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Scioscia wants MLB to adopt NHL-inspired roster expansion rules

Mike Scioscia

Mike Scioscia

AP

Angels manager Mike Scioscia is a big hockey fan and he’d love to see baseball take inspiration from the NHL when it comes to its roster expansion rules.

“The one idea that I’ve really backed is the idea almost like hockey, when you call up and expand your roster to 37 but every given night you can only dress 30,” Scioscia said, per Fox Sports West. “I think you would lock the roster in as of September 1, those guys would have to dress every day, and then out of the added guys you have five guys that could dress on any given night and I think that would make it a little more equitable for match-ups.”

What Scioscia’s talking about is how the MLB bench expands after Sept. 1, but not every team ends up with the same number of bench players at that point. By contrast, the NHL limits team’s non-emergency promotions after the trade deadline, but prior to the playoffs. However, once the postseason starts, teams can call up as many players as they want, but they still can only dress 20. That allows for there to be Black Aces, which are players that get a taste of what the playoffs are like without actually participating in the contests (barring injuries, etc).

Scioscia thinks that the NHL format would create more equality than the MLB’s current system.

“Just for competitive balance, you should dress the same amount of guys and it should be regulated by the league,” he said.

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