MLB and the MLBPA "agreed on the expansion of the postseason from 10 teams to 16" right before the '20 season began on Thursday, according to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. TIMES. The first- and second-place teams of each division "would qualify, along with the two remaining teams with the best records." The eight teams in each league "would be seeded by record," and all teams will be "slotted into a best-of-three first round." The new format applies "only to 2020, something of a test run amid requests from television networks for more postseason games." In exchange for the MLBPA's consent to market games that league "believes will be attractive to is television partners ... MLB guaranteed the players a minimum" of $50M (L.A. TIMES, 7/24). ESPN will exclusively televise seven of the eight new first-round series as part of the expanded postseason, including all four NL series. TBS will carry one first-round AL series. The games will air from Sept. 29-Oct 2. ESPN also gets rights to the games on national radio and Spanish-language domestic TV, as well as international TV (THE DAILY).
REVENUE IMPLICATIONS: USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale notes MLB is set to receive $777M from its national TV partners in this shortened season, but even with the extra playoff games -- which now could be a maximum of 65 games instead of 43 -- the additional revenue created "would simply be given back to the networks because of their lost games during the season." The deal also "satisfies the players given that there may be no fans permitted to attend postseason games." If there had been no agreement reached, players "wouldn't have received any additional money after the regular season." If there are fans, players now will "receive 60% of the revenue from the first two games of the best-of-three series, the first three games of the best-of-five series, and the first four games of the LCS and World Series" (USA TODAY, 7/24).
TRYING TO BE CREATIVE: MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred noted despite the expanded playoffs, the league will "still finish the season on September 22 and the World Series will finish on exactly the same schedule as originally planned, so we won’t be playing into November this year." With fans not expected to attend games this season, Manfred said MLB has been "working really hard to make baseball as entertaining as we possibly can." Manfred: "We think the postseason format is a huge part of that" ("Yankees-Nationals," ESPN, 7/23). MLB Network’s Greg Amsinger said MLB needed to "do something outside the box" with its truncated 60-game schedule, and the expanded playoff field is the "perfect thing to try." MLB Network’s Ron Darling: "This is the time to not only think outside of the box, it’s a time to really try anything to get the fans involved" (“MLB Tonight,” MLB Network, 7/23).
