The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
MLB, players’ union agree to expand playoffs NHL NFL
Major League Baseball and the players’ union agreed Thursday to expand the playoffs from 10 teams to 16 for the pandemic-delayed season, a person familiar with the deal said, a decision that makes it likely teams with losing records will reach the postseason.
The agreement was reached hours before the season opener between the New York Yankees and World Series champion Washington Nationals, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the agreement was subject to owner approval.
Sixteen of the 30 teams will advance to a best-ofthree first round. Those winners move on to the best-of-five Division Series, where the usual format resumes. The final four teams are in best-ofseven League Championship Series, and the pennant winners meet in the best-of-seven World Series.
NATS SOTO TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 » Highlighting the pitfalls of beginning the baseball season amid a pandemic, Washington Nationals slugger Juan Soto tested positive for COVID-19 and was put on the injured list Thursday, hours before the 2019 World Series champions were scheduled to face the New York Yankees.
Soto, who was a breakout star of last October after producing 34 homers and 110 RBIs during the regular season, will be sidelined until he can come up negative on two consecutive coronavirus tests.
“Unfortunately it hit us. And it hit us at a bad time,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.
Rizzo and Martinez said they got the news about Soto on Thursday morning.
“It hurts . ... It’s bothersome, and then reality sets in,” Martinez said. “We’re in the middle of a pandemic and we’ve got to be awfully careful.”
“He’s asymptomatic,” Rizzo said. “He’s following all major league protocols.”
SEATTLE UNVEILS NAME FOR FRANCHISE » The name Seattle Kraken seems to have had an air of inevitability around it even during the earliest days of the NHL expansion franchise.
After starting with a list of roughly 1,200 names and suggestions — no matter how outlandish — Dettmer and Seattle’s front office whittled them down to a final group of five.
Each was placed into its own silo, as they called it, and given thoughtful and independent consideration with an eye toward what would be the best brand for the franchise.
EX-REDSKINS BECOME WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM FOR 2020 » The NFL team formerly known as the Redskins will go by the Washington Football Team for at least the 2020 season, giving the organization time to choose a new, full-time name.
Gone is the Indian head logo and the name Native American advocates have called a dictionary-defined racial slur. Here to stay are the burgundy and gold colors that are synonymous with the franchise’s storied history.
Executive vice president and chief marketing officer Terry Bateman, hired Monday to oversee the name change and rebranding process, called the temporary design “a nice link between the history and the future.”
With training camp opening next week, the process begins Friday of scrubbing the old name and logo from everything at the team’s headquarters in Ashburn, Virginia, to FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland. Bateman expects that process to be completed by the start of the season.