As the Western Major Baseball League (WMBL) continues their re-brand to the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) for next season, the regular-season grind will be lengthened come 2019.

The new WCBL will see the Swift Current 57's play 56 regular-season games - an increase from the previous 48-game schedule under the soon-to-be-former WMBL moniker.

"I knew it was coming - we had meetings this spring just before the season started. It was voted on, and it was going to pass, it was just a matter of when they were going to release that schedule," said 57's President Mike Mutlow.

The new schedule will allow an extra seven days to add in the extra eight regular-season games, allowing for four-more home dates for each WCBL club.

"My thoughts: It's going to be a burden on some of the smaller markets. A lot of the talk was that some of the big parks unfortunately shut down August 1 - maybe they didn't quite make the playoffs or be (eliminated) from the playoffs too early, so they wanted to start it in late-June a little earlier there, and run into August," Mutlow explained. "Technically, it won't be a lot different from what we saw in June here. We had 14 home games, and ten only in July. It kind of will blend in that way."

At the root of the change came an attempt at league-wide profit with those added regular-season dates, though perennial playoff powerhouses may miss out come mid-August.

"That's how it was presented to us a little bit. Whether or not it's going to help, that's yet to be determined," said Mutlow. "We'll make the best of it here, that's for sure. We'll have four more home dates to sell and promote, have some more fun, and make some more money. I think we'll be okay, there may be some markets that might struggle with having to do that."

With players needing to head back to their respective colleges by mid-August at the latest, the need for a reduced playoff schedule also arose as part of the tweaking.

The current playoff format has a gauntlet of three best-of-five series decide the league-champion. Moving forward, a minimized playoff atmosphere will see just three best-of-three series.

"That was one I objected to strongly was the best-of-three, from out point of view anyway - unfortunately we lost the vote there," said Mutlow. "We'll try to be positive with it and make the best of it. I know (head coach) Joe (Carnahan) will be ready for it when the time comes, so maybe we'll only have to win two games and be through to the next round."

Although playoff series used to implement the best-of-three structure once-upon-a-time in the WMBL, it may take some getting used to for newer coaches in terms of strategy.

"You've got to come out of the gates just givin' er right away. There's no wasted games in a best-of-three, so if you don't win that first one, I think you're in a little tough," Mutlow admitted. "In a best-of-five you've got one maybe you can toss out and get back into it."

Having been eliminated in four games in their first-round playoff series by the Regina Red Sox, the 57's attention now turns toward player recruitment in the not-so-distant future, as well as securing a plan for the 2019 season... a much-earlier start to the off-season than the 2016 and 2017 WMBL champs are used to.