2026 Postseason Thread

[HarryDoyle]

Large market teams tanking in the playoffs to gain leverage in CBA negotiations would be one heck of a conspiracy theory. 

[Frisbee Slider]

2 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

Large market teams tanking in the playoffs to gain leverage in CBA negotiations would be one heck of a conspiracy theory. 

There would be hundreds of millions of dollars incentive per large market owner to do it…

I don’t think there is any evidence of conspiracy and I can’t imagine owners or managers would ever say those things out loud 

[MrTPlush]

What large market is tanking?

The Rays and Brewers are the best teams in baseball. The Yankees are clearly an inferior team, as are the Padres.

I doubt owners are that dense and shortsighted to make one postseason throw away their actual thoughts on the CBA.

[Jopal78]

6 hours ago, craigharmann said:

And then we might actually have a glimmer of hope that we’d see baseball in 2027. As of now, I’m not expecting a season. 

There will be at least a 60 game season in 2027. Manfred has set up all of the broadcasting contracts in such a way to take them collectively to the market in 2028; a less than a 60 game season would mean several of the national TV contracts extend for another year at the current rates, blowing up the plans they’ve been making for years . Let’s see when March 2027 rolls around what the owners’ actual appetite for losses is and that is probably when the negotiations will start in earnest. 

[Underachiever]

17 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

There will be at least a 60 game season in 2027. Manfred has set up all of the broadcasting contracts in such a way to take them collectively to the market in 2028; a less than a 60 game season would mean several of the national TV contracts extend for another year at the current rates, blowing up the plans they’ve been making for years . Let’s see when March 2027 rolls around what the owners’ actual appetite for losses is and that is probably when the negotiations will start in earnest. 

A 60-game season seems almost worse than no season at all. At least covid was an excuse the last time. A settlement that saves a 60-game season would show the cynical control the owners have over this process. 

[owbc]

I think they play at least 154 but Opening Day will be delayed. 

The current revenue situation in baseball doesn't scream "work stoppage" to me. Attendance up several years in a row, the biggest stadium/franchise issues now resolved, both players and owners racking in cash. They will punt it forward again. 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

5 minutes ago, owbc said:

I think they play at least 154 but Opening Day will be delayed. 

The current revenue situation in baseball doesn't scream "work stoppage" to me. Attendance up several years in a row, the biggest stadium/franchise issues now resolved, both players and owners racking in cash. They will punt it forward again. 

Agree with this. I think negativity bias and a readiness to accept posturing as fact make the consensus tilt too far toward labor crisis.

I could be wrong. I think there's still a significant chance the season gets delayed at least a bit. Prediction markets (find them super troubling, but useful as an indicator of consensus) have full season odds at like 45%. I'd think it's slightly higher than that. 

[craigharmann]

1 hour ago, Jopal78 said:

There will be at least a 60 game season in 2027. Manfred has set up all of the broadcasting contracts in such a way to take them collectively to the market in 2028; a less than a 60 game season would mean several of the national TV contracts extend for another year at the current rates, blowing up the plans they’ve been making for years . Let’s see when March 2027 rolls around what the owners’ actual appetite for losses is and that is probably when the negotiations will start in earnest. 

 

As I learned many years ago when Ray Rhodes was sadly the coach of the Packers for one year, if you set your expectations as low as possible, you more than likely won't be disappointed and possibly, you'll be surprised. If I expect no games, and games happen, SURPRISE!! If I expect a number of games and that number isn't met or no games happen, I'm disappointed. I can't tell you how much that has helped with sports, including the Packers this year. 

[Paul77]

1 hour ago, Jopal78 said:

There will be at least a 60 game season in 2027. Manfred has set up all of the broadcasting contracts in such a way to take them collectively to the market in 2028; a less than a 60 game season would mean several of the national TV contracts extend for another year at the current rates, blowing up the plans they’ve been making for years . Let’s see when March 2027 rolls around what the owners’ actual appetite for losses is and that is probably when the negotiations will start in earnest. 

I understood this differently. I thought I read that if 60 or more games are canceled, the TV contracts extend into 2029.