MLB and its players’ union agreed Thursday to expand this year’s playoffs from 10 to 16 teams. The deal will include eight best-of-three series in the first round, instead of the pair of one-game playoff showdowns that has been used since 2012.
“We are excited to announce the expansion of the 2020 Postseason,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “This season will be a sprint to a new format that will allow more fans to experience playoff baseball.”
MLB did not immediately provide full details of the postseason plan, but per multiple reports Thursday, the top two teams in each of MLB’s six divisions will get automatic berths in the playoffs, with the final four spots going to the remaining two teams with the best records in each league. Thus one or two divisions could conceivably send four teams to the postseason, and if history is an indication, some of those teams could have losing records.
“It’s such a unique season, why not try a little something different and make it as exciting as possible,” the Colorado Rockies’ Trevor Story said to the Associated Press. “I know it’s going to be such a sprint with the 60-game season; adding more playoff teams will just add to the fire and the excitement and the fandom around the game. Anything can happen in a 60-game season. I’m all for it.”
Under this year’s plan, per reports, the three division winners in each league will be seeded 1-3 by record, with the same process applying to the second-place teams for the 4 through 6 seeds. The playoff bracket will have all 16 teams competing in the first round, with all those games being held at the higher-seeded teams’ home stadiums. The next round will be best-of-five, with the traditional seven-game series still taking place during the league championship round and the World Series.
According to ESPN, the proposed 16-team playoff could be preceded by a TV show in which the highest-seeded teams pick their first-round opponents. MLB said that all of the new playoff games this year will be televised by ESPN and TBS. The first-round series are set to be staged from Sept. 29 through Oct. 2.
The deal includes a $50 million player pool, per reports.
“From a selfish, White Sox standpoint, I’m certainly in favor of it, just for the mere fact that it enhances the possibilities that this group’s going to get exposed to October baseball,” Chicago White Sox General Manager Rick Hahn told the AP. “We’ve talked over the years of this rebuild and into this next stage that learning how to win is part of that. And certainly learning how to win in October is very much part of getting us to our ultimate goals.”
“You know what, 2020 baseball, whatever they decide I assume will be best for the game,” Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said Thursday before taking on the Nationals in Washington (via USA Today). “Whatever the rules are, whatever the scenario is, hopefully we’ll be a part of it.”
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