The Red Sox and the New CBA

Since the new MLB collective bargaining agreement has been released to the public there has been no shortage of good reads on the subject. I will not touch on all the specifics here; if you want a comprehensive look, Maury Brown has it here and Peter Abraham has a quicker break down here. There is a lot to like about the new agreement, including a HGH test and some real progress in health policy. However, the general reaction has been mixed at best and it isn’t hard to see why. A few of the new policies are going to be more controversial and the Red Sox may be in the center of these controversies. Most obviously, the expansion of the playoffs will directly impact the Red Sox. Under the newly expanded Wild Card system, the Red Sox would have played a one game playoff against a division rival in each of the past two seasons instead of missing out on the playoffs. Boston fans will certainly like that change, but another consequence of this new playoff system will also have a huge impac...