MLB’s labor talks include an expanded postseason field and possibly ‘ghost wins’
The good news on the Major League Baseball labor front is the league’s drop-dead date for getting a deal done passed Monday and no regular-season games were canceled.
The bad news? There is still work to be done on a collective bargaining agreement, and the Washington Post’s Chelsea James reported the MLB deadline had been pushed back to Tuesday.
James summed things up this way: “Exactly where things stood as Monday turned to Tuesday and February turned to March was unclear — but fragile. Both sides indicated an awareness that whatever progress they made Monday could evaporate quickly, in large part because soft agreements on one part of the deal were in many instances contingent on agreements on others. Should any one piece slide out of one side’s comfort zone — or should a few hours of sleep lead anyone to reconsider — the whole thing could topple out of balance again. Until everything is agreed to, nothing is agreed to.”
Among the talking points is expanding the postseason field from its current 10-team format to 12 teams or possibly even 14 teams.
On that issue there apparently is common ground.
The Athletic’s Evan Drellich reported there is an agreement “with the union’s preferred format for an expanded postseason of 12 teams, rather than the 14 teams the league had sought. “
The current MLB postseason setup has 10 participants. Five teams in each league make the playoffs: the three division winners and two wild cards.
Here’s how things could look in the future with a 12-team postseason and a look at the 14-team idea that had been pushed by owners.
A 12-team format
This could look similar to the old NFL postseason format with six teams in each league qualifying for the postseason: three division winners and three wild cards.
The teams with the two best records would get a bye, and the other four would face off in the first round (wild card round). It would be seeds No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5 in a best-of-three series.
There could be one rather large wrinkle: a “ghost win.”
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported Sunday the players union wants to reward success in the regular season and suggested the division winner would play the entire three-game series at home and begin with a one-game advantage or a “ghost win.”
That means the division winner would only have to win two of three games while the wild card team would have to win all three games.
It’s not clear if MLB agreed to the “ghost win” proposal or simply the 12-team format.
A 14-team format
This would follow the NFL’s current postseason seeding: the division winner with the best record would get a bye (in each league), as the New York Times explained. The other six teams would be seeded with the two division winners getting the “ghost win” option in a best-of-three format.
Again, the higher seeded team would be host to all three games. Three teams would advance to join the league champion in a best-of-five division series, followed by the best-of seven league championship and the World Series.
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 9:50 AM.
