Major League Baseball and its Players’ Union came to an agreement on Tuesday that will include the 2020 MLB Playoffs being played in separate bubbles rather than teams’ home stadiums.
In an announcement, Major League Baseball indicated that multipe venues will host the divisional playoffs. Meanwhile, two locations will be the host of the league championship series with Arlington in Texas hosting the World Series.
MLB sets playoff schedule, to be played in bubble cities
Here’s the gist of the league’s announcement on Tuesday.
- The divisional round will be played in Houston, Texas, San Diego and Los Angeles with the National League playing in Texas and the American League in Southern California.
- The National League Championship Series will be played in Arlington while the American League Championship Series will take place in San Diego.
- Game 1 of the 2020 World Series will take place in Arlington on Oct. 20. A potential Game 7 of the World Series would take place Oct. 28.
- The wildcard round will be a best-of-three played in the regular-season home parks of the teams with the four-best records in each league.
MLB and COVID-19
The primary reason for playing the postseason in bubbles is due to the outbreaks of the COVID-19 virus we’ve seen throughout the Major League Baseball world thus far during this truncated 60-game regular season.
It started with the Miami Marlins on the opening weekend and continued with the St. Louis Cardinals last month. Multiple teams have had outbreaks in between those two major situations.
Per an agreement between MLB and its players, family members will be given the ability to quarantine with players on playoff contenders for seven days and remain in the bubble throughout the duration of the postseason.
This is similar to how both the NBA and NHL have held their seasons in bubble-like atmospheres since their campaigns were originally suspended back in March. It has worked swimmingy for both leagues.
Current MLB Playoff teams
As you already know, there’s an expanded playoff field that includes eight teams in each league. Here’s how the current playoff standings looks.
American League: Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics, Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians
National League: Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants