“I think it’s just antiquated to play 162 games” MLB STRIKE 2027 NEWS

I’ve been waiting for this, Chris, honestly, for years. I think it’s just antiquated to play 162 games, Jesse Rogers said while discussing MLB’s scheduling proposal with Christopher Russo.

The ESPN reporter supported reducing the regular season and moving the Division Series to best-of-seven. His answer on Mad Dog Unleashed focused on the amount of baseball played before October and his desire to see leading starting pitchers healthy enough to work deeper into postseason games.

There’s still a full season and summer of baseball for fans. So I think it makes all the sense in the world.

MLB’s October 8 proposal sets a 154-game regular season and seven-game Division Series for 2029. A separate opponent-selection provision would start in 2027. The changes remain subject to bargaining, and the MLBPA says the league has made them conditional on accepting a salary cap.

Rogers’ support for the shorter schedule was his assessment of its potential benefits. The proposal does not establish that fewer games would eliminate pitching injuries.

On a seven-game Division Series, Rogers wanted a longer test of a team after a long regular season, while retaining his condition about player health.

So at least let’s get to the second round and play a best of seven, but it has to be with more healthy bodies.

A different view of choosing opponents

Russo was interested in the television appeal of letting designated higher seeds choose playoff opponents. Rogers saw the potential drama but said reseeding would have been a better answer to bracket concerns.

There’s no way every GM and owner was on board with that. Maybe some were. I think many were not, Rogers said, disputing Russo’s suggestion of broad agreement.

His statement about disagreement was his assessment, not a documented account of a unanimous or divided vote. He then explained his preference.

But I think re-seeding made more sense.

Rogers described choosing an opponent as gimmicky, while expecting the selection to provide television drama and material for the chosen opponent.

When Russo later asked how players would react, Rogers said he had not yet spoken to them about the proposal. He expected them to like fewer games without reduced pay and a regular weekly day off; that expectation was not an announcement of union support.

Rogers ended his opponent-selection answer with a distinction between the rule changes he had liked and the risks he saw in adding more.

Let’s just be careful.