Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball players association have been working together for over a week now trying to iron out all kinds of things. They’ve gotten some things done – like setting up funds for team personnel who are going to no longer have work with the season being delayed, how players at the big league level were going to be paid during the spring training suspension/cancellation – but there’s a lot more on the table.
A lot of that stuff revolves around different ideas of how many games can be played if the season were to begin on “X” date, and how that would work out. Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel at ESPN are reporting several things could be on the table.
One of the things that it appears both sides are in agreement on is that the regular season could stretch into October, and if needed – playoff games could be played at neutral sites that are either in warm-weather cities or domed-stadium cities. That would certainly be a real interesting scenario where there’s no true home field advantage for a team.
Both sides also seem to want to play as many games as possible. In the end, that’s going to mean more money for both sides. The two sides, however, haven’t come up with a plan for how much the players will be paid once the season does begin. That, along with how service time will work in a shortened season, are going to be large points in negotiations.
When it comes to playing as many games as possible, one idea that’s been floated is adding scheduled double headers to schedules. According to the article linked above, several players they spoke to were on board for that plan. Small sample size, of course, but there’s at least some players out there who are on board for that one.
But if there’s going to be a double header or two played a week, there would probably need to be concessions on expanded rosters. Just how far that would be, I’m not sure. But you would think that it would need to be at least 28-30 players, right? You’re going to need a lot of starting pitchers if you’re going to play that kind of schedule. And your bench players are probably going to get a little bit of additional time, too – simply because your every day guys can’t play 8-9 games per week over the course of even 3 months.
Everything is in limbo right now, and as noted in the article – a lot of things are still in a “we’re going to have to wait and see” mode, because they depend on when the games could start. But it seems both sides are willing to do a lot of things that didn’t seem possible just a week ago as perhaps we’ve all come to realize this is going to probably last far longer than we initially believed.
I wouldn’t want playoffs in November.
I agree with expanded rosters if there are double headers each week, but I think the rosters might need to be expanded to 35 or 36.
But realistically, if this crisis extends to June or beyond, won’t MLB be forced to cancel the season?
Lets see, loverly weather in Cincinnati and Min that time of year.
I agree with you.
Why not just allow the full 40 man roster. This way plenty of teams get to see what they have on those rosters with a plan of having 2 double headers a week. I assume there would be the same number of off days still?? All players would need to rest.
I could see a rotation of.
Castillo, Gray, Bauer, Miley, Disco, Mahle, and Sims. Do they give Lodolo a shot with a 7 man rotation instead of Sims? Sure would be interesting to see.
Having a month full of regular-season games in October will create many, many games being played in cold-weather scenarios between two teams that have no chance for the post-season. Combine that with the football season being (probably) fully underway at that point, and there are going to be many MLB games in October with attendance you can count on an abacus. Maybe they will play only two or three weeks in October, or try to manipulate the scheduling so that the majority of October games are played in cities with domed stadiums or more temperate climates.
I wonder if this event could lead to both sides ironing out their issues and therefore avoiding a stirke/lockout