September

Ed Botti, September 1, 2026

The old adage in baseball used to be that stats in April and September can’t be taken seriously.

April baseball may, in many instances, have rosters with players that will not be with the team when certain injured players return or if some players were simply given a longer audition before being shipped out to the Minor Leagues or even traded.

September was always a weird month because the rosters were expanded to as high as 40 with no restrictions placed on the size of your pitching staff. So, teams played 130 or so games with  a 25 (now 26) man roster and then in the pennant race teams loaded up on pitching or brought up prospects as either a form of reward, or simply to give these “kids” somewhere to play since their minor league’s seasons were over.

As a result, stats in April and September were not based on the same set of criteria and conditions.

That rule has been changed and the 40 players limit no longer exists (one thing Manfred got right, IMO).

Here is how the latest version of the September 1 roster expansion works.

When the clock strikes midnight on September 1st, every team is required to expand their active roster from 26 to 28 players. They have to go from 13 pitchers to 14 pitchers and have 14 roster spots for position players and two-way players.

This isn’t an option. It’s a rule with no exceptions.

On the surface it doesn’t look or sound like a huge material difference. But looks can be deceiving.

Those two added roster positions change how many relievers a manager can strategically deploy in close games, how long of a leash a laboring starter gets before being relieved, and enhances usage budgets for Managers and Pitching coaches – you know that chart we see every night on YES. Now there will be an extra name on it.

Manfred will still use little league rules and enforce his rule that position players cannot pitch unless the game is in extra innings or the lead is greater than six runs.

Of course we have an Ohtani rule: Players who “qualify” as two-way players are allowed to pitch in any circumstance and are not considered in the pitcher total, which is how a club (i.e. the Dodgers) get a legitimate arm past the cap.

Criteria for a Two Way Player

1.      20 MLB innings pitched on the mound.

2.     20 MLB games started as a position player or DH.

3.      3 plate appearances minimum in each of those 20 games.

The technicalities of promoting a player do not change. A player added on September 1st must already be on the team’s 40-man roster otherwise  the team has to clear a spot beforehand.

As a result of that, the two available roster positions often go to players already on the “Columbus Shuttle” instead of the best options at Triple-A.

One downside to the rule.

Adding the extra 2 players doesn’t necessarily help every team in the League win games.

Teams with a shot at making the 12-team extended playoff joke, I mean playoff spot, and the teams with zero shot at even being a top 12 team, utilize those same two positions for differing reasons and objectives.

A team battling for a playoff spot primarily cashes those chips in on bullpen innings and roster depth.

An extra arm to protect the normal bullpen rotation and a bench piece.

We often see the bench piece be a third catcher (Mitch Garver?), so the field manager is allowed to pinch-hit late in games without leaving himself exposed and forced to plug in a position player (Ben Rice) behind the plate.

Another clear objective is providing an option so the middle inning guys don’t wear down and to provide a little extra rest before the October sprint to the finish line.

Just this week alone we saw John Schreiber, Michael Fulmer and Justin Topa acquired (Topa has already been DFA’s.

For the teams that have zero chance of doing anything but playing golf in October, they use the spots as an opportunity for an audition. Not an April audition. A September audition.

They will now get authentic MLB innings to prove their arms are legitimate before the offseason, in September pennant race baseball.

As an example, a rookie starter for a team like the Angels gets left in to face a lineup a third time in a game because that game means absolutely nothing to them. That is the polar  opposite approach for the playoff seeking team that just might be in the other dugout dying to get a 3^rd chance at a rookie.

Service time can and does come into play. Every day that a player spends on the 26 or 28-man roster or the Major League injured list assures a player of one day of service time. All they need is 172 days to accrue a full year.

As I say…. always follow the money.

In my book, postseason eligibility is more significant – but they are connected.

As I understand it, any  player on the 40-man roster or the 60-day injured list as of 12:00 PM EST on September 1^st  qualifies to be a player on a postseason roster (Giancarlo Stanton). Players obtained in September or later are not.

The singular concession is that a team can appeal to the League to add a player who was a part of the organization on August 31 as a substitution for a player that is on the injured list who has served the minimum time required for activation.

In case you’re wondering, that is probably why we see transactions in the last week of August (Jarred Kelenic, as an example). Deals that look to be  meaningless are to keep October options covered and add “what if” depth or insurance.

Photo by Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Also, Luis Gil who they view as someone that can provide some length, was called up from Triple-A while Clarke Schmidt just had his first outing in his rehab assignment.

So as teams now try to lock in their playoff position, adding 2 players is a tool, that if used properly, can yield positive results.

A very busy time of the year for a contending team’s front office, for sure.

How all of this shakes out we will see very soon.