4:24pm: A variety of other notable details of the new proposal have now emerged. Initial reactions from the players’ side to the latest draft agreement seem less than favorable. The league has communicated its view that the sides “need to reach an agreement by Wednesday” in order to prepare for a 76-game campaign.
Players would be guaranteed half of their prorated salaries, per Ronald Blum of the Associated Press. If the postseason goes off without a hitch, the players would collectively stand to earn 75% of the prorated portion of their original salary guarantees.
The league has also suggested some major tweaks to the 2020-21 offseason, as Jeff Passan of ESPN.com covers on Twitter. The qualifying offer would go on hiatus. Instead, a team would get draft compensation for losing a player who signed a multi-year deal for over $35MM or a one-year deal for over $17.8MM. Signing such a player wouldn’t require any sacrifice of draft picks.
1:17pm: The new proposal sent this morning by Major League Baseball to the Players Association in many ways boils down to a repackaging of previous, similar offers, but it does come with at least one particularly notable change, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link). The league asked for 2020 postseason fields to expand even beyond the previously discussed 14 teams, adding another team per league and bringing the total to 16 playoff clubs.
The idea behind the league’s latest expansion would see a traditional bracket format play out, with the No. 1 seed playing the No. 8 seed, No. 2 vs. No. 7, etc. until each league has played down to one winner to square off in the World Series. The first round of play, Sherman adds, would be just a three-game set.
That’s a particularly strong deviation from the norm, where the top teams in each league have long been assured at least a five-game series against the weakest playoff entrant. The prospect of a sub-.500 No. 8 seed upsetting a dominant N0. 1 seed would create some excitement, to be sure, but the watered down playoff field and short early-round formats would undoubtedly be a turnoff for a very vocal set of MLB fans as well.
The league’s motivation here is clear. Postseason television contracts represent ownership’s best stream of revenue without fans in attendance at MLB games, and further broadening the playoff field would ensure that more games are played and that fans from more markets tune in to see the early rounds of play. The latest proposal from MLB to the MLBPA calls for owners to share some of those television rights with the players — typically, player postseason shares are derived from gate alone — so it’s only logical that owners are keyed in on making those games as lucrative as possible.
Today’s proposal will surely be rejected by the union, but it’s interesting that the league has now requested even more playoff expansion. On the surface, that’s something the MLBPA could incorporate into a counter-proposal, although it remains eminently possible that we simply see commissioner Rob Manfred implement a heavily truncated season with fully prorated pay. As few as 48 to 54 games have been speculated upon in the past week.
Why? I know it’s all about money, but this will just make it worse by increasing to 16 teams in the playoffs. It’s going to feel watered-down.
Baseball is great for only having a few playoff teams
Agreed!
Agreed X 1,000,000. This is why the regular season matters and a shortened seasoned is dangerous. The law of large numbers predicts, in this case, the true champion will often rise to the top over a long season. Anything can happen with fewer games (which is why teams hate playing a one-game wildcard). Imagine the Marlins as world champs?.
Yes, anything can happen. Which is why most people watch sports. If we wanted statistical accuracy, we’d just run computer simulations.
A team breaking a long curse, like the Indians or Brewers, might be worse. Wouldn’t seem legit.
Disagree let the chips fall where they may fall, even if its the O’s.
So you’re saying there’s a chance?
@Darth
Don’t have to imagine it. The Marlins have been World Champs twice.
Haha nice one Mr. Christmas
Wouldn’t have worked last season!
Your 2020 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates! With League MVP Josh Bell with 21 HRs and 58 RBI!!!
Let’s go Tribe!!!! I will take a championship because it requires the same thing as all other championship seasons…..be the last team standing
Except that they have continued to add teams over time, which shows that it hasn’t been so great for the game.
Agreed just leave them the way they are
Its the worst part of the sport and clearly the reason its in decline.
I agree with you 10000% but this is not a normal year, and with just 76 games (or less), expanded playoffs would help generate excitement and fun, so… why the hell not. Everything is different in 2020, we’ll just have to accept some unique circumstances.
I totally agree with u. different circumstances will see thing we never seen before. Nate Pearson number 6 starter?
The article explained why.
It’s not a normal year and it will seem watered down no matter what they do. With such a small sample size, I have no issue with an expanded playoff. Clearly this proposal isn’t going to be accepted but maybe it at least starts some dialogue.
You are exactly right, it’s not a normal year so having an abnormal season and postseason is fitting. Weeding out half the teams then letting the other half battle it out to be champion sounds like fun. After waiting this long and with all that’s been happening I know I would be interested in watching
Imagine a team like the Pirates squeaking in, getting hot, and making to the World Series. Unfair? Sure. Fun and exciting, and a way to draw fans back– or draw new fans– to the game?
Heck yeah.
Exactly… there would be novelty to it all. It could be the injection of excitement all them doomsayers have been clamoring for so why not.
Besides, it would make up for the Pirates losing the senseless one game playoff two years in a row, once after winning 98 games. This year is an aberration and I can accept a watered down season with bogus playoffs, but the the one game playoff is the real atrocity.
Baseball is designed to have a long season, so under a truncated season playoffs should expand. Just look at last year’s World Series winner–Washington Nationals. Through their first 50 games last year they couldn’t even smell the playoffs, let alone be the WS champions. Plus it does help with the financials. This one small caveat is the only thing I’ve agreed with the owners. They should still pay a prorated salary to the players.
Who cares about watered down. This complaint is like a teenager complaining that they have only one mercedes.
I already feel embarrassed for the fanbase that’s forced to call themselves champions in 2020.
As a Mariners fan, I’d be just fine with it.
As a Reds fan I’d love them to be 2020 champs
Except we aren’t winning $#!+ this year. We’re the biggest losers of all in this mess.
oh gosh can we stop this. whoever wins this year wins. a championship is a championship. i dont think any fans of the team that wins will care when it happens.
Yeah, take that you winners! Bet you wish they would have just canceled the season and no one ever played! Must be terrible to have to tell people that you won a World Series, but it was that year that hundreds of thousands of people died because of a worldwide pandemic and people could literally not leave their houses for non-essential purposes, so the league made a couple changes to the playoff format.
If it’s only a 50 game season you may very well have a 5 way tie for first place. It somewhat makes it more fair to have half the teams make playoffs. It basically just ends all the tanker teams season early and lets the competitors compete.
Agreed I like the playoffs like they always been
next two expansion teams, Nashville and Vancouver or Portland in 2022. I see it coming. I’d say LV but I don’t know if they have a baseball dome?
The hypocrisy of adding a team in Vegas. They better re-instate Rose and Joe Jackson for the HOF right after Vegas is awarded a team, and by the way, why do people need to be reminded to wash their hands?
There have been multiple professional sports teams in Vegas for many years, I fail to see how any of this matters. No one should be given a pass for breaking the rules because a team exists in a city w gambling
Portland is so boring. Not sure why they’d get a team. The TrailBlazers are just fine as their only pro sports team
There’s a ton of room to build in Las Vegas. It would need to be a dome with a small chance of retractable roof. It’s just too hot to be open stadium. If Vegas ever does get a team it should be AL west.
Why would they add teams the sport is good the way it is. The owners make enough as it is.
If there is a season, whoever wins can’t honestly look in the mirror and consider themselves legit champions considering how watered down the post season will be.
They could easily argue that they had to get though more teams than any other champ in history. A 1 vs 8 in MLB isn’t as much of a joke as it is in the NBA. I’d hate for it to be a permanent thing, but for this season I’d be down with it if it means we have a season.
Why is the nba a joke? Its more popular then baseball.
NHL playoffs are 10x better than baseball and has half the league make the playoffs. The fact that baseball has only a few teams make playoffs and over half those teams are eliminated in a week after playing 162 game regular season seems like the joke to me
I got what you are saying that is because the NHL has more teams and more divisions
Man you couldn’t be more wrong. The NHL has 1 more team than the mlb, 31st team (Vegas) has only been in the league for 3 seasons (including current season). Before and after Vegas was a team they had 16 teams make the playoffs. The NHL also changed division format so now only has 4 divisions compared to baseballs 6
I knew that
Is it a travesty that colleges play a 56 game schedule with expansive playoffs?
Well, at least it would be more realistic that the Astros Championship!
Ouch. Love that comment!
I disagree. Just look at the Nationals last year through their first 50 games. They didn’t appear to have a chance at the playoffs, let alone eventual WS champions.
As a Rangers fan I just dislike the Astros! I was super surprised at the Nats!! They were clicking very well together at the end of the regular season though!
Why not? MLB already has a history of changing the length and format of the regular and postseason. They also have a history of changing team alignments, roster sizes, and individual rules. Today is June 8th and zero baseball games have been played so far. We already know 2020 cannot be the same as the most recent seasons, but I have yet to see someone explain what this mythical “traditional season” is that we need to compare everything to. Please enlighten me.
You called? I am in agreement
Spoken like a true O’s fan or Bucs fan
WRONG THEIR FAN BASE WILL BE IN HEAVEN ALL YEAR
The winning team will have had to play the same season as every other team. Unless they bang a trash can, why wouldn’t it be legit? No team is responsible for the truncated season. If they outperform everyone else, they will be champs. Based on that view, it will be pretty pathetic for a team not to win in a watered down season.
I doubt anyone will consider it “legit”, but why does that even matter. I’d be stoked if one of my teams wins.
I’m fine with the expanded playoffs as a 1 time only thing. This season is already different than all the rest anyway
Yah it makes sense to expand the playoffs when the regular season will likely be so short
Totally agree. It’ll basically be like a tournament this year with 50 games deciding who’s included. This could be fun.
If the owners are so adamant about preserving playoff games why not have all playoff series be 7 games? It would also be more fair if they expanded the playoffs since a longer series favors the better team.
Because that would be a potential of 112 playoff games if they all went the distance. That would lose money because no one would care until the World Series, and maybe the LCSs
Then why even expand the playoffs? Just keep the regular format.
For the exact reasons listed in the article. More money. More teams in play. More markets in the fold.
That’s way too long that’s 5 rounds each matchup up to 7 games. That’s 91 potential games I think vs 42 possible games now. Those numbers might be off a tiny bit but I think you get the point that’s more than double that games we have now that take almost an entire month
I just think, if you’re struggling to schedule a season that will be seen as legitimate, it’s foolish to create a viable scenario where a 20-28 Orioles team could sweep the Yankees out of the first round.
Have a couple play-in series if you want, but what They’re suggesting just undermines the whole format.
Orioles? Come on now, they said top 16 teams.
Really!!
Joey the first round would be a one game playoff the second, third and fourth round a three game playoff the last round a five game playoff then the WS, that’s not 91 games
TOO LONG SEVEN GAMES, a one game, three game five game and then seven game WS
As long as the expanded playoff is ONLY for this year, I am ok with it
In a season as short as the one we are looking at, it would kind of help guarantee the best teams actually make it. If we have a season of 50-60 games even the Astros, Yankees, Dodgers could be at risk of not making the playoffs with the regular format
Having a best-of-3 opening round is pretty crazy, though. It’s not like the Wild Card where the teams are essentially even. The best team in baseball could get knocked off by a team with a losing record because of two bad games.
Shit happens.
BTW, the best team often loses in 7 games!
Yeah, but how often would that really happen in an 8 seed vs. 1 seed scenario? Hell, in that case, why not just do a one-and-done postseason?
The best NEVER loses in a 7 game series. Maybe a one and done or best of 3, but when there’s a 7 game series, it always shows the cream of the crop coming out on top.
I like the 7 game series because it adds fun to the sport and the WS and playoffs
Unless one of the teams has a number of injured players no one is aware of?
The best did the past season.
Let’s weight it slightly in the favor of the best team—all three games to be played at the home of the higher seed. Heck, I think I can be swayed into round two being best of five with all five at the home of the higher seed.
NO days off in either of the first two series—play them so the team with the deeper pitching rotation and bullpen has an advantage and a lesser team can’t survive with a three man rotation and pitching the closer every day.
League championship and World Series back to 2-3-2 format, best of seven.
This is obviously a one year thing.
That’s not a bad idea and has been suggested in past proposals.
First round one game, second round five games(first three in home team advantage), third and fourth round five game series then seven game WS or you’ll be playing in the snow in some of these stadiums.
@nowheretogo—-there are only four rounds—the fourth round would be the World Series….just not seeing where multiple people are talking about five rounds:
Round one: from 16 to 8
Round two: from 8 to 4 (gets you to league championship)
Round three: from 4 to 2 (gets you to World Series)
Round four: from 2 to 1 (the 1 is the World Champion)
It would definitely be determined on who’s firing on all 8 cylinders at the time!!
There is no defense for the one game Wildcard game. We’re all bitching about the proposed format in what is an extremely odd year and a one time thing. The Wildcard game is an abomination.
Hey, at least the crazy Astro-haters would be happy then. We’ve gotta think about them and their emotional stability.
They would have had an interesting season for sure!
That’s fine with most baseball fans if those four don’t make it
Over.. Done.. no baseball. All this is just for show…
Yeah, at this rate I’m starting to suspect the owners have no interest in playing a season, this is all just a ruse to get the public to put the blame on the players.
Good take.
It’s been that way all along, to me. The owners simply want that playoff tv money, and they want the shortest route possible to get there. There’s almost no give on their part in this proposal. They probably WANT it to be rejected. The longer they can drag this out, the closer they get to their ultimate endgame- Manfred implementing a 50 gm season, then onto the playoffs. It’s all a PR game to them now to win public favor because they’re snakes.
Manfred can’t implement anything. He works for the owners.
I would stop buying my season tickets and never watch baseball again if baseball even went to 14 playoff teams.
Sure you would….
I would. The NBA sucks because it has too many playoff teams and the regular season doesn’t mean anything. Plus baseball’s statistical history would then be meaningless. Baseball doesn’t need any more money. Quit changing the game.
I agree
you and probably…nobody else
Same thing people said about interleague play. And the Wild Card. And Divisions. And Jackie Robinson.
One time thing, do it. Remember 1981. Expanded playoff because of 1st half and 2nd half. In 1982 they went back to normal. Get the season started. Let’s go.
I wonder if they’ll still pour champagne on each other after every single series is over and when they make these playoffs.
That would cost the owners too much money…
Agreed
Celebration: BYOB
No can do. No showers allowed this season. Can’t leave the stadium smelling like you been on a 6 week bender.
This entire dispute is about financial health far more then medical health. Players want as many games as possible ( health secondary). Why? Money.. Owners want less because of football in the fall not the possibility of a return of a virus
However, the current conversation is also that baseball in it’s current form is not viable against football. They already have changed things a lot in the history of the game, so what if a different format makes it more interesting to a larger population and grows the game? Isn’t that worth trying while talking about a clearly unusual season?
Okay, okay, I got it… Eight game season, every team makes the playoffs, add two more teams of all-star minor league players, single elimination playoffs, Seed #1 plays Seed #32, etc. All playoff series are best of fifteen.
I need an expert to predict who wins the final round, Pittsburgh or Baltimore?
The team led by World Series MVP Chris Davis (who will then demand an extension).
Lmao!
Neither. Top 16 teams only.
Bobtillman, history tells us that there is only 1 logical answer.
I don’t understand why you couldnt have at least some fans in the stands as long as they are socially distanced.
The Marlins can distribute a training video on social distancing protocol.
The Tigers have been practicing social distancing way before it was cool.
Your absolutely right fans in stands distanced or about 35% of the stadium could be utilized I agree. Go to restroom wear a mask wash your hands.
Sixteen playoff teams? Pathetic. I’d like to see baseball, but this sounds like the NBA or the NHL. MLB should show some restraint.
Hi Steve,
Can you fix the gtammer of the word morningby? I would assume it should be separated.
The new proposal sent this “morningby”
Hi again,
I just did paste the 1st part of sentence, so that you know what I’m saying.
The new proposal sent this “morningby” Major League Baseball to the Players Association in many ways boils down to a repackaging of previous, similar offers, but it does come with at least one particularly notable change, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).
If you can fix the word “morningby” that would be great.
you must be fun at parties
He is. After all, we’ve got to pin the tail on somebody!
“The prospect of a sub-.500 No. 8 seed upsetting a dominant N0. 1 seed would create some excitement, to be sure..”
I don’t see that as exciting. I see it as cheapening the entire experience. Any team can win 2 out of 3. Does MLB really want that? The season looks more and more like barnstorming.
I’m happy to watch baseball if it returns. But placing any legitimacy on results coming from this….nah.
So if the Dodgers or Yankees win you would forego legitimacy? They haven’t been able to win in decades. Baseball playoffs are always a crapshoot.
Until they play the playoffs like a regular season it’s going to be a crapshoot every time.
I know it’s for TV revenue, but NO more off days in a series–make a team use four or five starters, not three. Force teams to not use the same guys in the bullpen day after day. Play Tuesday night in Houston and fly and play Wednesday night in Oakland–just like the season.
Football playoffs are more predictable because the quarterback is always Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes. Basketball playoffs are more predictable because the point guard is always the point guard. Hockey playoffs are always predictable because you get the same goalie game after game.
Baseball is a crapshoot because the most important position on the field—starting pitcher—changes every single game. The best teams win over 160 games because they have to be good at the 4 and 5 starter—you don’t have to do that in the playoffs the way it is set now.
I definitely didn’t say that. I’m not eager to see a .667 team, whomever it is, lose a best of three to a sub ,500 one. The beauty of a long baseball season is that of selectivity.
There’s no guarantee in a short season that the #1 seed is the best team anyways. If a team gets hot for 3-4 weeks, they could claim the #1 spot even though in a full year they wouldn’t be able to maintain that. So I have no problem with an 8 seed knocking off a one seed in a season with less than 100 games. Let’s just play some ball!
Hypothetically, what if that 8th seed had a losing record? How is that good for the game?
@app_outlaw: Teams with losing records beat teams with winning records all the time. However, there is a reason they have losing records……they don’t beat teams with winning records for four straight series very often.
Because most Americans actually love upsets and underdogs. If USA had lost to U.S.S.R like they were supposed to, the Cold War would probably still be going.
It’s going to be a weird season no matter what. I think the 16 team bracket playoff sounds fun. I think it would be fun to see a team like the Diamondbacks (or hopefully my Reds) get hot and upset other teams to a Series win.
The owners’ strategy is obvious. Keep making proposals that the players will reject. This will eventually force the players to accept a 50-game season because there won’t enough time for anything else.
I agree that is their strategy to an extent. But the players won’t accept one of their proposals. What will happen, IF there is a season, Manfred will say the season will be 50 games and the players will get their prorated salaries. They’re going to force Manfred to make the call. The players could reject and strike, but Manfred will be the one who pulls the trigger on if a season goes forward with however many games and prorated salaries.
I agree on most of those points. If/when it goes down that way, I also hope the players strike. I’d argue these haven’t been “good faith” negotiations on the owners part.
I don’t see either side budging from their position, so why is it the owners that have not been in good faith?
Both sides are offering up proposals that suck and know will be turned down.
It’s whatever this yr with the playoffs for me. This yr is such a cluster f who cares? But please give us 80 regular season games, and don’t screw the sport over with 50.
As things stand, the players would benefit most from the regular season and the teams would benefit most from the playoffs. But the risk of the playoffs being cancelled due to a second covid wave is higher than the risk of the regular season being cancelled. So I like the idea of having the players and owners share some of that risk by having the players trade off regular season revenue for playoff revenue.
What a bhnch of cry babies!!!!
Bob Manfred keeps wanting to change baseball. Leave they playoffs the way they are. No more expansion of teams. There is already too much luck involved in determining who becomes the Champion. At this point I really don’t care if we have a season or not.
This isn’t a permanent thing, just a product of an already FUBARed scenario
How about the universal DH has to have a minimum 10% share of team ownership?
I would sure like to see Derek Jeter out here again!
Yup. That’s the ticket.
Haha! I feel like Mets fans would be all-in on that, constantly encouraging Wilpon to take one for the team, and lean into every pitch. I can’t imagine how loud Shea would be if he got plunked right in the thigh.
Shea has been gone for a decade my friend
Doh! Man, yeah, I sorta know. Lol. I can’t get myself out of the habit of calling it Shea though. Sounds better, anyway.
Not gonna lie. I probably won’t watch a game under what the owners purpose. I’ll watch games next season if there are any. But I’ll be honest I don’t watch the playoffs anyway. I do watch the regular game just not the playoffs.
Must be a Pirates fan…
the playoffs are the most exciting part of the season what are you saying you wouldn’t watch the playoffs???
Stupid. A shortened watered-down regular season followed by a bloated post-season where over half the teams make the playoffs. No interest here. I’d rather they just cancel the whole thing.
One man’s opinion, I want to see some underdog team in the WS this year
The league needs to go to 36 teams if they’re going to put 16 teams in the postseason. Having more than half of the teams qualify (or even just below half with 14) is a joke.
Here’s how they can realign the divisions with 36 teams. The Astros and Brewers will switch back to their original leagues…
AL East: Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte (expansion), New York (Yankees), Tampa Bay, Toronto
AL Central: Chicago (White Sox), Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minnesota
AL West: Las Vegas (expansion), Los Angeles (Angels), Oakland, Seattle, Texas, Vancouver (expansion)
NL East: Atlanta, Miami, Montreal (expansion), New York (Mets), Philadelphia, Washington
NL Central: Chicago (Cubs), Cincinnati, Houston, Nashville (expansion), Pittsburgh, St. Louis
NL West: Arizona, Colorado, Los Angeles (Dodgers), Portland (expansion), San Diego, San Francisco
Just curious, because I was thinking about where I’d put Portland and LV after the recent mock MLBTR expansion draft- why’d you go the way you did? I’d put Portland in the AL for the Seattle rivalry, and Vegas in the NL for Arizona.
I was trying not to put Seattle, Portland and Vancouver all in the same division so that’s why I put Vancouver and Portland in separate leagues. You could switch them if you want.
There would be a lot less moving around if you only had one of Portland/Vancouver and had either an Indianapolis or a Buffalo team instead.
With Indianapolis you simply add one team to each current division and don’t move anyone…
AL East: Charlotte
AL Central: Indianapolis
AL West: Portland/Vancouver
NL East: Montreal
NL Central: Nashville
NL West: Las Vegas
If you wanted to put a team in Buffalo instead of Indianapolis then you would put Buffalo in the AL East and move Toronto to the AL Central. The rest would be the same as above.
There needs to be realignment, regardless of expansion. Seattle is closer to Minneapolis than it is to Houston, The West Coast teams have it tough.
If they were to simply go to 32 teams with four in each division then I could see a division of Seattle, Portland/Vancouver, Colorado and Minnesota.
Portland just feels like more of a NL town and Vegas more of an AL one imo
You could switch Portland and Vancouver if you wanted. I was just trying to split up the three PNW teams a little bit.
You could even switch Colorado to the AL and put Las Vegas in the NL. It doesn’t really matter…and honestly Colorado basically has an American League offense every year anyway.
I think MLB should seriously consider an expansion team in the Caribbean. San Juan or Santo Domingo. Would sell out every game. San Juan already uses US dollars too.
Not sure it could support teams in Portland/Seattle/Vancouver at the same time. Don’t think the other leagues use more than one of the three, do they? What about Calgary or Edmonton as an alternative?
I have no problem with Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg or Ottawa but MLB has never mentioned any cities in Canada aside from Montreal and Vancouver. I just don’t see it happening.
MLS has teams in all three of the PNW cities. The NBA did at one point but the Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Memphis and the Seattle Supersonics are now the OKC Thunder. Obviously there’s no NFL team in Canada and they haven’t tried Portland yet but I’m sure they probably will eventually. The NHL is about to have both Vancouver and Seattle but not Portland. I agree it’s unlikely that they would have a team in all three but they should definitely consider at least putting a second team in that region. The Mariners are really far from every other team.
If Vancouver could not or would not support the NBA Grizzlies, are they going to be able to support an MLB team both from a financial/sportship standpoint or the attendance?
It’s quite a thing to be able to be able to attract that many people on top of the Canucks. The 15th best attendance in 2019 was the Twins at just shy of 2.3 million people – 28,322 per game. The closest team, the Mariners, only averaged 1.7 million fans (though, admittedly, not a good team). The only Canadian team, the Blue Jays, were 22nd best with 1.75 million fans – 21,606 per game.
The other issue is the exchange rate. It continues to be an issue for every team in Canada except maybe the Toronto teams.
Your last point nails it. The Canadian dollar was hovering between .60-.70 cents US back when the Grizzlies were around. Nowadays we have alternative revenue streams and a better Canadian TV deal than 25 years ago. Could Vancouver hold a team? They do not have an adequate ballpark plus there are many other viable US options.
You need a stadium with a dome if you going to add another Canada team? I agree thou with either Portland or LV or Memphis (Cardinals farm team has a great stadium in Memphis)
If they do that it is not the same
I would like to see the White Sox and Tampa switch divisions. Put Chicago WS with the larger market teams.
The old AL divisions were better…
East: Baltimore,. Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, New York, Toronto
West: California, Chicago, Kansas City, Minnesota, Oakland, Seattle, Texas
@westsidedawg Why? Chicago is well west of Tampa. It makes no sense. Plus, the Yankees are absolutely loaded and the Red Sox are usually big spenders, so the White Sox would be looking up at one or both of them most years, no matter how well they ran their team. In the AL Central, there are a bunch of small-market teams (with Chicago run like one most years). They at least have a decent shot at the playoffs where they are.
If they go to 32 teams and realign leagues and divisions then the most fair way to do it would be to put both NY teams with Boston and Philadelphia. Those are the four biggest markets in the Northeast.
I don’t see MLB adding four expansion teams in one year I see possibly Las Vegas and Portland added in 2022. If the new ownership doesn’t come forward for these two cities then the back up would be Nashville and Portland or Vancouver.
I honestly think Tampa Bay should relocate to either Charlotte or Nashville…probably Charlotte so there isn’t such a huge gap between Atlanta and D.C.
Then add expansion teams in Las Vegas and Portland/Vancouver. That’s the best way to do it if they’re only adding two teams. That puts two more teams in the West, which has far fewer teams than the East, and it also covers more of the Southeast while getting the Rays out of a market that doesn’t support them. I would definitely change the name though if they’re going to move.
Don’t think those cities can assemble teams, build stadiums, and get in a tv deal by July.
I’m aware this season will be strange but if they plan on keeping that many postseason teams then they need to expand soon.
I know but and why could the shorted season impact 2021
This would be more palatable if the three game series is played at the home field of the higher seed, rather than giving a No 8 seed home playoff games, and flying around the country to do it.
If it leads to getting a deal done, fine, in the short term.
Let’s just face it, we’re not going to have baseball this year.
This ordeal is getting more bizarre by the day. Too many teams in playoffs. One of the reasons I lost interest in the NBA & NHL.
There’s going to be a lot of whining this off season when the owners refuse to pony up big FA contracts.
You’ll see FA salaries reduced and many more trades made than ever before. As far as drafting to the minors you’ll see more college players than high school players.
so much complaining. is adding a few more playoff teams for one year really that much of an issue for any of you, or is this just a stunt? i for one dont give a damn. if it takes 116 playoff teams to get baseball played this year than im game. stop complaining so much about what is clearly a one-off. this stuff isnt going to stick anyway with the CBA not up until after 2021.
It is certainly not a stunt from my perspective. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
im not going to say these people cant have said opinions, but i just doubt they really mean them and question why is worth being so worked up over.
I like the playoffs the way they are please don’t change them. It makes the playoffs for fun please leave them the way they are.
can’t do it this year if there’s baseball everyone needs to make the extra coin on added playoffs, TV and Commercials, etc.
Aw gee whiz guys, can you figure this out so I don’t have to make any tough decisions?
– From (underneath) the desk of Rob Manfred, the Michael Scott of commissioners.
At this point it’s really on the commish for letting this side show go on. Give them a deadline before you set a schedule neither side likes, and remind them you are the guy that gave immunity to the cheaters to just go after the ones who looked the other way. That should get things moving.
I am really starting to believe that the people in charge of MLB were put there by the NFL and the NBA in order to bring down the competition. It seems like every decision they want to make is designed to not bring in new fans, but to tick off old fans and drive them away. MLB just believes that hardcore, lifelong fans won’t go away regardless of what they do . Some might not, but many more will.
It is 10 times easier and more profitable to keep an existing customer over gaining a new customer.
I think this would go over better with the fans if they packaged it not as “regular season” and “expanded playoffs,” but rather, as a tournament in lieu of the season, similar to March Madness. Include all 30-teams. Five game short series for all but the semi-finals and finals, which are seven games.
Sure, it’s not baseball. It’s something baseball-like for this non-season. Nobody will mistake the winner for a WS champion. Indeed, we should call it something else.
Raises too many problems. If your team is out after the first five games, your season is over and that fan base might lose interest entirely. Even if there was some sort of round-robin within a division, the season would be over for half the teams after just 20 games. Plus, what do the players on those teams get? A pro-rated salary for only 20 games? I think they’d rather nix the season entirely. The owners complain that the more games they have, the more money they lose, so they might want to lose is in that scenario. It’d be a complete sham with conflicts of interest everywhere.
As long as this is a 1-year deviation, I’m ok with it. Lots of people are turned off by this fight between the owners and players. The way to get them back is to involve as many fanbases as possible when the games matter most. The owners make more money without having fans. The young guys can more than double their salary with playoff shares, which is great for them, but the stars would be working for relatively little. It happens every year, but would affect more of them this year. If I were a player, I’d agree to this readily if the owners would come up to at least 90% of the pro-rated amount and 81 games. We still have time for that if a deal gets done this week.
It’s a one year deviation as long as you can guarantee no pandemic next year.
With more playoff teams anything can happen. What a horrible thing haha. If you want your predictable season/playoffs, Go do computer simulations and crown the champ of that the champ. There is a reason people love March Madness. People love seeing Iona knock off Duke. I know the fans of the biggest few teams would love to see those teams in the World Series every year but most people like when a wild card comes up and knocks off the billion dollar roster.
Ok, scenario for you- you find out when you wake up tomorrow that 2 of your friends just became millionaires. Naturally you’re happy for both, I’d assume. The first has worked his/her tail off for an entire year, invested smart, and got rewarded. The second friend hits the lottery. Who deserves it more?
It’s not about predictability, to an extent. I don’t want to see someone get hurt, or some team get lucky in a best of 3 though, then all of a sudden a great team goes home.
I do, make the chips fall where they fall, exciting for once to see an underdog go all the WAY
In my opinion playoffs are playoffs. If you want to go to the World Series, win. If the 1 or 2 seed goes down they only have themselves to blame.
Doesn’t matter who deserves it. They are both millionaires.
Geez, just kill the season. Come back next year.
So both teams are so intent on beating the other that they will both lose. Fans lose too. Both sides can kiss my butt.
Honestly I generally hate the owners but I think it’s reasonable to ask the players to take a modest pay cut this year because no fans are in the stands and therefore much less revenue. Everybody needs to take a bit of a cut in order to get meaningful baseball. Of course they are both pig headed so we get no games at all. See you in 2021` if I even care by then.
Dead baseball
Boycott
Stupid everyone
Let’s do 1 more round and make it 32 teams. We can watch our favorite teams play 76 meaningless games to rack and stack themselves for an All-In playoff format where even the worst team could catch lightning in a bottle and go on to become champs. And all that can happen in direct conflict the NBA playoffs, the NHL playoffs, the NFL season, the CFB season, all the deferred golf majors, and the Presidential elections. We’re going to need another Coronacation to keep up with all this!
Do you know how many teams there are?
Are you even a baseball fan?
Answer to the first question: 30
Answer to the second question: obviously from the first question, NO
i guess sarcasm and hyperbole are to difficult for simple simon.
I could deal with it. Lets be honest, this season is always gonna be different. Whatever happens will be viewed that way as well. As a die hard Yankees fan I’d take a 2020 title but I’d also know its more ceremonial than anything. That said, why not take advantage of that for us all? We could all use the distraction right now. 16 fan bases with something positive to pull for is a great thing right now.
Very often 7-games series come down to a 2-out-of-3, sometimes with disparate teams, and sometimes the team that won 15 fewer games in the regular season wins.
That’s the problem with playoffs, and World Series: the best team doesn’t always win.
And if a #1 seed with 2 games at home and more than likely rested pitching can’t win: tough.
Any number of games is better than no games, let’s play!
If the Owners were making money without gate/concessions they’d want more games﹘why not? If they’re making money playing games, play more games.
Some teams would make money from just their TV deals, but each team has its own market and a lot of them don’t get enough to off-set losing nearly 40% of their revenues that come from gate and concessions.
To give the players something, MLB is willing to lose some but not too many hundreds of millions.
To some it’s OK for the top player to make $37,000,000 and a small market franchise to lose money. What the Owners have done is to figure out how much they’re willing to lose (that’s lose, not make less money) and then adjust salaries depending on how many games they play. Players still do well compared to most of us who don’t have a minimum salary of $563,500 per year, that’s $3,500 for a 3-hour game. Game. They play baseball. Its not professional football tough, it’s not professional basketball endurance, it’s sitting on your butt half the time and standing around most of the other half.
No one feels sorry for Owners﹘they’ve “made it” but they shouldn’t feel sorry for Scherzer either who’s only looking out for his $37,000,000﹘about $1,250,000 per game!
No team makes more than 30% of their revenue from gate receipts.
There are several studies that peg it at 37% including concessions. Excuse the round up to “nearly 40%”
Some people spend more on food than getting in and parking is very high too
There isn’t one team in any of the three major sports that are losing money.
Time for all the top players to demand prorated salary for 80 games or they sit out the season!
I could do a 80 game season
Who cares? The game continues to deteriorate to the point where it is almost unwatchable. Hope those 30 million a year guys saved their cash because those days are over.
And yet you are on a site that is dedicated to rumors about baseball. Can you lie any more transparently?
WTH do the owners think? The players salaries were guaranteed. ALL of it. They agreed to take a huge pay cut and only get paid for the games they actually play. Now the owners want the players and you and I to believe that they will lose money if they don’t stick it to the players. I hope the players say F off Manfred.
.
It’s only guaranteed if they play.
Unlike players the owners don’t have a guarantee.
Without gate receipts, concessions, and parking, there is only TV.
If you want your owner to lose money, don’t expect him to sign pricey free agents
Not during a national emergency and this pandemic qualifies. Those salaries this year actually are guaranteed nothing if the owners decide the season is toast. This is an odd situation and the answer is going to have to be that odd way too!
Are they talking about baseball coming back
Baseball will always have its millions of fans, no matter what happens with these negotiations or during next year’s CBA. I’d bet that any of us who are taking the time to comment on this site likely aren’t going to suddenly stop watching or caring about our teams and the sport. As soon as its back, we’ll go right back to debating trades, signings, draft picks, releases, and everything else.
That said, we aren’t the risk. The risk is losing the casual fans who sit at home and debate between watching a ballgame or stream Netflix that night. The public bickering turns off that person. Who wants to invest their time in a sport whose dominating headlines for arguing over money instead of actually playing? And if you’re not going to give them a reason to invest their time how the heck are people supposed to invest their money?
I see a game on TV. I become a fan of a player or team. I buy their shirt or jersey. I buy tickets to see them play. I buy concessions. I get my friends and family involved. I sign my children up for little league. That’s how the game is going grow and survive into the next generation and beyond.
Strikes, holdouts, and labor disputes? Nah, I’ll watch Netflix until the NBA is back.
Don’t kill the game, owners, Manfred, Clark, or players. Recognize the devastation of a cancelled season BEFORE a CBA negotiation. Get it done.
Yet here you are, mesmerized by the money drama of the sport. As the 186th comment, you are so fascinated by the dollars, like so many of us. When the off season arrives, we all give opinions on whether player X got more than he deserves in free agency, more so than commenting on whether he will really help the team that signed him. The dollars draw!
As i said, if you love it enough to comment it on this site, they aren’t worried about us. We’re gonna come back after all this is over and give them our money.
The back and forth is entertaining for me, but casual fans don’t care about it. You’re not getting new fans by doing this. I didn’t fall in love with baseball or even become a fan because of transactions or labor negotiations. It did it by actually watching the best in the world play baseball.
I understand what you are saying
This playoff thing is getting ridiculous why even have a season? Just start a playoff tournament.
I like the MLB divisions the way they are
So what is the season looking this year
This is dumb. Part of what I love about baseball is that only 1/3 of the teams make the playoffs. Half of the league making the playoffs is way too much. MORE THAN THAT IS JUST PLAIN STUPID!!! Manfred needs to stop messing with baseball and leave it. It is fine the way it is. Maybe a few changes here and there are acceptable, but 10 teams is enough for the playoffs.
Agreed all the way with you buddy
76-game schedule? 16 playoff teams? Oh dear…can anyone handle 2020 World Series Champion Marlins?
It would be fitting for this joke of a year
Your 2020 World Series Champions Detroit Tigers
I like the 16 team playoff format. If as proposed, the season will be less than half the normal length. We’ve seen teams get hot for half a season then crash and burn and vise versa. The only tweak I would make is that the 6 teams that win their division get all the games in that first round at home, and they get 1 win for winning the division. So the teams they play have to win 2 games on the road to advance while the home team only has to win one.
BUT the owners need to pay the players their full prorated share for those 76 regular season games, period.
The interesting thing about this, nearly every MLB team is capable of being hot enough for less than half a season to make the playoffs as one of the 16 teams. After that, it’s who is hot or in a good rhythm for the postseason.
What would the world do with a 2020 World Series Champion Marlins?
Is there enough teams to do that
I love it. 3/3 in postseason/world series championships
The players should take it. For the owners baseball is just a hobby. Not their source of income. They lose the least amount of money by cancelling the season. They don’t care if they have to lose the season. Baseball might take a hit, but baseball will go on with or without the current players
for most owners baseball is an investment.
The 76 game season is not that bad right
If there is no season the owners lose alot of money
And the greedy players lose almost everything
Are they talking about baseball coming back
True
As a Tigers fan, I love it. It could allow a lesser team to sneak in to the playoff picture and get hot at the right time and luck their way to a championship. Everyone who understands statistics knows 7 games is too small a sample size and either team could easily beat the other, no matter how stacked one team is.
I didn’t read all the posts above, so someone may have posted this. At the approximate 50 game mark last season (some teams over 50, some under), this is who would have made an expanded playoff last year.
AL: Minnesota, Houston, Yankees, Tampa Bay, Boston, Texas, Cleveland, Oakland.
NL: Dodgers, Cubs, Phillies, Brewers, Braves, Padres, Pirates, Diamondbacks.
The Padres and Pirates finished well below .500.
I’m at the point where I don’t care much. The dialogue between the owners and MLBPA is discouraging with the current state of the country, and the unemployment rate. If it comes back this season I’ll be watching every Rays/Marlins/Halos game. I’ll be into the season like a diehard. But if it doesn’t comeback I won’t sweat it. I’ll just wait until 2021.
Why do they want to change the playoff format
Larger playoff tv revenue.
Let’s Get It On as Judge Mills Lane used to say to start a boxing match !! I don’t want to see baseball in Nov. Or Dec. !!!
MLB and its players are blowing it with the fans. Just when we (USA baseball fans) really need you to begin play after all of the fake news about the severity of the pandemic, the pre-planned TV Show of riots while Chicago is a weekly killing field, you all in baseball fail us. Remember after 911 when baseball restarted and soothed the nation. Sad. Where is your soul?
Has the MLBPA and MLB agree on a 2020 season start date or how many games yet
There better be walk off homerun celebrations baseball is not fun without that
Why do they keep changing stuff in baseball