2020 Division Series, Championship Series to feature no off-days

DennyDoyle'sBoil

Found no thrill on Blueberry Hill
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Sep 9, 2008
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(Edit: Sorry, this is the MLB board and I gamethreaded.)

I'm surprised by this. They seem really worried about not being able to get this done and it's starting to feel like they are more concerned with finishing that finishing well. Just to elaborate -- while teams play three games all the time when you're on the verge of the potential of playing four series including up to 7 against one team starting without a break day seems too breakneck.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Jan 23, 2009
20,595
Maine
(Edit: Sorry, this is the MLB board and I gamethreaded.)

I'm surprised by this. They seem really worried about not being able to get this done and it's starting to feel like they are more concerned with finishing that finishing well. Just to elaborate -- while teams play three games all the time when you're on the verge of the potential of playing four series including up to 7 against one team starting without a break day seems too breakneck.
Can't say I'm surprised at all. Days off in playoff series have always been for travel. Since there's no travel involved, there's really no need for off-days this year. The first round is 3 games so no change in approach necessary. LDS and LCS should only require one extra starter versus the norm since it's rare that teams use 3-man rotations anymore. Basically, the playoffs are going to require teams to structure their roster much the same way they do in the regular season. No more deepening either the pen or the bench due to only needing four starters versus five.

I like it.
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
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Jul 15, 2005
70,602
(Edit: Sorry, this is the MLB board and I gamethreaded.)

I'm surprised by this. They seem really worried about not being able to get this done and it's starting to feel like they are more concerned with finishing that finishing well. Just to elaborate -- while teams play three games all the time when you're on the verge of the potential of playing four series including up to 7 against one team starting without a break day seems too breakneck.
I mean, yes, they never gave a shit about 'finishing well', they just want to make sure they fulfill the national TV contracts.

But that being said, this is actually kind of better, there are 2 or 3 days between the first round and the Division Series while teams get settled in the bubbles. The most games a team could play after that is 19 (5/7/7) over the course of 24 days, which is obviously very reasonable.

(Crosspost with Red(s) who made a similar point)
 

Joe D Reid

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Jan 15, 2004
4,207
Yeah, this is tremendous. It's better as a viewer. I'm also interested in seeing these teams negotiate their way through mid-pen guys. I admire what teams have done recently in shortening their staffs and pens in the postseason, but the idea of bringing the entire roster to bear is intriguing. I guess it comes down to how far you prefer postseason strategy to diverge from regular season strategy, but my own personal mileage has increased.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
72,203
I was hoping for some playoff baseball to watch that first weekend of October. They are scared of football, man. But I guess they need an extra travel day to get accustomed to the bubble.
 

The Gray Eagle

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Aug 1, 2001
16,687
How will baseball handle positive tests during the postseason? Hey maybe there will be postseason forfeits! That would be a new wrinkle.

“We don’t know anything,” an executive of one contender said earlier this week when this question came up. “We haven’t been told one thing.”

But here’s a big worry to file away: In conversations with three different front-office men over the last week, the word “forfeit” came up more than once, even though that possibility remains highly unlikely.
https://theathletic.com/2069073/2020/09/15/stark-answering-questions-about-the-strangest-postseason-ever/
What’s more likely, then, is this:
• Any player who tests positive would go into immediate quarantine, but teams would replace that player with someone from their pool, and the games would go on.
• And if multiple players on a team test positive? “If we’re playing a series and five guys test positive, then we just have to play five men short,” said an AL executive. “If we don’t have enough players to field a team, we’ll forfeit.”

So what’s the definition of not having enough players to field a team — when, according to sources, all clubs will have a 40-player postseason pool to draw from?

“If you have an outbreak — like the Cardinals or Marlins,” the same exec said. “If you have 10, 15, 18 players unavailable to play and you don’t have enough players in your pool to field a team, then you would forfeit.”
 

caminante11

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Nov 17, 2006
3,072
Brooklyn, NY
When they announced this expanded playoffs, they said the top teams would choose their opponents for the first round. Is that not the case and 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7 etc?
 

jon abbey

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Jul 15, 2005
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When they announced this expanded playoffs, they said the top teams would choose their opponents for the first round. Is that not the case and 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7 etc?
Correct, the picking your opponents part was mentioned but not actually instituted.