Photo credit: Chris Kim.

By Bryson Raquet

October is one of the best months in sports. The college football and NFL seasons are well underway, and the Major League Baseball (MLB) playoffs take place. Although many people consider baseball to be boring to watch or too slow, there is something different about the postseason.

In past years, five teams from the American League and five teams from the National League qualified to make the playoffs. These five teams consisted of the three divisional winners and the two Wild Card teams. The term “Wild Card” in baseball means that the team lost their division but still qualified for the playoffs because of their overall record. Typically, the two Wild Card teams will play one game to decide who will be moving onto the next round and whose season will be over; but this year, because the playoffs were extended, the Wild Card teams played a best-of-three series. 

The layout of the playoffs this year was vastly different from previous seasons. Instead of the standard ten-team playoffs, this year there were sixteen teams competing: eight from each league. The eight teams that qualified for the playoffs were the three division winners, three runner-up division winners, and two Wild Card teams. Another vast difference with the MLB playoffs this year is that there were no off days in between games, giving the players very little time to rest after each game before they had to start preparing for the next. MLB pitchers are used to multiple days of rest after each game they pitch in, so this year teams had to make crucial decisions about what pitching rotation they would use, because they wouldn’t want their number one pitcher to be worn out after one game. Home field advantage was essentially non-existent in this year’s postseason, because the games were played at generally neutral-site locations in Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, and Arlington, Texas due to COVID-19. The team with the higher seeding was the “home team,” and they played in the field first, and the team with the lower seed hit first.

In the shortened regular season, no fans were allowed to attend any of the games. Many die-hard baseball fans annually attend the postseason games to support their team. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and the Texas government officials allowed a limited number of fans to attend the National League Championship Series (NLCS) and World Series games, which were being played at the stadium in Arlington. 

At the beginning of the shortened season, there were multiple COVID-19 outbreaks on the Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, and one staff member on the Philadelphia Phillies. This caused many games to be canceled early on in the season. The MLB tried to be very cautious and strict about social distancing regulations and masking when necessary. Masks were required to be worn by all players and coaches while in the dugout, clubhouse, and anytime when players were not on the field competing. Manfred also put new protocols in place about the number of team members that could travel together. Players were also prohibited from going out to eat at restaurants or going to bars in their free time in order to eliminate any chances of contracting COVID-19.

Fernando Tatis Jr. Photo credit: Keith Allison.

Many young players have been brought into the spotlight coming out of the COVID break. 21-year-old Fernando Tatis, Jr., is the shortstop for the San Diego Padres, who have had a rough past couple of seasons. But with help from Tatis, Jr., who is currently hitting .227, has 45 runs batted in, and seventeen home runs in this shortened season, the Padres made their first playoff appearance since 2006. Another key player on the Padres was third baseman, Manny Machado. Machado has more experience in the league than Tatis, at age 28. His batting average is .304, he hit thirteen home runs in the 2020 shortened season, and he had 28 RBIs.

Houston Astros logo. Photo credit: Wikimedia commons.

The Houston Astros were on the hunt to get their second title in the past four years, but they lost the American League Championship Series (ALCS) to Tampa Bay on Oct. 17.  Many baseball fans thought that they deserved to have their championship ring taken away based on the cheating scandal that occurred during the 2017 playoffs. The Astros were using banging noises in the dugout to indicate which pitch opponents were throwing, and also had some of their players wearing special necklaces that they would buzz a certain amount of times to tell the batter what pitch was being thrown.

The 2020 Major League Baseball postseason came to an end with the World Series, which ended on Oct. 27. The Tampa Bay Rays had been seeking their first World Series ring in franchise history, but the Los Angeles Dodgers won their seventh title, the first World Series win for the team since 1988. Both teams had enormous potential, but the Dodgers took the series four games to two. 

Although there was never much doubt about the MLB having their postseason because baseball is a non-contact sport, I know all baseball fans were relieved that the league was able to piece together a solid plan for the 2020 postseason.