Bob Nightengale

USA TODAY Sports

TORONTO - Commissioner Rob Manfred, listening to the managerial complaints of baseball’s long-standing rule of September call-ups, acknowledged Tuesday that he’s in favor of change.

He’s not opposed to clubs being permitted to expand rosters to 40 players in September, but perhaps put a restriction on the number of players eligible to play each night’s game, averting late-season games with more than a dozen pitchers.

“I don't think 18 pitchers in a game is a good thing,’’ Manfred said before Tuesday night’s wild-card game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles. "I have been outspoken about the idea that our game has changed. It's changed significantly in recent years. We started in August in the process of broadly thinking about how we're playing the game on the field, and whether the evolution that's taken place needs to be managed a little more carefully to make sure that we provide our fans with the most entertaining, action-packed, fast-paced product that we can put out there."

MLB playoff predictions: Cubs big favorite to win pennant, World Series

Orioles manager Buck Showalter has been particularly critical of the expanded September call-ups, saying that teams aren’t penalized for poor starting pitching performances since teams are carrying as many as a dozen relievers in the bullpen.

“September call-ups were a non-controversial item for many, many years,’’ Manfred said. “I think that the controversy has arisen because of the changes that have taken place in the game and the way the game's played, particularly the use of so many relievers, so many matchups, has made the presence of the extra players so much more visible.

“It's brought attention to the pace of our games, and I do believe that a reform of those rules, again, protecting the benefits that are available to players. I'm not looking to take away service time or anything like that.

“But I do think it would make sense to get to a situation where we played our September games closer to the rules that we play with the rest of the year.’’

Manfred also insisted that the baseballs have not been altered this year despite the increase in home runs, with the second-most homers hit this past year in baseball history, trailing only the 2000 season.

Once booed, Orioles' Hyun Soo Kim beloved in the Charm city

“Look, we have tested the baseball,’’ Manfred said. “We are absolutely convinced that this issue is not driven by a difference in the baseball.

“My own view is that the spike is related to the way that the game is being played now, the way that we are training hitters from a very young age, and we have not been able to find any external cause that explains the spike in home runs.’’

AL wild card game: Orioles at Blue Jays