Details on the playoff format for the 2020 MLB season have been released.
In order to give more chances to teams due to the short season, MLB owners have agreed to expand the playoffs for this year to 16 teams. That has resulted in a new playoff format and criteria for who makes the postseason.
Here is how the playoff teams will be determined:
– The top two teams in each division will make the playoffs (six per league)
– The two teams with the best records in their league that did not finish in the top two of their division will also make the playoffs (two per league)
That gives us eight teams per league to make the postseason this year.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, here is how playoff seeding will be determined:
– 1-3 will be the division winners, seeded based on record
– 4-6 will be the second-place finishers per division, seeded based on record
– 7-8 will be the best records among non-first or second-place division finishers, seeded based on record
And here is how many games will be played in each round.
– The first round of the playoffs will be a best of 3, all games at the home park of the top 4 seeds
– The second round will be a best of 5 – the division series
– The third round will be a best of 7 – the league championship series
– The final round will be a best of 7 – the World Series
Purists will not like many aspects of the 2020 MLB season, but this is giving the league the opportunity to experiment with many concepts they’ve considered over the years, including the expanded playoff, and a controversial extra innings rule.
