2020 Could Be the Year That Changes the Future of MLB

SI's Tom Verducci breaks down the changes that could be implemented in 2020 that will baseball's future

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:07 If Major League Baseball players and owners can take the framework of a deal and

00:11 actually turn it into an agreement, while the 2020 baseball season,

00:16 the year of the pandemic, might go down as the year that changed the future of the sport.

00:22 Several changes are in store in a short season that are likely to become permanent.

00:28 Number one, the universal DH. Say goodbye to National League style baseball in which

00:34 the pitcher hits. Number two, an expanded postseason.

00:39 Both sides want 16 of the 30 teams to qualify for the postseason. Say goodbye to wild card games,

00:47 no more one game knockouts. And it also gives the owners an inroad towards future expansion

00:54 to get to their preferred 32 team schedule. Remember, after the lockout in 1990 and the

01:01 strike in 1995, owners expanded three years after those work stoppages.

01:07 Number three, ads on uniforms. Now the owners have toyed with this idea before, they've done

01:14 it for international games, but this in a short season allows them the opening to make the change

01:21 permanent. And number four, players mic'd up before and during games. It's part of the effort

01:30 MLB and the players want to make to showcase more of the players' personalities.

01:34 That is likely also to become permanent. Now if the two sides could only do something

01:42 about improving the pace of play, now we've got something.

01:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]