MLB: Why baseball should return to a 154-game schedule
If this season has taught us anything about baseball, it’s that the fewer and shorter games should be the future of MLB.
On Saturday, Joel Sherman of the New York Post published a piece proposing an expanded 174-game schedule. In his proposal, MLB teams would play…
- 146 eight-inning games
- 14 seven-inning double-headers
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The purpose of Sherman’s plan is to essentially keep games under the dreaded 3-hour mark. According to Sherman, this season the average 7-inning game is 2:31 and using the 9-inning average, an 8-inning game should last approximately 2:47.
Though I give Mr. Sherman kudos for thinking creatively, what baseball needs now more than ever is less, not more. So today, I come with a retort to Sherman’s piece, and my idea will require baseball to turn back the clocks to a time where an MLB season was only 154 games.
I’m not entirely throwing Sherman’s idea out either. In fact, I like the idea of keeping games under three hours too! So, with that in mind, here’s how a regular-season would look like…
- Teams play 6-days a week.
- Every team has Monday off.
- 110 eight-inning games.
- 22 seven-inning double-headers to be played either Saturday or Sunday
- In all, the season will last 23 weeks with the All-Star break lasting 1-week.
Aside from those logistics, I would continue the use of the current experimental rules MLB has instituted for this shortened season (e.g. universal DH and the extra-inning rule). I would, however, remove the new bullpen rule and instead institute a visible pitch-clock like in the NBA. Pitch clock violations would result in a ball or a strike, depending on who violated it.
Like with Sherman’s idea, mine also would have zero job-loss, starters and relievers wouldn’t lose value, and secondary players would gain opportunities. What’s more, keeping in mind how routined MLB players can be, with a dedicated day off each week, a starter could be assigned a certain day and everyday players won’t have to wait weeks for an off-day.
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To me, this is easily a no-brainer.