A lot of things about Major League Baseball will look different in 2020, and rosters sizes are no different.
Following weeks of contentious negotiations, it was announced Tuesday that a shortened campaign mandated by commissioner Rob Manfred will take place. The season will be about 60 games and should begin July 23 or 24.
There will be a relatively brief “spring” training to get things going, but between the quick start and resulting injury concerns, teams will be allowed to carry more players than usual.
Here are the roster rules, according to The Athletic’s Jayson Stark.
“Teams will be allowed to carry 30 players on their big-league roster for the first two weeks of the season, then get down to 28 on the 15th day of the season and then to 26 two weeks after that. The new rule that was supposed to limit the number of pitchers on a roster has been waived because of the unusual circumstances of the season.”
Teams can have about 60 players available under these rules, though half would be a taxi squad.
It’s worth noting that rosters already were set to expand from 25 to 26 for the 2020 season, so squad sizes ultimately will get down to what they’re supposed to be.
