five games, but that would be a great idea. What’s more, the league proposed that higher seeds would get to choose their playoff opponents beginning in 2027. That seems more like a novelty than a viable long-term plan, though the resultant bulletin-board material would make for good press.
“Returning to a 154-game schedule would allow us to introduce a weekly off day, which is good for player health, while also creating a new national broadcast window to showcase our most exciting teams and players,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement. “A shorter regular season unlocks making October even better for our fans—with fewer weekday afternoon games, a longer Division Series, and more opportunities to see the game’s best pitchers on the biggest stage. And allowing the top seeds to select their opponents in the first two rounds would create compelling storylines, intensify existing rivalries, and create new ones.”
Again, I think that last part is a little overblown. I’m sure a lot of folks will be upset about the idea of a reduction in the regular season, not to mention a new playoff format, but this all strikes me as pretty benign. Of course, MLB could be trying to sneak a poison pill in there.
