2020 MLB Season: Baseball in a COVID-19 world, a blueprint

Beyond the 2020 MLB season, MLB will need a comprehensive plan for the playoffs.

FOUR – Baseball should begin working on producing a California based postseason bubble for the 2020 MLB season. The playoffs are set to begin in October, giving the league more than two months to organize the specifics and pull it off without a hitch.

Here’s how it would look:

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Under MLB’s current expanded postseason system, eight teams can make the playoffs in each league. That’s 16 teams in total and four rounds of October baseball.

The American League’s postseason bubble would take place in Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium, which are approximately a 35-minute drive apart.

The National League’s postseason bubble would take place in Oracle Park (home of the San Francisco Giants) and RingCentral Coliseum (home of the Oakland Athletics). These stadiums are approximately an 18-minute drive apart.

Based on matchups, teams will be given a dedicated stadium to play in. Round 1 in the AL could look like this, for example:

• Team 1 vs Team 8 – Round 1 games played in Dodger Stadium
• Team 2 vs Team 7 – Round 1 games played in Angel Stadium
• Team 3 vs Team 6 – Round 1 games played in Dodger Stadium
• Team 4 vs Team 5 – Round 1 games played in Angel Stadium

Round 2:

• Team 1 vs Team 4 – Round 2 games played in Dodger Stadium
• Team 2 vs Team 3 – Round 2 games played in Angel Stadium

Round 3:

• Team 1 vs Team 2 – Round 3 games played in Dodger Stadium

Between rounds, since teams will potentially have to move to another stadium to play their games, allow 48-hours for MLB to conduct a deep cleaning of each stadium and hotels. In this time, teams should continue testing their players.

The World Series could then be played in a separate neutral site, preferably a domed stadium. To avoid long travel, they can play the games in Chase Field (home of the Arizona Diamondbacks).

There you have it. An extensive system that will work and all it took me was approximately 120-minutes to come up with it.