The Department of Justice requested that the U.S. District Court in New York define professional baseball's antitrust exemption "narrowly," according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation in March to strip baseball of the exemption entirely, while Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) introduced a separate bill last year that is still being considered.
The DOJ made the request on behalf of three former minor league teams suing Major League Baseball after the league stripped them of their MLB affiliation. Over 40 minor league teams suffered that fate in the league's plan to downsize its farm teams to 120 overall.