Sources – MLB has preliminary talks on bubble format for playoffs

Major League Baseball has had preliminary talks about holding its postseason in a bubble-type format following the outbreaks of coronavirus on the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins who caused destruction on the regular season schedule illustrated how a similar scenario could increase the playoffs, the sources familiar with the talks told ESPN.

While a full-blown bubble similar to the NBA setup at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida would be difficult to replicate for MLB, a multiplayer format that replicates the NHL’s Toronto and Edmonton hubs has gained traction, sources said.

Due to the expansion of MLB to 16 playoff teams, the league would need at least three hubs to complete its wild card round before shrinking to a two-hub format for the division. The League Series and World Series could be held in one or two stadiums. Staying in one metropolitan area would allow teams to avoid air travel and possibly stay at one hotel for the entire postseason, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 27.

Southern California, the greater Chicago area and the metropolitan area of ​​New York make the most sense because of the available stadiums, sources said. Concerns about weather in late September and deep into October make the Los Angeles area the most logical choice to host an entire mail season, although sources warn that due to the impending nature of discussions, no favorite has emerged.

Currently, MLB plans to hold its postseason with home games spread all over the country. While the top four seeders in each league would host all three potential wild-card round games to travel to, the five-game divisional and seven-game championships and World Series would include regular travel – and potentially the cross-country flights that the regular season schedule has been eliminated.

Officials ‘recognition that a bubble-type atmosphere could help isolate MLB from a coronavirus outbreak comes amid a flurry of cases that stopped the Cardinals’ season since July 29 and earlier the Marlins for eight days sidelined. The NBA and NHL bubbles have been considered wild successes, with both leagues going weeks without a confirmed case of the coronavirus. The Los Angeles Times first mentioned the pursuit of the league after a bubble after postseason.

Even if playoff teams were to prevent a full-blown outbreak, even one positive event on a team could cause significant problems. If a player was found by contact tracking to be exposed to a COVID-positive teammate, he would need to be quarantined, potentially disrupting a team’s chances in a series. In the case of multiple positions, games could potentially be postponed, especially if a team traveled in close quarters. Not only would a bubble reduce potential exposure, in theory it would help teams maintain the kind of distance needed to avoid closures that could threaten the integrity of the postseason scheme and cause unrest.

In April, MLB thought to follow a season-long bubble, but eventually balked at concerns about logistics as well as player pushback, never allowing it to expand beyond planning stages. Since the season began July 23, positive tests have been limited to the outbursts of the Cardinals and Marlins. Both teams acknowledged the spread of the virus due to lax adherence to the protocol agreed by the league and the players.

A bubble with stricter protocols could demonstrably hire the league of such concerns in the post-season. With more than $ 1 billion in television revenue depending on the playoffs, the league and players are motivated to complete the extended playoffs after their shortened 60-game season.

Although the shape of a theoretical baseball postsex bubble is not clear, it could look like this:

• The three-game National League wild-card round, played in three days, would see the No. 1 seed against no. 8, no. 2 against no. 7 and no. 3 against no. 6 in Dodger Stadium stadium. The same seeds of the American League would play in Angel Stadium, about 30 miles southeast of Anaheim. And the no. 4 and 5 seeds in both leagues would appear at Petco Park in San Diego

• The NL Division Series would hold two games a day at Dodger Stadium and the ALDS two games a day at Angel Stadium

• The NLCS would be held at Dodger Stadium and the ALCS at Angel Stadium, if both were to be played on one side

• The World Series would be held on a single site or maybe both

Setting up such an effort is not without problems. Holding three games on the same day on the same day is logistically difficult – and, as on the West Coast, would potentially require one game to start before noon. Questions about enough practice at first names and the proper disinfection of clubhouses between games could prompt the league to consider a four-page bubble for the wild card round before shrinking to two after half the teams have been eliminated within the first three days. The league could potentially extend a bubble to the Bay Area to satisfy that.

New York, with Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, could pair with Philadelphia as Baltimore and Washington for a setup of the East Coast hub. Wrigley Field and Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, along with Milwaukee, could form a Midwest hub. Perhaps half of the teams could play in New York and the other half in Southern California, with the East Coast winners flying to California in early October and spending the rest of the month in the Los Angeles area.

The possibilities, this early in the process, are endless. But the talks are taken seriously enough that one official told ESPN: “If we want to make sure we get through October, we really need to get this done.”