For the first time in the history of Major League Baseball, 16 teams will reach the postseason in 2020. MLB and MLBPA agreed on an expanded postseason format hours before Thursday night’s first pitch on opening day. There will be eight teams per league (which reportedly includes each second-place team) in a bracket-style tournament, similar to the NBA and NHL.
Of course, very little about MLB will be familiar to you this season. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the season to be shortened to 60 games, the National League will use the first-time hitter and a runner will be placed at second base in additional innings to speed things up. If MLB was ever going to experiment with a 16-team postseason field, this is the year to do it.
Extending the postseason is a seismic shift in the competitive landscape of the sport. What parties come out with the new format? Who is left behind? Here are our winners and losers from the new 16-team postseason field.
Winner: Fans
I’m sure a segment of fans, possibly even a big one, don’t like the expanded postseason, especially since it was apparently slapped at the 11th hour. I think it’s a good thing for baseball in general. More teams in the race equates to more reasons for fans to pay attention and get excited at the end of the season, and more fans will see their team chase a World Series title. That is a good thing in general. In a year when both are not going according to plan, a little hope related to sports helps. It’s a good day, baseball enthusiasts. Your team’s chances of making it to October are likely to be much better.
Loser: best teams
The teams will be seeded 1-8 and the first round will be the best of three series under the new postseason format. There is no real advantage to winning his division now, other than securing the home advantage. You don’t avoid a Wild Card Game all at once, and you can’t choose your opponent (that’s been proposed in the past but not part of the new format). The Wild Card Game created an incentive to win the division. That is gone now. Winning the division is of little value and that doesn’t necessarily hurt the best teams, but it doesn’t reward them either.
Winner: bubble teams
All teams residing somewhere south of the superpowers but north of the rebuilders now have a much better chance of making the postseason. According to Sportsline projections, the Red Sox (33 projected wins), Cleveland (33), and Angels (31) would make the postseason in the 16-team format, but not in the 10-team format. In the National League, it would be the Braves, the Brewers and the Reds, who project 32 wins. Basically any team in that 30-34 win range (maybe even the 28-34 win range) is the big winner here. His postseason odds jumped tremendously. And once you’re in, it doesn’t matter how many games you won during the regular season. They all start at 0-0 in October. Just go into the postseason and you can win the World Series.
Winner: the players
Normally, the postseason group money given to players is generated entirely from the gate proceeds (tickets, etc.). Because fans are unlikely to be able to enter baseball stadiums this season, it was entirely possible for players to play the postseason for free. There will be no income to distribute. As part of the expanded postseason deal, players will split a $ 50 million player pool, compared to the $ 25 million MLB offered a few weeks ago. They will now be compensated for their postseason. Also, the expanded postseason is for 2020 only. We will return to a normal 10-team postseason field next year, meaning the MLBPA can still use the expanded postseason as a bargaining chip during collective bargaining agreement negotiations in the next low season.
Loser: Trade Deadline Enthusiasts
The commercial deadline of August 31 was already going to be difficult this year. The teams will only have a month to evaluate their roster before making moves, and the contenders will be wary of giving up prospects of acquiring rentals when COVID-19 could force the season cancellation at any time. In addition to that, more teams will be in the race now and therefore will hesitate to sell parts. I suppose the flip side of this is that more teams in the race will match more buyers, there will still be more than a few bad teams willing to sell, but the clubs are so risk averse now that I think this could stop the market a bit. . This makes an already complicated commercial market even more complicated.
Winner: the owners
There is a reason MLB and owners have been pushing for an expanded postseason format long before the pandemic. It is a great generator of money thanks to national television contracts. MLB and owners now have their expanded postseason format to help recoup lost earnings during closing.
