The Case For The 26-Man Roster

Major League Baseball’s 25-man regular season roster, in effect until September 1, when rosters can theoretically expand to 40, has been in place forever and is and should be inviolable.

Except that statement isn’t completely correct; the 25-man roster is a fairly recent construct, and has even been reduced for a couple of seasons in recent years. I’m here to tell you the reasons why MLB should expand the roster by one player in the pre-September 1 period. But first, a little historical perspective.

The 25-man roster was first created officially in 1920; before that, roster sizes varied from 16 to a limit of 21. Most teams carried small pitching staffs, as starters frequently threw complete games. The 25-man limit was in effect only from May 15 to September 1; many major league clubs would carry as many as five extra players back from spring training during the 1940s and 1950s. The minor leagues began complaining that their rosters were unstable in the early season, so in 1957 a 28-man limit was set; teams could still carry three “extra” players until May 15. In 1968, the May 15 date was eliminated and the 25-man roster limit set from the beginning of the season.

There it has stayed since, with a couple of exceptions: during a period of labor dispute from 1986-1989, the collective bargaining agreement provided for a “minimum” of 24 players, and teams cut their rosters accordingly, seemingly out of spite (they had also done this for half the season in 1978, until July 1). When MLB’s season was delayed due to labor stoppages in 1990 and 1995, expanded rosters (27 players in 1990, 28 in 1995) were permitted for a short time when the season began.

But other than that, it’s been 25 men from Opening Day until September 1 since 1968. And now, I’m here to tell you that it’s time for MLB to allow another player on the pre-September roster, to expand to 26 players.

The extreme specialization of the bullpen is the primary reason for this. In 1968, starting pitchers completed about 28 percent of their games and teams carried nine or ten pitchers during the pre-September 1 period. Today, less than 4 percent of all starts are complete games and pitching staffs comprise 12 pitchers, sometimes 13. This puts tremendous pressure on managers who have very thin benches. On a National League team, a 12-man pitching staff means you have five bench players, one of whom is your backup catcher. This means you can almost never pinch-run for a catcher who gets on base in a close game in the late innings; if you then put in your backup, what if he gets hurt in extra innings? It means there’s no place for a player who is a defensive specialist only, or a fast baserunner; players have to have multiple talents, but the reality is that most MLB bench players aren’t good at multiple things.

So baseball should add one player to the active roster in the pre-September 1 period, increasing the number to 26. The game is played differently than it was in 1968; the roster size should reflect reality.

Most likely, this bench player isn’t going to make huge dollars, so it wouldn’t cost ownership that much money; the players’ union would likely be in favor of a proposal that created 30 more major league jobs.

It’s way past time to get this done; there are player/owner labor negotiations scheduled for the upcoming offseason. This proposal should be a part of it and the 26-man roster should begin in 2012.