Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have agreed on
a wide array of rules changes—in 2019 and beyond. For
this season, the number of allowed mound visits will be cut from 6 to 5 and no trades will be allowed after a "hard" July 31st trade deadline. For the 2020 season, there will be even more changes—most notably, a pre-September increase in roster size from 25 to 26 and a cap on September rosters of 28 players. This finally ends the incredibly dumb allowance of 40-man rosters in September.
And, starting pitchers and relief pitchers must pitch to either a minimum of three batters or to the end of a half-inning. A pitch clock has been put off for discussion further down the road. The
really good news is that both sides are actively talking to one another—making a work stoppage extremely unlikely.
