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It’s officially the Major League Baseball offseason, and as soon as the free agency period heats up, Scott Boras’ music starts playing.

Boras represents a number of top free agents yet again this year, and as one of the game’s most powerful figures, his words carry a substantial amount of weight with players and by extension, the league at large. At the general manager meetings this week in San Antonio, Boras went on his usual rampage of Dad-joke level puns, i.e., describing Blake Snell’s pitches as “Snelling salts,” and Alex Bregman as being “AB positive” with his “championship blood.” 

But more importantly, he also indicated that he believes MLB should adjust the division series round of the playoffs to be a best-of-seven instead of the current best-of-five format. 

He’s not the first person to make the suggestion, but he is one of the most prominent. So what would that look like in practice, and how realistic is it?

Rob Manfred

LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 28: Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred presents the World Series trophy to Boston Red Sox Principal Owner John Henry, Chairman Tom Werner, and President & CEO Sam Kennedy after winning the 2018 World Series in game five against the Los Angeles Dodgers on October 28, 2018 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

MLB Playoffs Headed For A Change?

Major League Baseball, like all corporations, is always searching for ways to increase revenue. And adding more postseason games is an easy, guaranteed way to do so. Television rights packages would become more valuable. There would be an increase in ticket sales, merchandise, concessions and parking revenue. 

Not to mention that, in theory anyway, it would give “better” teams a greater, albeit marginal, increase in probability of advancing to the next round. So why hasn’t it happened already?

Well, the league’s decision to make the wild card round into a three-game series has already pushed back the postseason schedule so much that a game six and game seven of this year’s World Series would have been played in November. Making the division series round a best of seven would push the schedule back even further. 

Unless MLB is willing to cut down on postseason off days or reduce the regular season schedule, it’s hard to see how adding length is doable without encroaching further into November. 

As opposed to 2023 or 2022, this year’s division series round actually resulted in the top seeds moving into the championship series. But recent history suggests that’s more of a fluke than a trend. Giving those better seeds a bit more margin for error in the first round could lead to more anticipated late-round match ups. Like what we got this year with a Los Angeles Dodgers–New York Yankees World Series.

More than anything, the league cares about ratings and revenue, and when there’s a financial will, there’s usually a way. It might not happen soon, but adding more postseason games feels more like an inevitability than it ever has.