Report: MLB, PA discuss restoring ghost runner

Could the ghost runner make its return in 2022?

The Athletic's Jayson Stark and Matt Gelb report that Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association are discussing a restoration of the rule that would see a runner placed on second base at the start of extra innings.

While no agreement has been reached, several players tell Stark and Gelb expect the rule to be reinstated once protocols are announced within the next 48 hours.

The ghost runner rule was introduced in the shortened 2020 season as a bid to help curb the length of games. Sources tell the pair that the rule, which has been championed by commissioner Rob Manfred in the past, is popular among the players. There is no indication as to what inning the rule would be enacted for in 2022. In the past two seasons, the ghost runner appeared right in the 10th inning, but it's possible that it could be held off until later into extra innings going forward.

In 2019, the last full season prior to the application of the rule, there were 60 games that went more than 11 innings. Last season, with the rule in place, there were only 16 such games.