Opinion | Keep this new MLB playoff format

Joe Perrino, Sports Editor

The 2020 MLB season has been a season of firsts: the first time games commenced in July, the first time only 60 regular-season games were played, and now, the first time there have been more than 10 teams in the postseason.

I love it.

In the 2020 MLB playoffs, the league drew from the NBA’s format and placed 16 teams, eight from each league, in a bracket.

Normally, the first round consists of five games and then the next two rounds are a seven-game series, but with so many teams, the MLB made the first series only three-game sets. By the next round, the league’s normal structure resumed, as enough teams had been cut down.  

Some may see this as too much, but I think it’s perfect.

With 16 teams qualifying for postseason play, it gives more opportunity for casual fans to engage with the season, something the MLB desperately needs. 

For years, only eight total teams would make the playoffs: the winners of each division and a wild-card team from both the American League and National League. In 2012, the MLB introduced a wild-card game played between the fourth and fifth best teams in their respective leagues, giving underdog teams more of a shot at winning the championship. This added an entirely new dimension of excitement to what is now being considered by many as a boring game.

The MLB makes a good deal of its revenue from stadiums, so with games all being on television, people have been forced to stay out of the ballpark and watch on their couches. But baseball is classically a game more appreciated in-person, so television ratings stayed down throughout the regular season. However, now that there is a change in the playoff schedule, there’s a good chance we see raised ratings by the end of the World Series. 

Not only do these playoffs offer something new for the viewer in terms of scheduling, they get to see new teams they may not normally find in the postseason. 

Before this season, the Miami Marlins hadn’t made the playoffs since 2003, and if it wasn’t for this format they would have missed it again. And with them making the playoffs, the Marlins got an opportunity to win a series and shake up the bracket.

With so many teams making the playoffs, one may think the quality of competition could decline. That, however, has not been the case.

Through the first three rounds of the playoffs, most of the games have been close, with multiple lower seeds – the sixth-seeded Marlins and Astros and fifth-seeded Yankees – making it to at least the second round, with the Astros making it all the way to the American League Championship Series.

The MLB, for the good of the game, has to continue this format in the future.

As a fan, I like seeing new things being implemented into the game, so long as it doesn’t ruin its original integrity. Additional teams in the playoffs could add a fun twist for casual fans to more closely follow their local team, which will only generate more revenue for the league. And when  more money circulates, we can see quality play, fun crowds and improvement on a game that has struggled to change with the times.