2020 MLB Bracket Forecasts: CBS Sports Staff Selects for Each Postseason Series

The regular season of the 2020 Major League Baseball 60-game has come to an end. Despite the brevity of the season, fans will get more than usual for this year’s MLB postseason. The field includes a 16-team playoff field, extending from the usual 10. The first round will also feature the Best of Wild F Wild Card Series, which hosts all of the top ranked games. Here at CBS Sports, your MLB writers are here to share our bracket predictions for the full 2020 postseason.

Catherine Aquavela’s bracket

Aquavela: First of all, the hope here is that all the players, coaching staff, umpires and gameday staff will have a healthy start and end to the month long postseason. About the 2020 MLB Postseason I can confidently say it will be Butterwit. It honestly seems like things were just getting started when I realized it’s almost October and we only have this year. 30 days left. 60 games just isn’t enough of a regular season baseball for me, so I’m planning to stick to every pitch of many playoff games even though I will be treated this season. Now that I’ve got a little emotional thought (it’s 2020, give me a pass), it’s on the baseball.

If I’m really thinking about it now, the Yankees-Cleveland Wild Card Series could honestly be t-sh-up. Probably similar to White Sox-A or Cubs-Marlins. I think the offense of the Braves will break against the hard Reds rotation. I don’t think Dodgers or Pedres will get in any trouble with their first round matchups. After that, when the two clubs face each other in the NLDS, it looks like big brother (dodgers) versus younger brother (pedres) vibes. The Padres are knocking on the door and certainly risk a serious split in the future, but I don’t see their time happening yet. I really hope Cubs-Braves happens because it will be an entertaining series. And, I guess you gave my White Sox my Cinderella pick ALCS. Make it playable in

As much as I think the Rays need to improve their hacking efforts (CC: their horse stable shirt worn after cleaning AL East in the context when their GM was signaling relief against the Yankees), the club is really good on the field. Crime, defense, rotation, bullpen … There are very few vulnerabilities in Tampa with the post ason going to the sun. Also, they’ve got momentum on their side. I think it will be more important than usual given the short-term season and the fantastic schedule. I think they will land in the Wild Card Series before their two tough series against New York rivals and the young, Upstart White Sox before falling into the Dodgers in the World Series.

I go with the Dodgers to win them all, and yes, when we thought we were in a normal 162-game season they chose to win / take them all before spring. The Dodgers is the perfect package, and the Mookie Bates trade and subsequent contract expansion was really the cherry on top. They have been considered good even when they are not playing at 100 percent. They have not stayed away from the pressure. Instead, they have embraced it in this very strange season. Is it the World Series or the L.A. There is a bust in and I think this is the time by which they will break.

RJ Anderson’s bracket

Anderson: This picks the same World Series I would have submitted to you in the spring and I submitted in the summer. I stuck with it for consistency, even though I think the Yankees have stood in the way. The Dodgers, meanwhile, are likely to face their fierce competition in the second round, assuming Pedres can take care of the Cardinals. Either way, I clearly feel better about the Dodgers. And why not based on their respective regular-season performances?

Mike Axis’s bracket

Axes: The short wild card series can really throw a wrench at things, but in almost every series, I clearly see a reason to favor one team over another. Cleveland’s rotation, San Diego’s offense and bullpen, so on and on. Aside from the Dodgers, I think the Twins are the most complete team in the current baseball. The Canta Meda-Jose Barrios-Michael Pinada rotation trio is no joke, and Rich Hill is a quality No. 4 option, they should move on. Crime can bang (even if it wasn’t for this time of year) and bullpen all sorts of matchup headaches. The Dodgers are a great team, but I would prefer them to lose the World Series when they stop losing the World Series.

Bracket of Dan Perry

Perry: The Twins are working at full strength right now in lineup and rotation, and as such I think they have a strong present roster of all playoff teams. Towards the NL, the two best teams – Dodgers and Pedres – can face each other in the NLDS. I’m taking the paddle in discomfort, but it basically flips the coin in one of the best-of-five series. The strength of the rotation front of the reds will deepen them, as does the overall roster depth of the rays. In the end, though, it’s Twins Power and starts pitching over Pedres.

Igor Mello’s bracket

Melo: You could argue that the two best baseball teams live in the NL West. The way the brackets are shaken is ruthless for the Pedres and Dodgers, so one of them will go home early in the division series. I’m just fighting over some big emergencies based on the flicky results I’ve seen from the 60-game sample in 2020. With this format, this field has been open for a very long time, so it is open. Why not predict the first All-California World Series since 2002?

Bracket of Stephen Pianovich

Pianovich: Predicting anything in 2020 – especially the 16-team baseball tournament, which starts with the best-three-series – sounds like an asinine effort. But I haven’t filled sports brackets for more than two-years, so I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to complete this stupid exercise. The fantastic 2020 baseball season was an expected mix (DD Jers is winning 43 games) and unpredictable (the Miami Marlins are in the playoffs and they have the same seed as the Houston Astros), so for my brackets I went with the picking mix from my head and heart. It ends with a World Series matchup between Bezab’s most fun team (and the World Series without a ring franchise), whose team has 27 rings and an uncertain 2020 campaign with as much damage as the regular-season. My head says it’s time to party like 1998. Sorry, heart.

Matt Snyder’s bracket

Schneider: A lot of this is crapshoot, so the picks were mostly for fun while still trying hard for precision. Some of the things that were on purpose:

• I thought the Twins would be very fit to get to the top against the Yankees (who have beaten the Twins in funny 13 straight playoff games).
• I love the Reds in the first round, but a quick change in the second round means their rotation is a little shaky.
• The Cubs-Dodgers NLCS will be the third in the last five years and will be a “rubber match” as everyone has won one so far.
• After all, the Dodgers are the best team ever and you can’t go wrong with that choice. This is the time to finally be with this group.

Danny Witty’s bracket

Witty: My Prison World Series matchup prediction was the Yankees-Dodgers, and neither of those two clubs gave me enough reason to think otherwise. If the Yankees are healthy, they are the deadliest baseball team. Speaking of Los Angeles, what hasn’t been said before about their depth and talent? Dodgers in 6.