Colorado Rockies: Expanded playoffs, rosters, and no more transactions for the near future?

Some news has developed on some of the possible changes that may come to MLB and its 30 teams, including the Colorado Rockies, in 2020.

Multiple reports have indicated that once the owners ratify some labor changes (that we discussed in this article on Thursday night), there may be a few other changes that are coming or could be coming soon for the Colorado Rockies and the other 29 MLB teams.

Let’s dive into the three biggest changes.

Expanded playoffs in 2020?

Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported on Friday morning that MLB is considering expanding this season’s playoffs from 10 teams to 14 teams.

However, “almost anything” he’s on the table. As he mentioned in his tweet, it has been proposed for the future but this could be a great time to experiment with things. That’s what MLB did in 1981 when they implemented the divisional series when the season was stopped in the middle due to a player strike.

They decided to split the seasons in half (before the strike and after the strike) and the winner of each half in each division would face each other in a divisional series. The winner of that series would then go on to face the winner of the divisional series in the other division in the league championship series, like before.

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They tested it and liked it enough to implement the divisional series in 1994 (which ended up being 1995 due to another work stoppage). They did not like the split season format, though, because in the NL, the two best teams actually missed the playoffs (the Cardinals and the Reds).

In 2019, the two teams in each league that would have been included in the playoffs would have been the Cleveland Indians (93-69) and Boston Red Sox (84-78) in the American League and New York Mets (86-76) and Arizona Diamondbacks (85-77) in the National League.

MLB was already considering making this happen in 2022 but they could test it in 2020. As Heyman said, it would add “big games, boost excitement, and yes[,] revenue,” which is something that they may need considering the possible shortened schedule.

Expanded rosters

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported Friday morning that MLB teams are expected to have their rosters expanded to 29 players, instead of 26, to start the season.

If this were the case, personally, I think that would signal to a shorter spring training, particularly if all three spots are able to be used on pitchers. Realistically, teams do not need three weeks to ramp up for the regular season.

Also, if the season starts in June or July, then those three weeks should be used in the regular season so games don’t go all the way to December (like Scott Boras proposed).

A transaction embargo

Evan Drellich of The Athletic reported on Twitter on Thursday night that there will be a transaction embargo that will be agreed upon by the owners and players. As a result, there will likely be no trades or free-agent signings and possibly moves between the minors and majors for call-ups and send downs.

We should hear more about this and the other developments on the situation when the owners ratify some of the new changes today and in the coming days and weeks.