Keep in mind that this article was written on July 24th, not August 5th.
Like I said yesterday, 2020’s a weird year, and it’s about to weirder.
Last night, the MLB and the MLBPA agreed to a 16-team format for the playoffs. There are going to be 8 teams in each league that get in. They consist of 3 1st place teams, 3 2nd place teams, and 2 wild card teams. In a 60-game season, this is huge for the outsiders looking in on a regular 162-game season.
Take for example the Chicago White Sox, who made some great signings this offseason. They are in the AL Central division that has a couple of titans standing their way, which are the mighty Minnesota Twins and the Cleveland Indians. Anything can happen and with this new playoff format, they have a much better chance to get into a second place spot or wild-card spot than they would in a typical season.
Additionally, this format could have a March Madness-like feel to it. For example, if a fringe team like the Padres or the Mets beat a great team like the Braves or Dodgers in the first round, that could send shock waves around not just the baseball world, but the sports world as well. In a similar way, this format can market the players in a way that they didn’t before. If it’s the Rays matching up against the Astros, for instance, the PR department for the league can market the matchup as Blake Snell and Austin Meadows going up against Alex Bregman and George Springer. In the National League, if the Diamondbacks are facing the Dodgers, the league can promote it as Ketel Marte and Madison Bumgarner competing against Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger.
If the MLB uses this 16-team format in the future, it will definitely help them out in the long run. Since the attendance is already down and most people think that the National Pastime is so boring, this will make the game way more exciting and popular than it used to be.
Sources: mlb.com