Report: MLB to use 28-man rosters for rest of season and playoffs

Major League Baseball is tweaking its pandemic-related rules once again.

Effective Thursday, all active rosters will be reduced from 30 players to 28 and will remain at that number for both the balance of the regular season and the playoffs, a source told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

MLB was already planning to reduce active rosters from 30 to 28 on Thursday, but it was supposed to be the first of two cut dates. Initial plans for the pandemic-shortened season called for 28-man rosters to be trimmed to 26 - the normal number of active players - in another two weeks.

The Major League Baseball Players Association has told players the change is being made "in light of the health and safety challenges we have seen in the first couple of weeks of the season," according to Rosenthal.

Additionally, taxi squads will be increased from three to five players for the rest of the campaign, Rosenthal reports.

Taxi squads are a unique feature of this shortened season; teams are allowed to bring taxi-squad players on road trips to allow for quick roster changes amid travel restrictions.

The reported changes require ownership approval before they become official, but owners are expected to ratify the modifications, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.