Major League Baseball team owners want to cut the regular season down from 162 to 154 games while drastically reformatting the playoffs, according to a proposal submitted to the players union Thursday.
MLB shared its proposal on social media amid ongoing negotiations with the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) on a new labor deal. Baseball’s current collective-bargaining agreement is set to expire on December 1 and without a new deal in place, owners are expected to impose a lockout that could impact the 2027 season.
Most of the proposals given to the MLBPA and shared online by MLB would begin in 2029 to coincide with the next national media deal.
Those proposals include the reduction of the regular season down to 154 games, which MLB argued would allow for players to enjoy a standard off day every week. Additionally, a 154-game season gives MLB room to expand of the Division Series from a best-of-five to a best-of-seven format – something owners would also like to do in 2029.
As for next season – if there is a ‘next’ season – MLB owners hope to allow higher-seeded playoff teams to pick their opponents in the Wild Card and Divisional Series, although fans quickly objected to that proposal.
‘The dumbest thing I have ever heard,’ one fan wrote on X. ‘Pick your opponent in WC round?????…….NO!’
San Diego Padres fans cheer during Game 2 of the Wild Card series against the Chicago Cubs
Tampa Bay Rays celebrate the team’s win in Game 3 of the American League Division Series
‘Opponents shouldn’t get to choose opponents,’ another added. ‘Get that all the way out of here.’
A less diplomatic fan followed by asking: ‘[What the f***] is this “opponent selection” bull[s***]?’
Currently, MLB’s 12-team playoff operates under a fixed-seeding format. Unlike the NFL, which reseeds teams after its Wild Card round, MLB does not redraw matchups to favor clubs that did better in the regular season.
Fans did seem a bit more open minded about cutting back to a 154-game regular season, which was last used by the American League in 1960 and by the National League in 1961.
‘I agree with everything but the pick the opponent thing,’ one fan wrote.
Fans of teams that traditionally struggle in late September seemed particularly open to a 154-game season.
‘Cutting it to 154 games is the first MLB proposal Cubs fans fully support,’ one fan joked. ‘8 fewer games to sit through before they miss October anyway.’
Still, there are some practical issues with playing eight fewer games per season.
‘154 has been coming for a while, but it does affect record books,’ one fan wrote before asking: ‘Asterisk to all the 162 game records?’
Unfortunately, the fans don’t vote directly on the right course of action for future MLB seasons. That process is still to be determined by owners and the players’ union.
MLBPA spokespeople did not immediately respond to The Daily Mail’s request for comment.
Next season, MLB owners hope to allow higher-seeded playoff teams to pick their opponents in the Wild Card and Divisional Series, although fans quickly objected to that proposal
The exact length of MLB’s season as well as its playoff format are expected to be secondary issues for the owners, who have been pushing for a salary cap for decades.
They even have the support of President Donald Trump, who remains open to stepping in to mediate the labor talks between owners and players.
‘If you don’t have a salary cap, you don’t have a sport, because they can’t help themselves,’ Trump told reporters in June aboard Air Force One. ‘Football has a salary cap. [MLB] should have done it a long time ago.
‘It’s shocking, frankly, that they didn’t put a cap on many years ago,’ Trump said in an apparent reference to the 1994-1995 player strike. ‘They had a chance to do a cap but they blew it.’
The strike that cost fans the 1994 World Series was also fought over a salary cap. Owners tried to play the 1995 season with replacement players, only to reach an agreement with the union on a new labor deal void of any salary cap. Since then, the two sides have worked out five collective bargaining agreements, most recently in 2022.
