In a bid to finalize a new collective bargaining before the league’s deadline to avoid the cancellation of regular season matches, the MLB and the Players’ Association have reportedly agreed to move forward with a 12-team field after the season. As this period has expired without a comprehensive agreement and the league has since abolished the first two series of the regular season, the union is clearly ready to reconsider a broader field.
ESPN’s Buster Olney reports (Link to Twitter) that the MLBPA has informed the league that it is ready to resume negotiations for a possible playoff with 14 teams. This was an important initiative of MLB during the negotiations, as a wider field gives the league more post-season games that it can sell to TV providers. Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported this week that the playoffs with 14 teams will see MLB reimburse an additional $ 100 million a year as part of its broadcasting agreement with ESPN.
This makes the playoffs with 14 teams an enticing carrot for the league, one that the union would no doubt make dependent on MLB’s move to other key areas. Where to set tax thresholds for a competitive balance is perhaps the biggest obstacle in the negotiations. The league is reluctant to exceed the $ 220 million major tax marker next season, while the union’s latest offer included a $ 238 million CBT base. That $ 18 million difference will increase in the course of the potential deal alone, with the MLBPA aiming for faster increases in future seasons than the league suggests. The parties also disagree on the amount of money to go to the pre-arbitration bonus fund and the minimum wage in the league, among other issues.
The resumption of negotiations for the playoffs with 14 teams could serve as the start of negotiations, as the parties regroup after the cancellation of the MLB match. However, it is worth noting that the framework of 12 teams after the season has already marked a remarkable concession from the union. The status quo, of course, was a field with 10 teams. The simple agreement to increase from 10 to 12 teams created an opportunity for additional rounds of playoffs and the corresponding unforeseen income for the league. Marchand said the 12-team format alone would generate about $ 85 million a season in additional MLB revenue, again under the terms of the league’s broadcast agreement with ESPN.
However, approximately $ 85 million per season is not $ 100 million per season, so it is no surprise that the league has sought a playoff with 14 teams for most negotiations. The union says it would prefer a field with 12 teams. The MLBPA expressed concern that admitting 14 teams would discourage clubs from fiercely upgrading their rosters. MLB’s post-season is more volatile than other leagues – the playoff team with the worst record in the regular season won the World Series just last season, as an example – and the union fears these fluctuations could allow teams with already strong lineups to be content not to push hard for further upgrades. This can have a cumulative effect of limiting teams’ urgency to spend in a free agency, a behavior the MLBPA wants to avoid.
The previous 10-team format offered a powerful incentive for clubs to try to win their division. The Wild Card qualifiers were thrown into the playoffs with one game, leaving just over 50-50 shots for each Wild Card team to advance to the Division Series. The MLB playoff setup with 14 teams will offer a goodbye to the first round of the team with the best record in both the AL and NL (as in the case of the NFL system). However, the relatively insignificant services for the other two division winners ahead of the four Wild Card qualifiers – the division winners will gain a home advantage and have the right to choose their opponents in the first round from the three lower Wild Card teams – were not significant. enough needles in the eyes of the players.
Max Scherzer, a member of the union’s executive subcommittee, expressed reservations about the setup earlier this week. “It really comes down to a format problem,” he told reporters (including Derrick Gould of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). “In a playoff structure with 14 teams, we felt that the competition could be undermined in this area. ) (When a team says goodbye), the only advantage of the home team would not be an advantage to go out and win the division. ”
Scherzer’s comments leave open the possibility of changes in the playoff format of the league, in which 14 clubs can still qualify. During the earlier stages of the negotiations, the union proposed the concept of a “ghost victory” for the first round. Under this system, the two winners in league divisions who do not receive a bye will automatically receive the equivalent of a 1-0 advantage in a series of the top five against the last two Wild Card qualifiers. Thus, the winner of the division will have to win only two of the potential four games to advance to the second round; the Wild Card Club will have to win three of four to move forward. Meanwhile, the first two Wild Card teams in each league will face each other in a standard set of the top three (through Ken Rosenthal of Athletic).
There is no indication that the league was on board with the idea of a “ghost victory”, but it highlights the ability of the countries to find a mutually acceptable solution in this area. The MLBPA would probably prefer a standard playoff team of 12 teams, but agreeing with 14 teams seems to be the best way to get the league moving on other issues that the union considers important. Understandably, the MLBPA will push for strong bonuses (such as the “ghost victory” concept) for division winners as countries re-engage in the postseason with 14 teams.
This may resume talks between MLB and the union, but the league’s call for the cancellation of regular season matches now looms over all discussions. Rosenthal tweets this morning, the MLBPA is preparing a response to the league’s final proposal to cancel the league in advance, which the union rejected on Tuesday to end a period of nine consecutive days of talks in Jupiter, Florida. The parties are expected to plan their next talks relatively soon, but they will face a host of new challenges when they meet again.
Commissioner Rob Manfred has written that the league is of the opinion that players should not be compensated for lost matches of the regular season. MLB is adamant that these games have been officially canceled and will not be compensated. Leading Union negotiator Bruce Meyer surprisingly claims that the MLBPA will seek compensation for the salary lost due to the cancellation of the match. As Steve Adams of MLBTR wrote yesterday, the union plans to take a particularly tough approach to make sure players don’t lose service days as a result of the lockout. The MLBPA also said earlier that it would refuse to expand the playoffs in 2022 if the league cancels games and deprives players of any salary (as they have since). All this creates even more difficulties for the leadership on both sides, but the hope is that the union’s desire to review the post-season season with 14 teams could be a catalyst for progress on these issues.