The Major League Baseball Players Association turned down the MLB’s latest proposal for the designated universal hitter and an expanded playoff format, sources confirmed to ESPN.
The news was first reported by the MLB Network.
The union’s position has always been that it did not want to talk about an exchange of universal HD – which benefits a group of players – in exchange for expanded playoffs. However, the MLB included both items in its proposal, and that concept was rejected by sources.
Universal DH and the expanded playoff format were implemented for 2020 during the shortened regular season of 60 games due to the coronavirus pandemic.
NL teams use DH when playing in LA parks since the league match was instituted in 1997.
The MLB implemented a 16-team playoff format for the 2020 postseason. The top two teams in each division, plus the two remaining teams with the best records in each league, formed the fields of eight teams in the American and national leagues. . The division winners were the top three in each league, with the secondary teams classified as seeds 4 to 6, and the remaining two qualifiers with numbers 7 and 8.
The working relationship between the two sides remains tense, compared to much of the interaction since the resolution of the players’ strike in 1994-95. Last summer, negotiations over the truncated 2020 season and player pay went on publicly for several weeks. While the MLB and the union are trying to resolve their unresolved issues before the 2021 season, this looms large: the current Collective Bargaining Agreement is due to expire in December 2021.
ESPN’s Buster Olney contributed to this report.