CINCINNATI — Cutting the length of Major League Baseball’s regular-season schedule could be tied to reconfiguring the postseason.
Baseball players are increasingly complaining of the toll of playing 162 games in 183 days. The schedule was 154 games before the AL added eight games when it expanded in 1961, and the National League adopted the new format when it added two teams for the 1962 season.
“A shortened schedule is a major, major economic issue,” Commissioner Rob Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday.
“We sell out in a lot of markets in terms of gates. The gates are really valuable to us. We have television commitments. Each local contract varies, but there are game guarantees that could be affected by a shortened season.”
“Usually when you have a big economic issue where you’re giving up revenue, you got to figure out something that is offsetting in the other direction,” Manfred said, “and the one obvious possibility is you make a change in terms of playoff format. I’m not suggesting that we’re anywhere on either of those topics, but I do think if you shorten the season, there would be pressure to look at the postseason, as well.”
Baseball management is also intrigued with the idea of using pitch clocks to speed up play.
Adopting rules requiring hitters to keep at least one foot in the batter’s box and to put up clocks timing between-innings breaks led to the average time of a nine-inning game dropping to 2 hours, 53 minutes so far this season. That is down from 3:02 for the first half of 2014.
“We also made a decision to make a significant investment to test the 20-second pitch clock further at Double-A and Triple-A. We are really encouraged by the results of that experiment in terms of how it moves the games along,” Manfred said.
“Now how quickly that experiment or whether that experiment migrates to the big league level is going to be a product of conversations with the MLBPA.”
The league and the players’ association also said they are nearing agreement on a new domestic violence policy.
Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement includes a voluntary treatment program for certain alcohol-related and off-field violent conduct. It also allows the commissioner or a team to impose discipline, but doesn’t say of what sort, if a player is charged with a crime “involving the use of physical force or violence, including but not limited to, sexual assault, domestic violence, resisting arrest, battery, and assault.”
“I am certain that we will have one that we will announce shortly,” Manfred said.
