Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have been working on a plan to hold postseason games at neutral-site bubbles, and the two sides are now in agreement.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported on Tuesday that MLB and the MLBPA have agreed to play the Division Series, League Championship Series, and World Series at neutral sites in a bubble-type environment.
Plans were already in place to expand the playoff field from 10 to 16 teams for this season. Rather than have a one-game Wild Card play-in, the first round will be a best-of-three series. Those series will not be played in bubble sites, with the higher-seeded team hosting them.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post shared some more information about the quarantine plan heading into the postseason.
Heard the plan right now:
–players on contending teams will have to quarantine at a hotel in the final 7 days of the reg season
—daily COVID testing
—players can elect to leave the hotel if their team is eliminated— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) September 15, 2020
Just to be clear on the last-week quarantine: all teams in contention will have to move into a hotel (even at home). Once a team is eliminated, players have the right to leave the hotel situation.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) September 15, 2020
Previous reports indicated that the American League will likely play its postseason series in Texas with the National League playing somewhere in Southern California. The World Series is expected to be hosted at Globe Life Park, which is the new home of the Texas Rangers. You can read more details of the 2020 postseason format here.
