According to a report, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have come to an agreement that would expand its postseason to 16 teams for the 2020 season.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan states that the postseason will consist of eight teams each from the American and National Leagues with all three division champions making the playoffs and seeded based on records.
The fun part begins with all three second-place teams also qualifying and seeding based on record with the final two spots going to the team with the best record out of the rest of the field. This means that a team that finishes third in its division could get beaten out by a fourth-place team for the final postseason berth.
Things get crazier as ESPN’s Buster Olney reports that the top three teams would get to choose their opponents in a postseason seeding show.
The first round would consist of a best-of-three series with all three games played at the higher seed’s stadium. The divisional series would remain a best-of-five series while the championship series would remain a best-of-seven series.
All of this is good and bad news for the Twins. The good is that a move if ratified by the owners, would exponentially increase their odds to make the postseason in 2020.
The bad? If the Twins don’t win the American League Central, they could be stuck in another playoff series with the Yankees even if they wind up as the fourth seed.
Spoiler alert – the Yankees choose the Twins https://t.co/g1ZqsKUKe7
— Buffalo Wild Wings (@BWWings) February 10, 2020
