verducciplayoffs
SI Senior Writer Tom Verducci breaks down MLB's newly announced 2020 expanded playoff field and what it might look like.With a 16-team field, there will almost certainly be teams making it to the playoffs with records at or below .500. It also means that September will see a much larger slate of games with meaning, as more teams will be vying for those spots with less games to distance themselves from the field.
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00:00The Major League Baseball season began with an actual agreement between the
00:11players and the owners. The playoff field will be expanded from 10 teams to 16
00:17teams and here's what it means. It means we're likely to see a team in the
00:21postseason with a record of 500 or worse. Last year, if you stop the season after
00:27the first 60 games, two teams would have qualified for the postseason at 30 and
00:3230, the Indians and the A's. It also means we're likely to see multiple ties for
00:39different playoff seats. Last year, for instance, after 60 games you would have
00:45had five ties of the eight playoff spots in the National League. This year the
00:50first tiebreaker will be head-to-head competition, the second tiebreaker will
00:54be the record within a team's division, and a third tiebreaker would be the
00:59team's record in the last 20 games. Here's what else you'll see based now on
01:05the expanded postseason, a wild September. With teams in playoff position at 500,
01:13you're looking at many more games with meaning being played in September and a
01:18possible wild scramble down the stretch for those 16 spots in the postseason.