Less than a month after he denied a motion by minor-league baseball players to classify their lawsuit against Major League Baseball as a class action, the U.S. district court judge presiding over the case has given the plaintiffs a second chance.

In an order issued Aug. 19, Judge Joseph C. Spero granted a motion by the plaintiffs to reconsider his order to deny class certification in the case, said Garrett Broshuis, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs and a former minor-league pitcher. Nearly 2,000 current and former minor-league players had signed onto the lawsuit after it had been conditionally certified as a class action last October. The scope of the liability Major League Baseball faces in a class-action lawsuit is exponentially higher than the liability it faces if the named plaintiffs involved in the case now have their cases judged separately.

The plaintiffs must file a 25-page brief to the judge by Sept. 12. Major League Baseball and its teams must file a response by Oct. 14. A hearing to decide the question is scheduled for Dec. 2.

Senne v. the Officer of the Commissioner of Baseball had been scheduled to go to trial next February. That date has been postponed indefinitely while Spero decides the question of class certification. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs have argued Major League Baseball violates minimum-wage and overtime laws in spring training, in the five-month regular season and in the offseason. The defendants have argued that minor-league baseball players should be classified as seasonal or recreational employees, exempting them from minimum-wage and overtime laws.

In denying the motion for class certification in July, Spero accepted the contention of Major League Baseball that players’ unpaid offseason activities were not similar enough to be considered collectively under federal and state wage laws. That it at times was difficult to ascertain even which states in which the players had performed their offseason work made the application of state wage laws impossible, he wrote in his decision.

In his order granting the motion for reconsideration, the judge ordered the plaintiffs to propose narrower classes to be certified collectively — narrower than the initial class, which had been all players who had participated in minor-league baseball within the statute of limitations.

A bill was introduced in Congress in June that would exempt minor-league baseball players to the Fair Labor Standards Act under which the players have filed suit, undermining the lawsuit. That bill has been referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.