What's The Point Of MLB Roster Expansion?
By Jared Sandler | @SandlerJ
Major League Baseball roster expansion is one of the most perplexing, silly rules in sports. After five months playing by one set of rules pertaining to the roster, teams are allowed a totally different set of rules with which to work for the final month.
What's the point of that? Well, the point was initially to allow bad teams an opportunity to watch some of their young prospects in action without it coming at the expense of their 25-man group. The rule was NOT intended to give teams three speed demons on the bench or five left-handed options in the bullpen, which is how some teams, mostly the ones competing for a playoff spot, take advantage of it. And why not?! You may as well.
Here are my problems with the rule:
1. As mentioned, MLB's final month of baseball--when playoff spots are definitively earned or lost--is played under a different set of rules than the first five months of the season.
2. Players who are not "Major League caliber" and who would not be on the Major League roster if not for this rule, can and do end up deciding critical games that impact the playoff landscape.
3. The roster expansion creates a competitive imbalance. A team with 37 guys can end up playing a team with 32 guys (or some difference in number of your choice).
My next biggest issue with this is that there appears to be a simple fix that has gone ignored, or untended to. Allow teams to expand their rosters, but force them to generate a 25-man active roster for each game. This isn't really different than how the NHL, NBA, NFL, or various soccer leagues, among others, control their rosters so it isn't like it would be asking MLB to blaze a trail into unchartered territory.
So, you can call up players beyond your 25-man roster, but you can only use 25 each night. What does that accomplish? That ensures that each team has the same amount of eligible players for a given game.
I've spoken to many executives, coaches/managers, and players--current or former--at the Major League level and they all bring this up as the most sensical execution of roster expansion, most puzzled why the change has not been made. Maybe it just makes too much sense.
Hopefully this change happens soon.
