Major League Baseball will have 16 playoff teams in its 2020 season of 60 games. ESPN’s Marly Rivera reported that the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) had approved the plan for the 2020 season only earlier Thursday afternoon, and Joel Sherman of the New York Post confirmed later that night that the owners had also ratified the proposal. The two sides resumed talks about a bigger postseason earlier in the week and wanted to reach a deal before the 2020 season began on Thursday night.
The league has not officially announced the new format, but here are some of the details reported:
- All first round games will be part of the best series of three, reports Jayson Stark of The Athletic. All games will also be played in the home of the team with the most seed, eliminating the need for a day of travel.
- The league and MLBPA agreed to a $ 50 million bonus for postseason players, according to Evan Drellich of The Athletic. MLB had previously offered $ 25 million in negotiations last month.
- The eight second-place teams (each division) will qualify for the 16-team playoff format, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney. The seventh and eighth teams will be chosen for the best record among other teams. Teams will be seeded from one to eight based on the 2020 season record.
The MLB was originally slated to enter the season using its normal playoff structure, which has been in place since 2012 and has 10 playoff teams: six division champions and two wild card participants per league. That postseason format consists of two wild card games, the LDS round, the LCS round, and the World Series.
Negotiations between players and owners have been the story for much of the close. The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) closed spring training in March and delayed Opening Day by approximately four full months. The players had been fishing for a longer regular season, but thanks to the pandemic and the icy pace of league-side negotiations, the 2020 season will span just 60 games in the regular season. Commissioner Rob Manfred, under the terms of a March 26 agreement on players’ wages, had the power to implement a regular-season structure.
One concern with the 16-team playoffs is whether a fall wave of the virus could disrupt the postseason. Since much of MLB’s national television revenue is tied to the playoffs, it’s a big concern. Extending the postseason more deeply in the fall would necessarily increase the risk of a second closure before a champion was crowned. The relatively low positive case rate during reopened spring training may have emboldened MLB and the players on this front.
