Major League Baseball proposed to shorten the regular season to 154 games from 162 games starting in 2029 and to expand the Division Series to best-of-seven in bargaining with players. Major League Baseball is proposing changes to the structure of both its regular season and postseason, including allowing higher-seeded teams in the wild card and Division Series rounds to select their opponents. MLB has suggested that, beginning in 2029, the league return to a 154-game regular season for the first time since the 1960s.
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball proposed to shorten the regular season to 154 games from 162 starting in 2029 and to expand the Division Series to best-of-seven in a plan given to players during collective bargaining Thursday. 1, and management is expected to lock out players in a confrontation that could delay or wipe out the 2027 season. MLB proposed a salary cap, which the union has vowed to never accept, along with limits on contract values and length.“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,” the union said in a statement.MLB's regular season currently schedules 162 games over 187 days, and the new format would play the 154 games over 180 in most years.MLB would keep the Wild Card Series at best-of-three at the ballpark of the higher-seeded team, add an extra day off between Games 1 and 2 and stagger series starts.
There would be only two games scheduled on each of the first three days rather than the current format of up to four games per day.No. 3 seeds could select after the regular season whether to host No. 6 in the Wild Card Series, and the No.
1 seeds could pick which wild-card winner to play in the Division Series.Each best-of-seven series would be played over 11 days instead of nine…
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