MLB proposes shortening regular
season to 154 games in 2029, expanding Division Series to best-of-7
[October 09, 2026]
By RONALD BLUM
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball proposed to shorten the
regular season to 154 games from 162 starting in 2029 and to expand
the Division Series to best-of-seven in a plan given to players
during collective bargaining Thursday.
Owners also proposed adding nine additional days off to the current
postseason format, extending it to a maximum 42 days in a move that
would give top starting pitchers potential to appear more often.
MLB would allow higher-seeded teams in the first two rounds of the
postseason to pick their opponents beginning next year and would
make most regular-season Mondays a day off for the vast majority of
teams starting in 2029 except for those in up to two nationally
broadcast games.
Cutting regular-season games would reduce the opportunity for
players to set season and career records.
“Returning to a 154-game schedule would allow us to introduce a
weekly off day, which is good for player health, while also creating
a new national broadcast window to showcase our most exciting teams
and players," MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement.
The players' association said it will review the plan and will
respond at the bargaining table.
Baseball's five-year labor contract expires Dec. 1, and management
is expected to lock out players in a confrontation that could delay
or wipe out the 2027 season. MLB proposed a salary cap, which the
union has vowed to never accept, along with limits on contract
values and length.
“Unfortunately, the league once again made clear that all of its
proposals are contingent on players’ agreement to a salary cap, a
system that guts player rights and compensation, as well as its
other anti-player proposals,” the union said in a statement.
MLB's regular season currently schedules 162 games over 187 days,
and the new format would play the 154 games over 180 in most years.
MLB would keep the Wild Card Series at best-of-three at the ballpark
of the higher-seeded team, add an extra day off between Games 1 and
2 and stagger series starts. There would be only two games scheduled
on each of the first three days rather than the current format of up
to four games per day.
No. 3 seeds could select after the regular season whether to host
No. 5 or No. 6 in the Wild Card Series, and the No. 1 seeds could
pick which wild-card winner to play in the Division Series.
Each best-of-seven series would be played over 11 days instead of
nine, adding off days before Games 5 and 7 in addition to the travel
days before Games 3 and 6. MLB would stop scheduling early round
postseason games in afternoons after some teams have struggled to
fill stadiums in those slots.
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Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani advances to first
base on a walk during the second inning in Game 4 of baseball's
National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves,
Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Management made a “pick your opponent” proposal in
2022 bargaining as part of a 14-team playoff plan players didn't
agree to.
“A shorter regular season unlocks making October even better for our
fans — with fewer weekday afternoon games, a longer Division Series
and more opportunities to see the game’s best pitchers on the
biggest stage," Caplin said. "And allowing the top seeds to select
their opponents in the first two rounds would create compelling
storylines, intensify existing rivalries and create new ones.”
As part of the proposal, each team would be scheduled for four
day-night doubleheaders, one against each division rival.
Minor league schedules have included days off on Mondays since 2021.
Big league clubs would be scheduled for Monday games on national
holidays, when many typically draw large crowds. Teams that play
Mondays would be scheduled to have Thursday off.
MLB said player salaries would not be adjusted to reflect fewer
games and bonus provision thresholds — like those that pay players
for games played — would be adjusted to reflect the shortened
schedule.
The National and American Leagues adopted 154-game schedules in 1904
that had every team in each eight-team circuit playing all opponents
22 times.
The AL switched to a 162-game schedule when it expanded to 10 teams
for 1961 and the National League followed suit the next year.
The LCS started in 1969 and were best-of-five through 1984, then
expanded to best-of-seven.
Division Series have been best-of-five since their inception for
annual use in 1995. Wild card games started with the expansion of
the playoffs from eight to 10 teams in 2012 and became best-of-three
Wild Card Series when the postseason increased to 12 clubs in 2022.
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