MLB Should Adopt a 134 Game Schedule

Major league baseball has a dilemma coming at the end of the corona-virus shut down. That is how to fit 162 games into approximately 5 months. The baseball season has been shut down since the second week of March, and was expected to begin next week, the earliest it has ever started. That obviously will not happen. In fact, nobody knows when the season will begin, and some question if it will at all.

Step one of the plan to begin the season has to start with how much spring training will be used before the first game. At least two weeks will be needed, just to get the pitchers ready and hitters back in some form. Toronto Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro told the media from his home yesterday at least 4 weeks are needed.

“Knowing that so many players are not even having any access to throwing at all or hitting at all, but most importantly just throwing, and probably limited access to just training and exercise, it’s hard to imagine we could get ready in less than four weeks,” Shapiro said in a teleconference with reporters.

If the clock started now, which it won’t, the season would be back traced to Memorial Day Weekend. For that to happen, spring training would have to resume around May 4, which is conceivable. And that sounds like a good start. People will be just getting back into a routine and the baseball season would be a good kick start.

Step two is how long will the season be? 162 games? 154? Shorten it to 140? Two points can be made immediately to shorten the season. First, currently each team plays 19 games with divisional opponents. Shorten that to just 16. That would cut at least 12 games off the normal 5 team division.

Then there is inter-league play. Each team plays one three-game series against four teams from one division in the other league, and two two-game series (one home, one away) against the remaining team in that division. If that were eliminated, you could cut another 16 games. If just those two were cut from the usual schedule, it would reduce the season from 162 to 134. That becomes manageable, if you expand rosters and increase double headers.

Let’s say the season starts on Friday, May 29^th and the target date to end the season would be one week later that usual on Sunday, October 11. That gives us 135 days to play 134 games. Figuring in one day off for every 20 games, which is about 1 day off a week, leaves you with about 128 days. That includes 12 Saturday’s from June 20^th thru September 5. On those days you would play day-night double headers, which could cut the days down 12 days. On DH Saturday’s you could increase the Major League rosters from 25 to 27, and you could change the rosters from game to game. So if you needed an additional reliever for game two, you could bring one up.

The post season would have to be different. Crown the three divisional winners and two wild card teams play the usual one game playoff. But the first round will be 3 out of 5 and the League championship round and World Series being the same 4 of 7. If the season ended on October 11^th and the playoff began on October 13^th, and if each series went the distance, the season would end on November 6. That would give you two days off ONLY in the World Series for travel.

Another item that should be changed for this season is the reliever rule. As of now any reliever that comes into the game has to face three hitters. Rescind that rule and begin it next season. With the shortened spring training pitchers will need help. Major League rosters should be expanded, at least in the first month from 25 to 30. Of which 3 should be pitchers. As a trade off, restrict visits to the mound to just one. With this epidemic the last thing people are going to worry about is the time of a baseball game. When baseball resumes, it will be a breath of fresh air for this country.

Baseball will return and the green grass will be back in our minds. But the game will change just a little. That change will be welcomed, because even with the differences, the game will remind us the country is healing and normalcy is returning. Something we can all agree will be much needed by Memorial Day.