As we get closer and closer to the end of the 2026 MLB season, the impending lockout and CBA negotiations will begin to take center stage in the baseball world. Even now as the final four teams get the league championship series underway, we still received some drops of information regarding the negotiations between the league and the MLB player’s association.
It’s imperative to take all of these leaks and reports with an appropriate grain of salt, as both sides will likely try to use the media to negotiate
in public. The proposals this far out should receive even more skepticism, as neither side will be willing to concede this early. However, one of the latest reported proposals from the league has a somewhat interesting topic of discussion, and that’s the length of MLB’s regular season.
In the proposal, MLB broached the idea of shortening the regular season from the current 162 games back to the former 154 games. The latter was the standard until the American League moved to 162 games in 1961 with the National League following the year after. Seven less games obviously mean that the regular season would be one week shorter, allowing for each week to have a built-in off day for each team. That would theoretically help keep players, especially pitchers, healthy as they would be less wear and tear on their bodies. Part of the league’s reasoning for this idea was also the ability to then extend the length of the divisional round of the postseason from a best of five to a best of seven. In addition to that, MLB proposed that the higher seeds would be able to choose their opponents for those series.
There will be many more ideas exchanged back and forth from both sides over the coming winter, but this is one of the first ones that feels like it has at least some realistically possibility of happening in some form. So, should MLB shorten the length of the regular season? Or should it stay where it is? Or does it not even go far enough for your liking?
