Report: MLB proposes 154-game season to players' union

Major League Baseball proposed a revised schedule to the players' union on Friday that would be 154 games in length, sources told Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports.

The proposed schedule revision, which the union is considering, would delay the beginning of the season by a month and extend it by an additional week, Brown adds.

The league will pay players in full and continue to use an expanded postseason as part of the proposal.

However, the union does not see the overall proposal as an improvement on the default arrangement for the 2021 season, Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic report.

The proposal does include parameters for players to receive full pay, but the plan does not guarantee players' pay for games lost/canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rosenthal and Drellich note.

Additionally, the union reportedly remains opposed to expanding the playoff field out of concern it could disincentivize teams from spending in free agency.

The expanded playoffs would include fourteen teams - two fewer than in 2020 - and would also include using the designated hitter position in the National League, according to Jared Diamond of The Wall Street Journal.

A neutral-site World Series is not part of the proposal, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.

MLB's proposal comes six days after Arizona's Cactus League requested delaying the start of spring training due to concerns surrounding the surge of COVID-19 cases in Maricopa County.

Maricopa County, where Cactus League play occurs, has one of the nation's highest rates of COVID-19 infection in the United States, although data suggests the rates should decline by mid-March.

The league appears to be in favor of delaying the start of the season but needs approval from the players, who don't appear to be thinking similarly.

"While we, of course, share the goals of a safe spring training and regular season, MLB has repeatedly assured us that it has instructed its teams to be prepared for an on-time start to spring training and the regular season, and we continue to devote all our efforts to making sure that takes place as safely as possible," read an MLBPA statement about the Cactus League's request.

Florida, which hosts the Grapefruit League portion of spring training, is also a COVID-19 hotspot, with more than 1.7 million reported cases overall, according to CNN.

Spring training is currently scheduled to begin on Feb. 27.