Chase Utley hearing set for Monday

Major League Baseball scheduled an appeals hearing for Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Chase Utley next Monday, commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed.

Utley received a two-game suspension after his hard slide into second base to break up a double play during Game 2 of the best-of-five National League Division Series on Saturday night resulted in New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada suffering a fractured leg.

The appeals hearing will come after the NLDS between the Dodgers and Mets. Utley originally was suspended for Games 3 and 4, but he appealed and is eligible to play in the remaining games of the series or until he has the hearing.

Utley sat out Game 3 on Monday night in New York but could play in Game 4 on Tuesday night. The Dodgers trail the Mets 2-1 in the series.

Manfred said MLB tried to schedule the hearing earlier.

"We actually went in front of John McHale, the hearing officer," Manfred said. "We argued for a hearing date (Tuesday) or (Wednesday). The union wanted longer time to get ready and John decided that he would give them until Monday in order to get ready.

"Look, we have a process and the process has worked pretty well in terms of handling these sorts of disputes, so we'll be ready to go on Monday."'

Manfred wants baseball to be proactive going forward in protecting middle infielders from aggressive slides.

"The issue of player safety is paramount for us," Manfred said. "We have some great young athletes and we don't want to lose any of them, regardless of position, to injuries that can be avoided and we are going to constantly look at the game to find ways to prevent avoidable injuries.

"We started talking to the union about this. It is another example of the issue of player safety, which is really high on our radar screen. We've got a lot of money invested in ballplayers. The players themselves have tremendous playing opportunities in terms of what they can earn. And I think it's important that we protect them."

The Mets will be without Tejada for the remainder of the playoffs.