What’s better than a five-game division series? A seven-game one. That’s exactly what MLB proposed on Thursday, among other changes, in its latest round of negotiations with the MLB Players’ Association over the new CBA. They also proposed a shorter regular season along with other changes to the postseason format.
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While the MLBPA has yet to deliver its verdict on the latest round of negotiations, MLB reasoned that the proposed shakeup will ultimately benefit the players.
“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. A shorter regular season unlocks making October even better for our fans,” said MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin, per Bob Nightengale on X.
A 154-game regular season existed in Major League Baseball from 1904 to 1960, with the only exceptions being 1918 and 1919 due to World War I.
Before the season began, team owners preemptively agreed to shorten the schedule from 154 to 140 games to cut down on travel and adjust to wartime conditions.
The American League’s regular season expanded to 162 games when the league expanded to 10 teams in 1961. The National League followed in 1962. Since then, players have endured 162 games each season.
But now the MLB owners want to return to the shorter, 154-game regular season, which, per Caplin, can create “a new national broadcast window to showcase our most exciting teams and players.”
A shorter season means players get an off day every week, which would help them heal and rest properly, maybe even reduce injury concerns. It would also help the teams manage their roster churn. The owners have assured that the shortened length would not affect players’ salaries.
MLB.com notes that under the new schedule, Mondays will be declared off days, with a few exceptions like national holidays and special events. Teams that would play on Monday will get Thursday off in the same week.
The league wants to keep Monday as an exclusive broadcast window for one or two games to better the sport’s national exposure. To increase the subscriber base and advertising revenue, a package of Monday-only games could be sold to a streaming service.
The standard off-day each week rule would be similar to Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball schedule. Monday is a universal off-day every week in NPB. Even the minor leagues in the U.S. follow the same Monday off schedule.
Accumulating all the changes together, MLB wants to trim eight games off each team’s regular-season schedule and add up to eight more postseason games total.
The changes to the duration of the regular season will be effective from 2029, when MLB signs a new media agreement.
This change would also directly affect the postseason schedule.
MLB owners proposed a best-of-seven division series instead of a best-of-five. It would add 8 potential games to the playoffs, and the World Series would end two days later than it does now.
MLB has proposed another major change to the postseason, which can completely alter how the postseason looks, a first of its kind in professional sports history.
MLB wants to allow the No. 3 seed in each league to select whether to play the No. 5 or 6 seed in the wild-card round. They would have to announce their decision right after the regular season concludes. The Wild Card Round will remain a best-of-three series.
Meanwhile, in the best-of-seven Division Series, the No. 1 seed would be allowed to select which Wild Card winner to play.
If these changes are implemented, the American League will probably not fall into the same situation as this year.
For example, this season, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Cleveland Guardians, and the Houston Astros held the top three seeds in the AL. Under the new rule, the Astros would have been able to choose whether to play the No. 5 (Red Sox) or No. 6 seed (White Sox) of the league. On the other hand, No. 1, the Rays could’ve picked which Wild Card winner to play.
The league proposed a similar kind of postseason system even in the previous negotiations.
During the 99-day lockout in 2022 that delayed the start of the season, the postseason format was one of the final pieces debated before the current 5-year deal was struck. The league initially pushed hard for a 14-team playoff field.
Under their preferred model, the top division winner would get a bye, while the other two division winners would choose their wild-card opponents from the bottom three seeds in a televised selection show. But MLBPA pushed back.
Even then, the union feared that exposing too many teams to the playoffs would disincentivize owners from spending on winning rosters during the regular season. The sides ultimately agreed on the current 12-team format (6 per league), which eliminated the single-elimination Wild Card game in favor of a best-of-three Wild Card series and granted first-round byes to the top two division winners.
This time, Caplin has noted that “…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.”
The league has a pretty clear reason behind proposing such changes.
Giving up four home regular season games figures to hurt each team’s bottom line, though not necessarily. Prices for the tickets for the remaining 77 home games could retrieve lost revenue. With that, longer Division Series can evidently boost national television revenue.
All 30 teams would benefit from that if divided equally and not just postseason contenders.
However, all these changes are directly dependent on whether the players’ union agrees to their initial demand for a salary cap and salary floor.
Reportedly, this proposal is an attempt to convince players to accept a salary cap in the league’s next collective bargaining agreement, which expires on Dec. 1.
The union is still firm in its stance and is opposed to the implementation of a salary cap in MLB.
“Players will weigh in on these proposals, and we will respond at the bargaining table,” the union said in its statement.
“Unfortunately, the league once again made clear that all of its proposals are contingent on players’ agreement to a salary cap, a system that guts player rights and compensation, as well as its other anti-player proposals.”
As long as the two sides remain at war with each other, the threat of lockout hangs over the 2027 season. The changes can only come after MLB and the players’ union come to an agreement.