Rob Manfred Says MLB Considering In-Season Tournament and Other Schedule Changes

The commissioner’s latest bright idea is sure to rankle.

Rob Manfred floated an idea MLB has tried just twice before. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The tenure of Rob Manfred as Major League Baseball’s commissioner has seen the sport’s power brokers throw out a litany of ideas to change the game—some implemented and acclaimed, some widely reviled.

On Thursday, Manfred added to his legacy of throwing thoughts against the wall during a hit on WFAN-AM with Craig Carton and Chris McMonigle. The commissioner revealed that MLB had held discussions around an in-season tournament resembling the NBA Cup, as well as a split schedule.

“We’ve talked about split seasons. We’ve talked about in-season tournaments,” Manfred said via Evan Drellich of The Athletic. “We do understand that 162 (games) is a long pull. I think the difficulty to accomplish those sort of in-season events, you almost inevitably start talking about fewer regular-season games.

MLB has never held any type of in-season tournament, though it has tried a split season twice. In 1892, the National League staged a split season in a bid to generate additional fan interest; it did not stick. In 1981, MLB held a split season after a players’ strike interrupted the regular year.

Manfred conceded that the sacrosanct nature of the baseball schedule would make changes unlikely.

“It is a much more complicated thing in our sport than it is in other sports. Because of all of our season-long records, you’re playing around with something that people care a lot about,” he said via Drellich.

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