In case you missed the news, Pablo Sandoval is, somewhat surprisingly, returning to the San Francisco Giants. And he’s, quite wonderfully, well ahead of schedule rehabbing from September Tommy John surgery.
And while many new baseball rules are bad (coughcough the DH is supposedly coming to the National League in 2021 coughcough), we can perhaps thank a new rule for the fact that we get to root for Sandoval for another season.
At The Athletic, Andrew Baggarly writes that the expansion to 26 roster spots this season is what made the Sandoval signing possible:
Rosters are expanding from 25 to 26 players, but clubs will be capped at 13 pitchers.