According to Information from Brandon Wile and ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, The MLBPA has put a proposal on the table that I don’t think MLB will accept. But they absolutely should.

Hear me out

The luxury tax

The players are asking for the luxury tax to be raised to $240M. This feels doable. This should be the cherry on top to the rest of the proposal. The tax has steadily rose over the past few years, and it was sitting at $210M for 2021. I know MLB has wanted to lower it, but come on. That’s not realistic.

12-team postseason

In 2020, Major League baseball played fewer games and threw 16 teams into the playoffs. That’s extreme, and should never be done again. But this 12-team proposal? I love it. But only in the case that what I’ll get into in the next section also is true. 12-team works if we realign. And I should actually preface this with the note that I don’t know any details other than a 12-team playoff was proposed. So this is entirely how I imagine this would work.

But think about it. You have two divisions that go into a pre-2021 NFL style playoff. Two teams get a “bye”, setting up for the divisional round, and four teams would play a wild card round. Cut that Wild Card round down to 3-game series so we’re not extending the playoffs TOO much, and then seeding comes into play. So if the Giants win their division with 107 wins, they wouldn’t be playing the 106-win Dodgers in a divisional round unless the other division winner out-did the Giants somehow.

It more efficiently splits things up and allows the statistically better teams to meet further down the line.

Realign each league to two divisions

Like I said – this ties nicely together with the new playoff format. This also helps mitigate the possibility of an NFL situation in which a 7-9 team gets into the playoffs simply because they are a division winner. I personally think it should strictly be one division per league, so you’re truly just seeding 1-6, but this gets MLB much closer to that type of setup, and the risk is genuinely low.

Why MLB should accept this deal

You have a legitimate opportunity here to show that you’ve been listening to your fans about the need to change. It creates some more competition, and you’re less likely to see a third place team with a stellar record miss the mark. If you have the chance to drop that average viewer age, and make your product more exciting for the next generation, this helps lay the foundation for that.

In now way does this get you over the line, but this is a way to stop the BS squabbling between league and players, try to work toward improvement on the field, and find ways to compete with the other major sports.

To me, this is a no brainer. Come on, MLB. Sign on the dotted line.