Four hours before the 2020 MLB season finally was set to begin, the league reportedly changed its playoff format Thursday for this 60-game season. That somehow is a real sentence, but nothing should be surprising when it comes to sports as a whole right now.
MLB playoffs would now expand from 10 teams to 16 this year. ESPN's Buster Olney reported all second-place teams would qualify for the playoffs, and the seventh and eighth teams would then be chosen by the best record among the remaining teams. USA Today's Bob Nightengale also reported instead of a wild card game, the playoffs would start with best-of-three first-round matchups.