There are only a few hours left before this MLB employment contract expires. Barring a huge surprise, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, there will be a lockout in major league baseball.
Note that this does not prevent teams from moving at the minor league level. It is only at the Major level that nothing will happen.
Nevertheless, there is still a chance that the two parties will settle their multitude of disputes by Wednesday evening. Among what is blocking at the moment, there is in particular the salary cap, the management of the years of control, the period of free agents and the format of the playoffs.
Speaking of the playoffs, there would have been a proposal from the MLB to this effect quite recently. According to this, no less than 14 teams will take part in October baseball as early as 2022.
Basically there would be seven teams per league. The one with the best record in each of the leagues would get a first-round pass while the other two division winners could choose which draft team they wish to face.
Yes yes, you got it right: there would be a selection process in which the division winners could choose their opponent in a 2 of 3.
Thus, the two remaining teams would compete to make three sets 2 of 3. After that, we would go back to a 3 of 5 for the second round and a 4 of 7 for the last two rounds.
Obviously, this proposal received a mixed reception from the players. On the one hand, some teams could decide to spend more (thus, increase in the wages of the guys) to ensure a pass in the first round or the choice of their opponent. Also, by playing more playoff games, the league would make more money and some of it would go into players’ pockets.
The problem, however, is that teams might be disinterested in the idea of spending a lot given that a team playing for .500 (and maybe less) could presumably sneak into the playoffs through the gate. backward.
In addition, as the league wants to televise the selection process of playoff opponents, some fear the second-guessing that would ensue as well as the potential to give extra motivation to the teams selected first.
We therefore feel that the two parties will try to come to an agreement by the end of the employment contract, but in fact, that will almost certainly not happen before Wednesday evening. However, when they agree, we must expect that the format of the series will be changed (at least) a bit.
Will it be this format that will be chosen? The answer will come eventually.
