Even with the shortened 60 game schedule, COVID-19 created many stoppages as 45 games were postponed throughout the season. COVID-19 has caused the MLB to implement an unprecedented 16-team playoff format. Since the league will be losing revenue with no ticket sales this season it has expanded the number of teams from 10 to 16 in hopes that the broadcast revenue will increase. In addition to that owners believed that this format will help create more competitive and compelling playoff games with intense playoff pushes. Since the regular season was scheduled to end on September 27th and the Wild Card Series set to start September 29th, there was no time to quarantine so all contending organizations had quarantined the final week of the season.
The first round consists of eight best-of-three matchups, with four matchups in each league. The eight playoff teams from each league are comprised of the 3 division winners, 3 second-place teams, and the 2 next teams with the best record. In the first round, all the games in the series are hosted by the higher seed. Many players and coaches were in favor of the new playoff expansion because they believed it was the fairest option. September 30th was every baseball fan’s dream come true as there were 8 playoff games played throughout the day. Astros manager Dusty Baker compared it to NCAA’s March Madness saying, “This is like September Madness”.
We’ve never had a #postseason day like this before! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/8bIeOgyyYS
— MLB (@MLB) September 30, 2020
After the Wild Card round, the MLB decided to create their own kind of bubble after seeing how productive the NBA, WNBA, and NHL bubbles have been. The MLB decided that the National League was going to play their games in two neutral locations in Texas (Houston, Arlington) and the American League bubble is located in California (Los Angeles, San Diego). These cities are hosting the best-of-five Divisional series and the League Championship series which is best-of-seven. Then finally there is the World Series which is set to begin on October 20th in Arlington, Texas. During these times players will be restricted to only the hotel when they are not at the ballpark and will be participating in COVID tests daily.
And then there were 8. #MLBPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/UCaDkoxq85
— Corner Sports (@CornerSportsFS) October 3, 2020
After a bumpy start to the MLB season with all the COVID outbreaks, the MLB was able to calm the storm and get through the season. I think it has done a good job learning from their mistakes and following leagues that have been successful in implementing a bubble. As MLB fans continue to slowly decrease in numbers I think it was a great idea for the MLB to use this expansion format to draw more fan attention as more than half the league makes the playoffs. All in all, I think the MLB has taken great advantage of this unprecedented circumstance they have been confronted with this playoffs.
By: Patrick Russell