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The 2020 MLB playoffs are right around the corner, even though it seems like only yesterday that the regular season kicked off. Well, it wasn’t yesterday but close enough, as the compressed 60-game schedule is rapidly coming to a close and the MLB standings are tight heading to the finish.
As has been the case with so much this season, the playoffs will have a new look, with an expanded format that includes 16 teams for the first time in MLB history.
This will be the place to visit every day through the end of the regular season for updated looks at the potential playoff field, recaps of the biggest games each night, analysis of the most important storylines and previews of the critical games ahead.
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Current playoff field | The big story | Playoff debates | Key games ahead
Key links: MLB standings | Predictions | Stock Watch | Awards Watch
If the season ended today …
The matchups: Here’s what the first round of the expanded playoffs would look like based on the standings entering play on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
Best-of-three series, higher seed is home team
AMERICAN LEAGUE
No. 1 Rays vs. No. 8 Yankees
No. 2 Athletics vs. No. 7 Twins
No. 3 Indians vs. No. 6 Astros
No. 4 White Sox vs. No. 5 Blue Jays
NATIONAL LEAGUE
No. 1 Dodgers vs. No. 8 Giants
No. 2 Cubs vs. No. 7 Marlins
No. 3 Braves vs. No. 6 Cardinals
No. 4 Padres vs. No. 5 Phillies
About last night …
1:01
Matt Joyce, Jorge Alfaro and Garrett Cooper all homer as the Marlins blank the Braves in a 6-0 victory.
The Yankees’ stumble took another step into ignominy with a 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays, extending their losing streak to five and lowering their record to 5-15 in their past 20 games to fall to .500 on the season. The Bombers head into Wednesday’s game against the second-place Jays not only trying to avoid a sweep and looking to snap their September swoon, they’re in danger of falling below .500 as well as four games behind Toronto. New York is suddenly very much in danger of losing a race for one of the last two playoff spots to the likes of the Tigers or Orioles.
Other notable games: Miami got back up over .500 and narrowed Atlanta’s lead in the division behind Sixto Sanchez‘s six shutout innings in a four-hit blanking of the Braves to win 8-0, setting up a shot at a sweep on Wednesday. The Braves also endured watching Kyle Wright‘s record sink to 0-4 with an 8.05 ERA — another reminder that Atlanta’s problems in the rotation could undermine its bid to repeat as division champs. And with the Mets suffering an 11-2 thrashing by the Orioles, it might be the Marlins who are the division’s dark horse.
Meanwhile, the Phillies missed their chance to sweep and had to settle for splitting a doubleheader with the Red Sox — coming from behind in the first game to win 6-5 on Alec Bohm‘s walkoff, two-run single, then watching their bullpen give up its opportunity in a 5-2 loss.
Pennant race debate: What are you most excited to see down the stretch?
Alden Gonzalez: The Giants, Marlins, Tigers, Mariners and Orioles — really bad teams that were still far removed from legitimate contention when the year began — are all in the hunt for a spot in the postseason with three weeks remaining. It would be so 2020 for one of those teams to get in, get hot in October and play in the World Series. In fact, I can’t think of a better representation of this fascinating time. So, basically, I’m rooting for chaos.
Joon Lee: I’m very interested to see how the NL Central shapes up. Aside from the Cubs sitting atop the division, much of the group below them is still piecing things together. The Reds, a trendy pick to make the postseason before the season, had a sluggish start while the Cardinals dealt with a COVID-19 outbreak in their clubhouse and the Brewers’ offense has struggled to get much of anything going, highlighted by the very un-Christian Yelich-like batting line of .201/.335/.791 in the first month.
More than any other team, the Cardinals face an unusual set of obstacles with so many doubleheaders scheduled for the last month. These guys are only human and it will be interesting to see what kind of toll having to play so many games will take, and how it will shape the Cardinals’ chase for a slot in the postseason, let alone affect their odds and energy level if they get there.
Bradford Doolittle: I’m excited to see people realize with horror the evils of an overexpanded playoff format. As we enter the meat of what should be the most exciting month of the season, we are left with the worst stretch drive ever. That observation comes with the obligatory caveat that MLB had to do something because of the scrambled nature of the 2020 season, and is made to help fans internalize just how awful this is.
Nearly all of baseball’s best teams have a virtual headlock on a postseason slot and thus head down the stretch in glorified spring training mode. They are not in any kind of race, per se, unless you consider the positioning for seeds of any importance when there likely won’t even be an October home-field edge. The only teams in actual races — the ones that will attract our attention — are those around .500 or a couple of games below.
This is not how baseball should be deciding its postseason field. Consider the race for the eighth seed in the NL. The eventual winner probably will be closer in winning percentage to the MLB-worst Pirates than the team they’ll meet in the first round, the MLB-best Dodgers. But then with two good (or lucky) days in a best-of-three first round, that team would advance and the Dodgers would not. While we endure this format under the present circumstances, we should also learn from it the rather important lesson that we never want to see it again.
Sam Miller: I’m happy that the standings so far have mostly made sense; you don’t want, from a 60-game schedule, the legitimacy of the whole thing being undermined by completely upside-down standings. That said: It’s a little disappointing how closely the standings hew to preseason projections. This weird year has given us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see, say, the rebuilding Orioles beat the superteam Yankees, but based on the standings entering Monday there would be … maybe one true surprise entry in the 16-team playoffs, in the Giants. So I’m interested to see what I just wished for: The Orioles beat out the Yankees, or the Mariners beat the Astros, or the Tigers beat either of the superteams. It’s completely plausible: New York and Houston entered the week only two games up on Baltimore and Detroit, and three ahead of Seattle. It’s also a huge long shot: New York and Houston are miles ahead in talent, and FanGraphs’ projections give them each a greater than 90% chance of outlasting the rebuilding underdogs.
Dan Mullen: Partially due to the expanded playoff format but in larger part just because there is a wave of really exciting new teams coming into their own at once, I can’t wait to see a new wave of teams make headlines throughout September and into October. Sure, the Dodgers are still the team to beat, but this will be the first postseason in a while that we don’t go in thinking the same three or four big-market heavyweights are the teams to beat.
There is so much incredible young talent in the game right now and getting to sit down night after night to watch the White Sox, Padres, Braves, Blue Jays and other young exciting lineups do their thing is going to be a treat for fans everywhere.
Key games ahead
Rockies-Padres, Tuesday (9:10 p.m. ET): As San Diego’s Mike Clevinger tries to settle in with his new team, Colorado tries to stay in playoff position in the wild fight for the NL wild-card spots.
Reds-Cubs, Wednesday (8:15 p.m. ET): There are playoff implications, particularly for Cincinnati, which can’t afford to lose much more ground, but we’ve also got a Cy Young-level pitching matchup in Trevor Bauer vs. Yu Darvish.
Orioles-Yankees, Thursday (7 p.m. ET): The Yankees’ biggest fight may end up being not with Tampa Bay for the AL East title, but with Baltimore for a wild-card spot. Gerrit Cole, winless in his past four starts, takes the hill for New York.
Phillies-Marlins, Friday doubleheader (5 p.m. ET): Two hopefuls in the muddled NL race continue a seven-game series — yes, a seven-game series — in Miami.