Major League Baseball’s latest labor proposal is built around a simple trade: trim the regular season, put a regular breather into every week, and turn October into a longer, more confrontational tournament. Beginning in 2029, the plan would reduce the schedule from 162 games to 154, expand the Division Series to seven games, and let top postseason clubs publicly choose the opponents they want.
The proposed schedule change would arrive alongside MLB’s next national media agreements. A 154-game slate was the sport’s standard for much of the period from 1904 through 1960, and the league says it could finish the regular season a week earlier than the current calendar. Even with the enlarged postseason, a potential World Series Game 7 would land only two days later than it does under the present format.
Every club would generally be off on Monday, a rhythm already familiar around Minor League Baseball. Teams placed in a new exclusive national Monday broadcast window would instead receive Thursday off that week. Holidays and selected special-event games would not follow the Monday break. Each team would also play four split doubleheaders during the season, one against each division rival.
Glen Caplin, speaking for MLB, said the weekly break is intended to help players recover while creating a national television slot for marquee teams and players. He said a shorter season could improve the October calendar, reducing weekday afternoon starts, allowing a longer Division Series and putting elite pitchers in more high-leverage games.
MLB pointed to roster movement as another reason for adding rest. From 2022 through 2025, clubs averaged 1.45 optional assignments in weeks with an off-day, compared with 1.90 in weeks without one — a decline of 24%. The league said player salaries would not be reduced under a 154-game schedule, although bonus triggers, options and comparable contractual thresholds would be proportionally adjusted.
A postseason with a target on the board
The proposal’s sharpest twist comes after the regular season. In each league’s Wild Card round, the No. 3 seed — the division champion with the third-best record — would decide whether it preferred the No. 5 or No. 6 seed. That choice would be announced immediately after the regular season ends.
Then, after the Wild Card round, the league’s No. 1 seed would select which advancing Wild Card club it wants in the Division Series. The format would give the best regular-season teams an added advantage, remove some of the appeal of slipping into the field as the third Wild Card, and make the standings matter right through the last series. It would also provide an instant dose of clubhouse fuel for any club publicly identified as the preferred matchup.
Under the same proposal, the Division Series would move from best-of-five to best-of-seven in 2029. MLB believes the longer round would give the strongest teams over the 154-game season a better chance to reach the League Championship Series. It could add up to eight games to the postseason schedule.
The league also envisions more October off-days and staggered starts, relieving the current squeeze that can force four games onto one day and push some into early weekday windows. In the League Championship Series, off-days before each if-necessary game — Games 5, 6 and 7 — would keep those contests from overlapping with the other league’s series. That setup would give fans cleaner viewing windows and, just as importantly, offer star starters a better chance to take the ball when the season is on the line.
