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The wild-card round is now a full round of the postseason, rather than just a game.The 2020 MLB playoffs are just a couple of days away, and the 16-team postseason field is set. Keep in mind, this doesn't just add a team to the playoffs. It behooved the owners to push this change in recent negotiations, and the emphasis on divisions was a compromise. MLB playoffs expanded because, frankly, playoff games make more money for teams. Under these rules last year, a 91-win Blue Jays team and an 83-win Reds team would have made the playoffs. Don't expect to see a 70-win team competing for a spot in the playoffs this year. There seems to be concern about bad teams sneaking into the postseason, but MLB isn't like the NBA where leagues are top-heavy. MORE: MLB rule changes for 2022 season Why did MLB playoffs expand? Don't expect to see the importance of winning the division dissipate any time soon.
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This has been the company line for MLB for some time. Ergo, baseball won't be following the NBA precedent of minimizing divisions. 2 seed and instead be relegated to the No. If a situation like Giants-Dodgers in 2021 happens and two teams from the same division have the best records in their respective league, the second-best team will not get a No. the AL East or NL East this year), it's going to be a hard path for the third-best division winner. 6 team comes from a stacked division (e.g. 6 team, It makes the road to the World Series that much more difficult. By removing the bye and giving it a series against the No. 5 seeds due to the wild-card round now being a series, the third-best division winner takes the brunt of the hit in this new format. While this will have a ripple effect on the No. Needless to say, this could have had huge implications on the National League side, given the Braves would go on to win it all last year. With the change, the White Sox would have hosted the Blue Jays in a best-of-three series while the Braves would have hosted the Reds in a best of three. Here's how things would have shaken out in the new format: American League The Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers and Cardinals played each other in the wild-card round. In this format, the Rays, Astros, White Sox, Giants, Brewers, and Braves all sat out during the wild-card rounds. The 2021 playoffs looked as follows: American League Who would have made the MLB playoffs in 2021? 1 isn't stuck playing against a division winner under any circumstances in the second round. This is to keep series balanced, and to ensure that No. Under this structure, there will be no reseeding. 2 seeds will get a bye in this format, while No. 6 seed: Third-best record among non-division winners 5 seed: Second-best record among non-division winners 4 seed: Best record among non-division winners The new playoff structure in each league breaks down as follows: One other consequence of the new format is the doing away of Game 163 and the implementation of a series of tiebreakers based on statistics (think NFL systems). MORE: MLB trade grades 2022: Live analysis of every deal completed at the deadline These games will all be played in a three-game series' hosted by the team with the better record. The new format will do away with the single wild-card game, and instead pit the third-best division winner against the last team in while the best and second-best wild-card winners play each other.
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One of the more consequential ones is an expanded playoff system, which will now feature 12 teams (six from each league) instead of the 10 of years past.īeginning in 2022, the MLB postseason will now feature: The new collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLBPA featured several rule changes.
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