May 16, 2020
Does Bryce Harper want to be baseball commissioner someday?
On a late-night Instagram post early Saturday morning, the Phillies outfielder had a pretty fully-flushed out plan as to how Major League Baseball can structure it's late-starting season.
The Harper plan differs from the plan MLB has proposed to the players in a variety of ways, including more games (135 instead of 82), seven-inning double headers, an East-West conference split (like the NBA), and a College World Series-style playoff system. Here's the full post (we'll break it down after):
Some of Harper's ideas could actually help save baseball, a sport that — as we discussed Friday — would greatly suffer from any kind of lost 2020 season. His ideas have staying power, and an experimental shortened 2020 season is a great proving ground. A few more interesting ideas from the Harper Plan:
• A two-week World Series, like Super Bowl Week
Making the playoffs a condensed event like this, having 10 teams play in a round-robin at a neutral site with a double-elimination format would certainly add some spice to the end of the season, as it competes with the NFL for eyeballs each fall.
• Open this up on all platforms. No blackouts. Open it for everybody to watch. ⠀
An interesting idea that would probably be unlikely, as it would take TV rights money away from owners. Still, having everyone able to watch the baseball playoffs across "all platforms" would certainly take away a barrier for fans to watch.
• 6-man rotations
This makes sense for Harper's proposed 135-game season with double-headers. A condensed schedule would almost require teams to have more starters, which a 30-person expanded roster could provide. Plus, no reason the Phils can't skip someone to still start Aaron Nola every five days.
• All-Star Game during World Series Week
As currently constructed, the MLB All-Star Game is played on a random weekday in July. Though pure baseball fans love the event and would watch it anytime, casual fans are probably not circling the date on the calendar. Would an All-Star Game, Home Run Derby and MLB Awards held two days before the World Series in the fall package the game together so it can hold onto center-stage? The NFL tries it with the Pro Bowl, but the Pro Bowl is awful no matter when it's held. The unique thing about an MLB All-Star Game is everyone can play at full strength without much injury concern. The question is if the players would be into it.Harper also suggests that baseball push back the start the next two seasons to ease it back into April, instead of giving players what would be a very short offseason (assuming his plan is used with 15 regular season games and the playoffs held in November).
Harper is a thinking man. His ideas are quite interesting and some of them are pretty good. The biggest caveat here, as it is with the actual plan the owners are presenting to the players, is the health and safety of the players. Which is why Harper opens his IG post with: "Beyond the health and safety which comes first for all players, staff, workers, fans, and families. Just an idea I have been thinking about."
Making baseball more fun and exciting — Harper's got a few really great points. Making it safe enough to resume this season... Harper will direct you to the CDC for that one.
Here's hoping Harper runs for some kind of office some day. We need ideas like this right now!
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