MLB given ultimatum to start season after weeks of negotiations between players and owners
Sports reporter and analyst Jason Page weighs in.
Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Glavine has an idea for Major League Baseball.
The Atlanta Braves legend said that he is in favor of the league permanently making the 162-game season a thing of the past by moving forward with a shorter regular season. During an interview on 97.5 The Game in San Francisco, Glavine said he is “very much open” to the idea, as well as adding more playoff teams to the mix.
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“I know the purists in the game probably hate that, but the purists in the game hated the Wild Card, and the Wild Card has been pretty good for baseball,” Glavine said via NJ.com. "The Wild Card play-in game has been pretty good. Anything you can do to add excitement to teams and cities late in the year that maybe otherwise wouldn’t have it, I don’t think is a bad thing.”
Glavine added that he wouldn’t want the MLB to expand to a 16-team playoff format like the NBA and NHL, but he thinks an additional round in the postseason makes sense.
“When you hear about adding another tier of playoffs the number that everybody seems to come up with that makes sense is 154 games,” Glavine said. “I’d be fine with that, and then you add an extra round of playoffs.”
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It will be interesting to see if the MLB owners and players association can come to an agreement on such a dramatic change. Glavine is likely right that the MLB purists wouldn’t be in favor of it, but baseball undoubtedly needs to make the game more interesting. Shortening the regular season increases the importance of each game, and adding more playoff teams gives October and November more meaning for additional teams.