Baseball is a fluid game regarding the number of players on a team. The number of players in the lineup will depend on whether a team is in the American League or National League. The number of players on the roster often depends on the time of year, as teams are allowed to have more players during spring training and late in the season.
Regular-Season Roster
When the baseball season is underway, each major-league team can have up to 25 players on the roster. The roster is set on the opening day of the season. The team can carry no more than 25 players through Aug. 31. If a player gets injured during the season and cannot play, the team can put the player on the disabled list and bring up a player from its minor league system and put him on the major league roster. When the injured player recovers, he can be put back on the roster but another player must be taken off the roster at this point.
Post-Aug. 31 roster
After games are finished on the date of Aug. 31, teams can add 15 players to their regular roster and play with 40 players on a daily basis. These players can be brought up from any minor league level. Teams are allowed to use any or all of these players in games. They can start or come in as substitutes. The teams can have 40 players on the roster until the last game of the regular season.
Postseason Roster
Teams that make it to the playoffs must play with a 25-man roster. Those teams may have been playing with 40-man rosters since Aug. 31 until the end of the regular season but they must go back to playing with 25 man for the two levels of playoffs and the world series. A team is allowed to set its roster before each playoff round, however, the number of players may not exceed 25 players for any round.
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