3:55pm: Because of concerns over air quality in the West Coast (the Mariners-Giants game in Seattle on Tuesday was postponed for that reason), the Phoenix area has become the league’s top fallback option for postseason games, Jeff Passan of ESPN tweets.
12:52PM: Major League Baseball has officially announced the postseason schedule, which is set to begin on September 29 with the start of the AL wild card series. One notable aspect of the schedule is that there aren’t any scheduled off-days until the World Series, so teams won’t get any break (or a chance to reset their pitching staffs) unless they win their series in early fashion.
10:25am: Players’ families will have the option of quarantining at the hotel with them in the seven days prior to the postseason, Rosenthal tweets. They’d then be able to join the bubbles for the duration of the playoffs.
9:49am: Sherman further reports that teams will continue operating their alternate training sites during the pre-postseason quarantine, but transfers between the alternate site and big league roster won’t be permitted. As such, all players on the IL and 40-man roster are likely to join in that quarantine setting to allow clubs to continue to make roster moves.
That’s hardly an ideal setup, as those players seem unlikely to be able to participate in simulated games and other standard workouts, but the league is clearly exercising extra caution in order to ensure the postseason is able to take place.
9:37am: Sherman adds that the previously reported quarantine measures leading up to the playoffs will remain in place for players. All members of contending clubs, even those playing at home, will quarantine in hotels for seven days prior to the first round of postseason play. They’ll be tested daily during that period. If a team is eliminated from postseason contention in that seven-day span, of course, those players can leave the hotels early.
9:30am: Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association are in agreement on a plan for the 2020 postseason that includes a “bubble” format hosted at neutral sites for the Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). A formal announcement is expected today.
Details of the arrangement remain sparse, although at last check, the plan was to host the ALDS and ALCS at National League stadiums in southern California (Dodger Stadium and San Diego’s Petco Park). The NLDS and NLCS, in turn, would be hosted at a pair of American League sites: the Rangers’ Globe Life Field and the Astros’ Minute Maid Park. The World Series would be staged at Globe Life Field as well. The first round of play would be hosted at the home park of the matchup’s higher seed, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets.
Those points seemed largely agreed upon, but there were other details to be hammered out. Notably, players pushed back against the quarantine measures that were to be put in place for their family members before being permitted to join them in the bubble. It also appears that there’s been some discussion of allowing fans in a limited capacity, as commissioner Rob Manfred suggested last night in an online event with Hofstra University’s business school (link via Evan Drellich of The Athletic). Whether that possibility is woven into the agreement is not yet clear.
“I’m hopeful that the World Series and the LCS we will have limited fan capacity,” Manfred said in that appearance. “…Obviously it’ll be limited numbers, socially distanced, protection provided for the fans in terms of temperature checks and the like. Kind of the pods like you saw in some of the NFL games. We’ll probably use that same theory.”
Referring to anything as a “bubble” when family members and fans — even in limited quantities — are permitted to enter the equation seems like a reach, but it’s notable that it’s even under discussion. Limited fan attendance would complicate health and safety protocols but would also soften the financial blow that clubs are facing without gate revenue in 2020. It could also serve as somewhat of a litmus test in advance of the 2021 season, which Manfred acknowledged is not a given to return to normalcy from day one:
“I think the trick in terms of what’s going to happen next year, it’s dependent on the virus,” said Manfred. “The virus controls and it’s ‘do you have a vaccine? Are we still seeing spikes?’ That’s going to drive what local governments are going to allow us to do.”
Player pushback on a limited bubble for the playoffs shows why it wasn’t put in place for the 60-game “regular” season, even as many were questioning MLB for not following the NBA and NHL bubble.
Players pushback against anything and everything if there’s no increase in pay & benefits. Typical union strategy.
I think the players are in for a rude awakening this off season. Lot’s of non tenders and options not exercised.
It seems to have worked out fine. Most teams are playing the full 60 games. As far as I’ve read, Freddie Freeman was the only real sickie, and he came back to have an incredible season.
why not play the NLDS/NLCS in LAA and Oakland and just keep everyone in California?
Guessing MLB like the NHL model better than the NBA level. Makes more sense too with many more players, coaches, staff members per team to have it in 2 smaller separate bubbles instead of just one large one. Don’t know if either way is really any better than the other but I can see the point.
The two best teams in the NL record-wise are both in California, which wouldn’t really make it that neutral. I guess a case could be made they have the same issue with Oakland in the AL. They might not have even looked at that? I like the idea of splitting the leagues up, though.
The NL teams are playing in Texas and the AL teams in Cali…
Those stadiums are horrible trash cans. I really don’t know why they would include dodger stadium, that place is trash. If anything, why not make one at petco Park and the other at pac Bell Park in sf
Dodger Stadium and Petco are not trash.
He didn’t say Petco is trash
I did not but Chavez ravine has been a trash eye sore for 20 years.
I remember when Dodger Stadium was newly built. It was the jewel of baseball at the time.
Probably trying to eliminate potential delays. Both Texas stadiums have roofs to eliminate weather delays, and Oakland/San Fran area has air quality concerns.
Because that makes too much sense. 2020 won’t allow it
Not sure if you’ve seen the videos but currently our air is worse than Bejing do to the fires being ignored but the federal government (50% of the land is federal land) You’re not supposed to be outside let alone playing sports.
This is perhaps the most incoherent sentence I’ve seen in some time.
You apparently do not text at all, as autocorrect does this constantly.
Players last night were complaining about the air quality in CA, and this will need to be addressed.
Do they need ointment?
Because you’re not going to put millionaire athletes on a bumpy 6 hour bus ride, so a plane flight between LA and Oakland vs a plane flight between LA and Texas really makes no safety difference.
Air quality is also a concern, but apparently not much of one if they’re playing in SoCal, which is as likely as Oakland to end up being smoky at that time. Probably a bigger concern with Oakland would be showing off MLB’s worst stadium to viewers.
Because Oakland has a stadium that is the arm out of baseball. And I cleaned that up.
*pit
No Nl in Florida because have also Cracker Jack Stadium to use in Orlando.. Also if Texas has to many cases KC area because also have where T-Bones play.
people dont seem to be saying the obvious… time zones, difference allows for layering of games without screwing certain teams with less rest.
second obvious is weather, both in domes in Texas
3rd for the sake of hoping for fans, doing that in California is significantly harder than Texas just from political standpoint.
time zones is biggest reason, its why spring training is seperated 2 times zones. this will be as well. imagine a division series entirely in Cali, game a noon, then 2 30, game at 5, game at 730.. so east time zone doesnt get late game til 11 30, plus thats so much more complicated to give equal rest for teams. This allows for maximizing fairness and tv ratings.
If the idiot governor doesn’t get a handle on his fires, Arizona here we come.
Rangers are tryna market that new stadium however they can it seems
Imagine seeing a rival team celebrating on your team’s new digs before the it’s able to open its gates for home games.
Well except for “open it’s gates for home games”. That has happened before 20 years ago
What stadium hosted a World Series as a neutral site??
I wonder if he’s referring to a visiting team winning a World Series in the first year of the home team’s new stadium? I’d have to look it up and all…
Why would they be hosting the bubble in a state that is currently battling air quality issues due to the devastating fires that look like it’s out of a post apocalyptic world?
Hey, It’s 2020…….kinda like a post apocalyptic world these days….
That is very true. Did you see the Kyle Lewis play? Field was covered in smoke even with the dome closed.. Wild
What dome. Seattle is not a dome. Retractable roof…still open to air, cold etc.
Sorry misspoke re retractable roof vs dome your correct
It’s what actually makes stadium great…protected from the rain but still feel the elements of wind, cold. ….and smoke.
Playoffs are still weeks away. Air will improve by then.
Playoffs only 2 weeks away, not that far off
From a NYTimes article:
Late last week, I asked Edward Smith, a forest ecologist with the Nature Conservancy, how long the fires might burn.
“In many cases, the fires will burn until they run out of fuel or the winter rains come,” he said in an email. Running out of fuel can mean running into physical barriers like granite or bodies of water, or irrigated pastures.
Good point.
They’re building giant fans to ensure a desirable wind direction.
Winning comment so far!
Hope a wild fire doesn’t jeopardize the playoffs. Definitely a risky move choosing California. With all things going wrong in 2020 wouldnt be surprised if the San Andreas Fault was like……surprise MFs
Rob Manfred is an absolute idiot.
+1
I would have had it in NY and Chicago. You know, where theres not a ton of cases?
Just covid and murders
New York and Chicago can have weather issues especially since it tends to start snowing in Chicago generally around that time which is likely why they are avoiding them
One thing I don’t understand about this is they’ve traveled all season, shortened as it may have been. Why the “bubble” now?
Players still getting it
They’ll still be at risk. This is not a true bubble format.
It’s better than what they’ve been doing because it reduces contacts. The NBA is not a true bubble either in that there is still some movement in and out of the bubble, as Adam Silver explained it on the PBS NewsHour last month. Some if not all arena workers and service workers, as I understood his explanation, are not in the bubble. But, they did quarantine the players and staff 14 days before allowing interactions between them and they are limiting contact between people overall.. This seven day semi-isolation will help–anything that reduces interactions helps–but it’s not the same. Given how few outbreaks there have been, the MLB plan should reduce the chances of anyone contracting the virus.
So they don’t have to pause the playoffs for a positive test. Also, a 30 team (along with the alternate pool) bubble would have been too massive to pull off over 2+ months. It’s more manageable with about half the teams.
Probably just to reduce the risk. If a team were to have a breakout in the playoffs, they really can’t afford to push it back because then you start dealing with weather problems, and I’m sure they aren’t going to want to do double headers in the postseason to get caught up. At least this way if they get everybody to the bubble without any positives, they’ll be good to go and a clear path to ending the season is in sight.
And really… ANYTHING that can help bring this season to an end is welcome!!
Wah! I hate the season! Wah! They should never had played! Wah! Wah! Wah!
Oh, good! We agree!
Probably travel time works into it. With the expanded playoffs, there just isn’t enough time to travel between cities. With the bubbles, no days off til the series.
Why bubble at all? There is travel now with all 30 teams and things have worked out just fine save a few debacles. There are a tricky protocols in place with the current regular season format. The people coming and going is pretty well controlled. As in MLB knows who they are and where they’ve been. I will say that allowing fans at this point just shows they don’t actually care about the virus in the first place. Even a limited number allowed in contradicts everything they’ve done to this point to remain healthy. No clue who these people are or where they’ve been but the good old temp check at the door will clear them of carrying and illness or disease. Proves it’s all a load of garbage.
***strict protocols***
“I dunno. This season just doesn’t seem weird enough to me. Whadda you guys think?”
-Manfred
A majority of the fans attending won’t even be fans of the teams playing. Let’s say it’s the Padres against the A’s in the World Series. (Just using as an example.). There’s not exactly a large fan base for those teams in Texas, and their regular fans aren’t likely to air travel during COVID. Fans add unnecessary risk. Accept that 2020 is the year without fans.
I’m sure the non fans of the teams playing still would have wallets
I get the logistics of it and I’m sure what money is to be made or not, but why do the Astros Stadium get any part of this with the cheating scandal. Shouldn’t that eliminate them from consideration
“Not sure what money”
This season cant end fast enough.
What I always found interesting was the owners thinking fans (both real and casual) were going to trip over themselves to watch postseason baseball after this joke of a regular season.
Although I’m sure it was about TV revenue.
Wonder if the networks are paying the usual rate.
I think they may be a bit disappointed in the ROI.
No fans in neutral sites. That’s gonna hardly feel like a postseason but whatever. 2020 for you.
I’ll sign up and run for a normal 2021.
I’ve enjoyed having baseball and look forward to the playoffs. Under these conditions, anything, to me seems, better than nothing. I suspect you may be in the minority on this.
I can’t speak for everyone but, man, I’ve been more involved in MLB this year than previously. It’s been a welcome distraction to everything going on.
The players aren’t capable of living apart from their families for a few weeks during the postseason? I can’t tell you how many regular families I know that have one of the parents living in another city for their job over a period of years, flying back every few weeks. They make it work. The players here can’t be separated for a few weeks??
Players who lived with their families all season and will live with them for the rest of the season, must quarantine, but random individuals willing to pay presumeably big prices get to come in and watch?
Manfred’s tone deaf, and MLB’s greed is showing. Neither is a surprise.
If some of the NLCS and NLDS games are played in the Rangers new ballpark, and the AL champ comes from either the AL East or Central, then the NL would have had at least some experience knowing some of the quirks, how the ball is plays off the wall/ foul lines. Might give slight advantage to NL. In WS.
Assuming the NL champion comes from the west you mean? Can’t the exact same be said of the AL if the AL champion comes from the west?
I thought the NLCS games are being played between Rangers and Astros ballparks. If so then the NL champion would have exposure to Globe Life Field regardless if from West, East, or Central. Not sure where ALCS games are being played, but you are right that if ALCS champ comes from AL West, then no advantage, but if it comes from AL central or East, then they would not have played in Texas. My understanding, but I could be wrong.
Apparently the best-of-3 ‘wild card’ round that begins on Tuesday, September 29th in which all the playoff teams in the expanded 16 club postseason participate will be hosted by the teams with the highest seed before the winners move on to their respective bubble locations.
Imagine if the Blue Jays won the WS in the Rangers new stadium. That would be the amazing.
Yes that would be something,
This should be hilarious. Americans have shown themselves completely unable to exercise discipline, completely unable to behave in a socially responsible fashion, and completely unable to adapt to changed circumstances. Allowing players families and any number of fans at all in will only serve to ensure that disaster ensues.
Bad baseball takes and bad life takes. At least you are consistent.
Kind of nice how you group one or two % of the popultion as a respresentation of the total. Nice logic….you are the kind of mindless lump Fox and CNN love…..
Oh, and by the way, the season has gone off basically without much of hitch from the original plan. Oh. And so has hockey and baseball and now a good start in NFL.
Serious question for you: any more baseless comments today?
Tell me more about how great the superior Canadians are, Eddie!
So…if “players’ families will have the option of quarantining at the hotel with them in the seven days prior to the postseason……then be able to join the bubbles for the duration of the playoffs.”…………..
does this mean, as an example, the families of the Cubs have to travel to Pittsburgh the last week of the season—quarantine….come back to Chicago…..JUST IN CASE they win round one BEFORE going to the bubble. Same for the White Sox families in Cleveland…..
Something has to be off here…..
If someone is reading it differently, please respond…
So how are kids that are in school going to do this? And I’d there a family emergency and the player just goes then what
Why dont they just do a regular playoffs. Why are they still doom and gloom about corona at this point, lol. They have played a 60 game season flying around the country already. This is ridiculous
You and Kreckert should hang out. Oil vs water
I only had one day before the season started that I was kind of pessimistic about a season starting. But here we are. I don’t see the reason for the doom and gloom outlook, it isn’t helping anyone. I can understand having a realistic outlook, but when we talked about this in June, everybody had the same 50/50 feeling about a successful season. Why make one of the 50% sad and gloomy, and the other a completely happy, safe, miracle season with no Covid. Teams got infected, but MLB worked through it, and here we are. I was on the optimistic side for the most part, and I had a good feeling that MLB could handle a small outburst.
Let me be clear, there is a time and place for being realistic. When a meteor is coming for the earth, be realistic, don’t say “Oh it’ll ricochet off the moon, we’re fine.”. But don’t let hard pessimism take over your life to the point that you make others miserable.
See if Kreckert agrees. He is a low quality commenter who read too much Henny Penny.
“…Kind of the pods like you saw in some of the NFL games. We’ll probably use that same theory.””
In each of the games I tuned into in the past week, pros and ESPECIALLY college, the precautions taken by/for the fans didn’t even last a quarter. Masks were down, groups of people gathered as close to the field as they could…
Absolutely LOVE IT!!! Please, please succeed—-NO OFF DAYS in any series until the World Series!! Let the better, deeper team have the advantage—not the three man rotation teams! You can’t pitch the relievers every game like you used to be able to.
I really hope this works.
Yeah, there’d be no burying a lousy pitching staff.
What happens if a hurricane hits Houston and floods DFW?
I propose moving it all to Easter Island
And the December Winter Meetings to the Island of Misfit Toys!
No cardboard fans, Moai instead! And Theo loves the Island Of Misfit Cubs.
Cool- all we gotta do is fire Steve Adams and we’re all set!
No seriously though- Steve Adams is trash
Yeah, screw that Steve Adams and all his Steve Adamsy Steve Adamsness. They should throw him straight into the dumpster, right on top of your comment
No off days is a huge disadvantage to the Braves, they just don’t have the arms necessary for this schedule. I think this helps the Cubs, at least they have 4 real SP and a solid bullpen.
The Dodgers and Padres have the most depth. Truly a bummer they’re going to get the #1 and 4 seeds which would match them up in the NLDS not NLCS.
The Braves just got Fried and Hamels back and Kyle Wright seems to have turned a corner. They may still have Tomlin/Ynoa/Wilson as their 5th starter. They can’t count on their bullpen like they have in the regular season because of the sheer numbers. The Braves have been carrying 16 pitchers, so they’ll be operating with 3 fewer arms and no days off. They’ll just have to hope they can score enough runs that it won’t matter.
It’s gonna suck.
So stupid. Who knows when the west coast air quality will be good enough to bubble in families. Has to be rejected. While I understand the time zone problem, NYC is ideal given the current COVID situation, abundance of hotels, etc. Weather is always a concern but it also paint a great picture. Anyone old enough to remember 75 will recall how the Sox got helped by back to back rainouts which allowed the team to bring back Tiant for game six. Not his best performance but the excitement Sox fans had with him on the mound to start the game was as of then, the most surreal atmosphere I had seen (I was 13).
If two AL teams located in the eastern time zone match up in round 1 they could be playing at 9:30 AM Pacific Time. I’m sure the players are thrilled about that.
“there aren’t any scheduled off-days until the World Series”
That’s misleading. There are no scheduled off-days within a series, but teams get (at least) one day off between series (potentially they have to travel). So even if they don’t win their series early, they’ll at least get a bit of a reset.
Yes. There is also no certainty that the best-of-three Wild Card Series, best-of-five Division Series and best-of-seven League Series and World Series will result in their full amount of games. Teams won’t need to consider utilizing a 5-man rotation if they win a particular series in less than 5 games which is a certainty in the Wild Card round, a strong possibility in the Division Round and still possible in the last two series with a sweep.
In the future, MLB should strongly consider implementing a best-of-seven for all their series which would seemingly give an advantage to most teams with the best regular season record who generally possess the deepest rosters including in their rotations and bullpens.
Baseball fans should have zero complaints about the schedule. Given the circumstances, everyone is doing their very best to keep the sport afloat. If you don’t like the schedule, don’t watch the games and read a book instead. Life doesn’t revolve around fans and their pathetic need to be entertained every waking moment.
I suggest The Citadel by A. J. Cronin
Forget covid just reopen the people that it’s not safe for stay home or take the risk .. life is full of risks
Shaun, why are you so selfish? Look at schools that have recently reopened campuses. The disease spreads very fast and suppose you don’t acquire it after attending a game or a movie or at a bar but others do and bring it home? Just realize entertainment is for our enjoyment but how many will get too sick (or worse) to subsequently enjoy sports? We simply can’t play Russian roulette when it’s more prudent to sacrifice short term.
What an idiotic comment – you have no clue that one of the major causes of Spain’s massive early spike in numbers was traced back to 1 i repeat 1 soccer game in Italy do you?
But hey let’s pack 40,000+ into stadiums game after game and see what happens.
Shaun do you know the number of cases among homeless people? Me either.
With players pushing back on quarantine protocols, central AZ makes the most sense.
If an outbreak should happen at the home of the D-backs you have all of those state
of the art ST parks to host the games. There are ST parks in central FL too, but I think we can all agree that AZ is the lower risk.
I’m not sure how many MLB fans there are in CA, but a 6pm start time in AZ means 8pm on the East coast & an ideal 7pm in Chicago. That’s perfect for what now figures to be a White Sox run to a pandemic championship. Both Cease & Dunning have really surprised in the rotation & they are now expecting LH’s Bummer & Rodon in the bullpen. No one has a better lineup right now & they are playing some stellar defense too. In terms of my bucket list I checked one box in 2005 when the White Sox dominated MLB to a record breaking championship. I still have the “sweep the cubs” in the World Series box left. I can’t help but imagine the cubs losing their minds over a foul ball or some other stupid play that leads to an error prone inning & a ROTF LMAO moment for Sox fans. I just hope my heart can bear that much joy.
Whoa. A 6 pm start time in Phoenix means a 9 pm start time on the East coast. Except for the Navajo Nation, Arizona doesn’t use that silly daylight savings time. We don’t change our clocks. (This is where you make the jokes about us not being smart enough to change our clocks.). When daylight savings time ends on November 1st, the time difference between Phoenix and the east coast becomes two hours.
Also note that air quality in Arizona is suffering due to the fires on the coast..
I wouldn’t want to play Houston if I were CHW. If the Sox play Houston in a best of 3 I’ll be betting heavily on the underdog. Hopefully Vegas gives me a favorable line!
They better hope Houston passes Toronto.
Even bother looking at the standings?
Right now Sox are #1 and Stros #6. Only way they would meet 1st round is if Sox fall to #3 .
Bringing a limited number of fans into the ballpark, safely spreading them out, and keeping them separated from players in a facility that normally can hold 40,000 people who need binoculars to figure out who the players on the field are. The challenges are just plain insurmountable.
With the B10 resuming fall sports (legally they can’t just do football) we can officially declare America is now de-sensitized to COVID19. The Pac-12 is quickly taking steps to join as well. Officially they are saying frequent cardiac related MRI’s & new antigen testing that is both better & faster than WHO’s have changed the B10’s medical opinion in the last 30 days. Yeah right.
It’s clear pressures from the student body, & relatives of sports athletes & their lawyers have forced a resumption of the season. While sports were shutdown these universities had a 100 or so protesters including sports families rallying outside the chancellor’s doors.
There is no greater risk of outbreaks than on college campuses because students refuse to stop partying. If they can’t keep 6 ft apart during the ND vs Duke game, how does any one expect them to do that on campus? What bother’s me most about their behavior is that those that wore the mask but had it below their mouth didn’t even bother to raise it as strangers walked by them. It’s one thing to neglect the risk from family & friends but strangers?
MLB now has it’s shield. If anything goes wrong, just blame the NCAA & move the games quickly to AZ (Home of the D-Backs). There’s a strange aspect to both LA & SD.
The thicker air doesn’t just make it harder to breathe & more likely to cough.
It also makes it a lot harder for viral droplets & aerosols to travel.
Overall, scientists believe the risk of transmission is less than the normal air conditions there. MLB will use that as a go signal to allow at least 20% capacity in the stands. As for the 2 TX sites, we’ll know by Oct 1st how de-sensitized America is.
By then we’ll have data on which fans of the NCAA attended events tested positive.
If there are a lot in TX, will MLB just ignore it or will they move those games to AZ?
MLB is sending AL teams to NL parks & vice versa to reduce home field adv. I can’t see OAK going to LA. It’s too short a hop for those fans not too mention the # of A’s fans living in LA. Whatever their seed, OAK will go to SD & the WSOX to LA.
Of course the NYY, LAD, & cubs will have a fan adv wherever they play.
If any of them win that will certainly be a bone of contention.
If the A’s, TAM, or WSOX win that will add legitmacy to their championship.