MLB News: Bryce Harper Suggests An NBA Like 2020 Season Structure

Players in the MLB are just as anxious as fans are to get games going as soon as possible. While the league tries to figure out all of the minor details with the player’s union, there is nothing to do but speculate. Obviously the 80-game plan is the most prevalent rumor right now, but Bryce Harper has some interesting ideas.

In an Instagram post this week, he laid out a very NBA-like season plan that he felt would work. You can read more about it on his post here, but we broke down the details of the proposal for the sake of MLB.

• East/West divisions, much like how the NBA is broken down
• 135 games to be played out over the months of July, August, September, October, and November
• An off day every two weeks on a Monday
• Sunday doubleheaders at 7 innings apiece
• 30 players on the roster with 6-man rotations. 
• Playoffs: 2-week World Series, similar to  Superbowl week. ?
• 10 teams round-robin format, much like the College World Series
• World Series to be played at a neutral site, such as the new Rangers stadium
• Backing up the season for the next 2 years. May 1st, 2021 and April 1st, 2022 start dates.

So how realistic is it that something like this could work? Well, there are certainly plenty of things to like in Harper’s scenario. Getting MORE MLB games instead of less is certainly preferred.

Ending the season by the end of November would satisfy MLB’s desire to not push the season too far into the year, though ideally, it would be over before November still.  The 30-player roster is actually fairly spot on and it seems like it will be likely at this point. 

Utilizing six-man starting rotations will almost certainly be utilized by teams this year, even if there are only 80 games played. The Sunday double-headers would probably only be used if the goal were to get more games in, but 80 sounds like it will be around the final number. 

The playoff format might be necessary but could also make things more even. It’s certainly not been the worst idea thrown out from MLB during this hiatus, but it’s not without its flaws. What do you think? Is Harper way off base here? 

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