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MLB expands to 16-team playoff format for 2020

A team that finishes third in their division can now make the playoffs

2019 ALCS Game 2 - New York Yankees v. Houston Astros Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images

The Angels’ chances of making the postseason just got a lot better. Per multiple reports, Major League Baseball will be expanding the playoffs to 16 teams for the 2020 season.

According to the tweet, it’s only for the 2020 postseason...... for now.

Instead of 10 teams making it, there will be six more, three addition teams from each league. The winner-take-all wildcard game will no no more, and the opening round will consist of a best-of-3 format. That’s right. A three-game series in the first round.

After that, it’ll go back to how the division series normally goes, where it’ll be a best-of-5. Then seven games in the championship series and seven games in the World Series.

Now, I know what you’re asking, how are they determining the 16 teams?

So if you finish in first or second in your division, you make the playoffs. There’s where they’ll get 12 of the teams. The others will be determined based on records from the teams that finish between third and fifth in their respected divisions. So essentially, if one division is just stacked and everyone has a decent record, we could potentially see a team who finished fourth in their division make the postseason.

For teams like the Angels, this is great news. They weren’t projected to make the playoffs by a lot of websites and analysts, but now they have a great opportunity. Now, instead of winning the A.L. West, they only need to come in second or even third place.

Poll

Although this will benefit the Angels, do you like the idea of expanded playoffs?

This poll is closed

  • 78%
    Yes
    (37 votes)
  • 21%
    No
    (10 votes)
47 votes total Vote Now