Reduced expansion for MLB with fewer September call-ups

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — This used to be the time of the season when MLB clubhouses and dugouts would get really crowded with the influx of September call-ups.

There would be plenty of roster reinforcements for contending teams, including extra pitchers and a few more position players on the bench down the stretch. Teams out of the playoff chase got an opportunity over the final month to take a look at lots of prospects while giving them a taste of the big leagues.

Now those roster expansions are much smaller, far from when teams could use their entire 40-man rosters once the calendar flipped to September.

Each team will get to add only two players to their rosters, from 26 to 28, on Wednesday.

“In previous years that number probably would’ve been a little bit higher in terms of guys we’d want to bring up in order to rest guys or even just provide some big league experience down the stretch for some young guys. So we're going to have some decisions to make,” said Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn, whose team has a big lead in the AL Central.

“I don’t think two is enough, and I think 15 is too much because some teams will call up all 15 and some teams will call up four or five. You’re either outmanned, or you’ll outman them," said Dusty Baker, manager of the AL West-leading Houston Astros. "We’ve gone from one drastic measure to another one,”

Even before COVID-19 altered and shortened the 2020 season to only 60 games, MLB had decided to reduce the September call-ups while adding a 26th player to the roster fulltime last year.

This will be the first full 162-game season with so few players available late, with every team required to have 28 on their rosters. Through 2019, teams had 25-man rosters until Sept. 1, and could then increase to as many as 40 — though...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Reduced-expansion-for-MLB-with-fewer-September-16426278.php