Brewers News: Last Minute Playoff Expansion Helps Out Brewers

MLB and the Players Association has agreed to expand playoffs for the 2020 season in a move that should help the Brewers out quite a lot.

This has been something MLB has discussed for a few months now, but since the league had to implement a season without coming to an agreement with the MLBPA on parameters, expanded playoffs weren’t going to be a reality for Brewers fans.

But now, just hours before the first pitch of the regular season, both sides have agreed to a deal to expand the playoffs to 16 teams in 2020.

Playoff Expansion

ESPN’s Marly Rivera was the first to report the news that an agreement had been reached.

The owners still have to ratify the deal, but it is widely expected that they will, considering it will add millions of dollars in revenue for the 2020 season.

Later, ESPN’s Jeff Passan provided more details as to proposed format of the postseason.

At one point an idea was reportedly floated around where the top teams would be allowed to pick their opponents. This seems like a much more reasonable alternative.

How Does This Help The Brewers?

Well, extra playoff spots will make it easier for the Brewers to make the playoffs to begin with. The NL Central is going to be crowded this year with the Crew, Cardinals, Cubs, and Reds all expected to compete for playoff spots. Even if the NL Central gets the two Wild Card teams, one of these teams would miss out on October baseball.

Under this scenario, theoretically all four of those Central teams could make the postseason.

The NL Central is going to be uber competitive this year, and with 40 of the 60 games against division opponents, these teams are going to beat up on each other all season long. The odds of one team running away with it in this division are pretty small. It’s going to be close, and one or two games could separate all four of these competitive teams.

One or two games could’ve been the difference between a division title and a fourth place finish.

As long as there’s not a one-game playoff like the Wild Card game has been over the last few years, the Brewers would be able to get a series in of at least three games and they can stand a better chance of success and a lower likelihood that a freak play could eliminate them like what happened last year.

PIcking the opponents seems too gimmicky and really unnecessary. Expanding playoffs a little bit, fine, at least for a shortened season like this.

Will it continue beyond 2020? At the moment, no. However, the league could revisit it moving forward.

The Brewers have a strong team and this kind of expansion should help the Brewers lock down their 3rd straight postseason appearance, but it will make it more difficult to advance to the World Series.