Major League Baseball has been exploring the idea of expanding the postseason field this season in order to make up for lost revenue, and the latest proposal the league sent to the MLB Players Association calls for six playoff teams to be added to the field. The first round, however, would be quite brief.
While the league did not specify it in the proposal sent to the union on Monday, Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic report that MLB wants an opening round that features best-of-three series.
The expanded 16-team postseason that was part of MLB’s proposal yesterday did not specify a best-of-three opening round, though that might be the league’s idea, sources tell me and @EvanDrellich. The proposal asked for eight teams in each team league, specifics to be discussed.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 9, 2020
MLB initially wanted to have as few as 48 regular season games, as owners are concerned that they will be losing too much revenue if fans are not allowed in ballparks. The latest proposal upped the total to 76 games but offered players only 75 percent of the normal salary they would make for those 76 games. Owners are hoping to entice players with the prospect of making more money from a “playoff pool,” so you can understand why the league thinks adding playoff teams would help.
The MLBPA is expected to reject the latest proposal, but an expanded postseason field still seems likely if the two sides are eventually able to come to an agreement. MLB could experiment with a few things now that the 2020 season is certain to be shortened substantially.
