Playoff Expansion for MLB Season 2020?

The MLB & the players' association have agreed on an extended playoff for the season 2020. The playoff per the agreement will be ex[anded to 16 teams from 10 teams. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement “This season will be a sprint to a new format that will allow more fans to experience playoff baseball. We look forward to a memorable Postseason concluding a year like no other.”

In six divisions, now all the six-place teams will qualify for the playoffs. The best record for the seventh and eighth playoff teams will be their qualifying criterion. On September 29-October 2, the first round of the playoff will happen. It will be a four three-game series in each game. All these games would be played at the home stadium of the higher seed. And, the remaining rounds will be played as it happens. In each league, the two divisions will be a five-game series, and the World Series, and the American League & National League Championship Serie will be a seven-game series.

MLBPA executive director Tony Clark, in a statement, said "We hope it will result in highly competitive pennant races as well as exciting additional playoff games to the benefit of the industry and all involved heading into next year."

The agreement playoff extension agreement would also include the suspension of the luxury tax collection for this year. It was in 2012 that the postseason got extended. It has also been part of MLB’s previous proposal to restart the game. According to this playoff expansion, the division winner, in each of the league will be seeded 1-3, the second-place teams 4-6, and the teams with the next two best records 7-8. The first-round pairings will be 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, and 4-5.

The Tie Breaker games will not be played and the tie will be broken by head-to-head record. This will be further followed by a better record within the division of the team, and then the record within the division in the last 20 games. Despite this, if there would be a tie, the last 21 games would be the standard and then 22.

Different leagues could play different games to finish the regular season. And, the postponement decision for the regular season would be made by the MLB commissioner alone. The pool of $50 million will be distributed after every round, which could be further increased if the number of fans would be allowed in the stadium. This expansion of the playoffs would mean that out of the 30 teams, 53% will be reaching the playoff.