MLB teams will be allowed to carry 14 pitchers for four more weeks

Next Monday, May 2 will still see active roster limits reduce from 28 to 26 players, but Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association agreed Tuesday to allow teams to carry one extra pitcher for nearly all of May.

The standing rule is that, at least until September, teams can carry a maximum of 13 pitchers on the 26-man active roster. That’s been in place since the 2020 season, but has yet to be realized. The pitcher limit was relaxed for two seasons under agreed-upon COVID-19 protocols. This year, the pitcher limit was relaxed for the first three and a half weeks after the lockout-truncated spring training didn’t give pitchers enough time to build up arm strength.

MLB announced Tuesday that the limit will be 14 pitchers from May 2 through May 29, then the regular rules will apply starting May 30.

Through 16 games this season, the Dodgers have carried 16 pitchers on the active roster for 12 games, including the current roster today, and 15 pitchers for four games. That’s allowed them to mostly spread out the relief work, such that they only used pitchers on back-to-back days five times, with four coming over the weekend in San Diego. No Dodgers pitcher has appeared in more than six games through the first 18 days of the season.

They only used one pitcher on Monday night, when Walker Buehler threw the first shutout of his career, striking out 10 Diamondbacks at Chase Field.