NEW YORK — The appeal hearing for Chase Utley has been set for Monday, so the Los Angles Dodgers infielder will be eligible to play the rest of the National League division series before any suspension could take effect.
If the Dodgers advance to the league championship series, Utley would be eligible to play in the first two games before the appeal hearing.
On Sunday, Major League Baseball suspended Utley two games for the takeout slide that resulted in a broken leg for New York Mets infielder Ruben Tejada.
The league was prepared to conduct an appeal hearing on Monday, before Game 3 of the NLDS. However, the players’ union is entitled to time to prepare its case, in particular to research what action the league might have taken in similar cases. Utley’s agent and the MLBPA are likely to argue that slides such as Utley’s have not resulted in suspensions.
The league plans to experiment in the Arizona Fall League with a new rule that would require runners to slide directly into second base, in the hope of reducing the injury risk to middle infielders on a double play. The union would have to approve any rule change at the major-league level.
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