# Baseball post-seaon injury replacements **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 20, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-post-seaon-injury-replacements/557745 "2010-10-20T04:39:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-post-seaon-injury-replacements/557745/1 "2010-10-20T04:39:36Z")
After the game tonight, they were talking about who the Yankees were going to activate to replace Teixeira. I know you didn’t used to be allowed to do this. In fact you couldn’t use anyone in the postseason who wasn’t in your 25 man roster on August 31st (before the Sept call-ups). So in game 5 or 6 of the World Series, my pitcher pitches a complete game and isn’t going to be pitching again. Why aren’t they always “injured” and replaced on the roster? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-post-seaon-injury-replacements/557745/2 "2010-10-20T04:52:11Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > So in game 5 or 6 of the World Series, my pitcher pitches a complete game and isn’t going to be pitching again. Why aren’t they always “injured” and replaced on the roster? Because a replacement has to play the same position; and because it has to be approved by the commissioner of baseball. Presumably the latter rule will prevent shenanigans. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-post-seaon-injury-replacements/557745/3 "2010-10-20T05:03:38Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > In fact you couldn’t use anyone in the postseason who wasn’t in your 25 man roster on August 31st (before the Sept call-ups). It’s the 25-man roster _plus_ any players on the not-counted lists (who would presumably otherwise be on the big-league roster, and might be again by the end of season play), _plus, in case of postseason injury_, basically anyone else in the organization who can play that position. > [@Jeff Euston / Baseball Prospectus](#): > > Under Major League Rule 40 (a), the pool of players eligible for the postseason consists of the 25 players on the active roster and any players on the disabled, bereavement, suspended or military lists before midnight ET on August 31. > > The final 25-man playoff roster must be set a day before a club’s first Division Series game, and a team that advances has the right to change its roster for both the League Championship Series and World Series. A rule change, new under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, allows a team to replace an injured player during the middle of a series, so long as another player at the same position replaces him. Additionally, a player replaced in one post-season series may not be brought back for the following series. > … > If an eligible player cannot play in a post-season series because of injury, his club may petition the Commissioner’s office to replace him with any player who was in the organization on August 31, provided the replacement was included on the roster of a minor-league affiliate at the end of the major-league season. > > So a player on the disabled list as of Tuesday [August 31] actually gives his club some valuable flexibility in building a roster to win in October. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-post-seaon-injury-replacements/557745/4 "2010-10-20T05:13:28Z")
Colibri, so i bring up a relief pitcher which might clearly be useful in game 7. And yes the Commissioner could rule, but I’m surprised no one has tried. How cold you tell the pitcher wasn’t injured? Spark240, I was talking about the rules some time ago. When Ray Chapman was **killed** by a bean ball in the 1920 season, after September 1st, the Indians got a special dispensation to replace him for the series. ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-post-seaon-injury-replacements/557745/5 "2010-10-20T05:20:55Z")
> **[Major League Baseball transactions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_transactions)** > > Major League Baseball transactions are changes made to the roster of a Major League Baseball team during or after the season. They may include waiving, releasing, and trading players, as well as assigning players to minor league teams. > As of the 2025 season, each team maintains a 26-man active roster, a 28-man expanded roster, and a 40-man reserve list of players. Players on the 26-man roster are eligible to play in official major league games throughout the season. The 40-man reserve list incl... > [@](#): > > 25-man and 40-man rosters > Main article: Major League Baseball rosters > Each Major League Baseball team maintains both a 25-man roster and a 40-man roster of players. Players on the 25-man roster are eligible to play in official major league games throughout the season. The 40-man roster includes the players on the 25-man roster plus as many as 15 players who are either on the team’s 15-day disabled list (see below) or who are in the team’s minor league system. From September 1 through the end of the regular season, any player on the 40-man roster (also referred to as the “expanded roster”) is eligible to play in an official regular season game. Many young players make their Major League debuts in this way, as “September call-ups.” > > To be eligible for a team’s playoff roster a player must be on any of the following: (a) the 25 man active roster, (b) the disabled list, (c) the bereavement list, or (d) the suspended list as of August 31st at midnight. The only exception is that a player on the 60-day disabled list may be replaced by another player from the team’s 40-man roster (as of August 31) who plays the same position (i.e. position player for position player, or pitcher for pitcher), with the approval of the commissioner of baseball. [QUOTE=OldGuy] So in game 5 or 6 of the World Series, my pitcher pitches a complete game and isn’t going to be pitching again. [/QUOTE] That’s not necessarily true. Many teams have used pitchers, who’ve made recent starts, in relief. They reckon the games are important and the off-season is coming soon. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-post-seaon-injury-replacements/557745/6 "2010-10-20T05:22:18Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > Spark240, I was talking about the rules some time ago. I know. I thought it might be helpful to state the present rule. And I answered your other question too, but deleted it on edit because **Colibri** seemed to have it covered. But my understanding is that the _petition_ to the commish must include physician certification of a bona fide injury. The commish is under no particular requirement to approve the petition in any case, and replacing a recently-used starter with a rested young (minor league roster) reliever, on the theory that the starter _could_ have been inserted as a reliever in the next game, had he not been injured at _just that moment_ is awfully transparent. ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-post-seaon-injury-replacements/557745/7 "2010-10-20T05:30:05Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > Colibri, so i bring up a relief pitcher which might clearly be useful in game 7. And yes the Commissioner could rule, but I’m surprised no one has tried. How cold you tell the pitcher wasn’t injured? How does it work then? Every team, every year has their game 5/6 starters injured? Pretty dubious. The pitcher is generally unusable without replacement anyway. But he _can_ still pitch in relief in the game 7 you mention. Why would you want a lesser pitcher who wasn’t good enough for the 25-man roster available for game 7 and not a pitcher you trusted to start what is always a crucial World Series game? ---
**Author:** ![Hawkeyeop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Hawkeyeop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkeyeop)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-post-seaon-injury-replacements/557745/8 "2010-10-20T13:42:52Z")
What would be the point? These teams all have 7 or 8 relievers on the roster, not to mention any starter who can go an inning or two. Do you think that they are going to throw their 9th or 10th best option in a world series game 7? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-post-seaon-injury-replacements/557745/9 "2010-10-20T15:02:38Z")
The commissioner had ruled against this sort of [fake injury](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/sports/17andrews.html) roster change in the past. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-post-seaon-injury-replacements/557745/10 "2010-10-20T15:52:15Z")
If an player is removed from the roster for an injury, real or fake, he is ineligible for the next series as well (Teixeira wouldn’t be eligible for the WS even if healthy). That is a strong disincentive for a team to play those games. Players can be replaced \*between \*series without impact on eligibility, though.