USA TODAY International Edition
How MLB’s unusual postseason could look
Hub sites to cluster AL and NL playoffs may be the best way to prevent the “bubbles” from bursting, columnist Gabe Lacques writes.
In less than six weeks, the real money goes on the table for MLB.
Come Sept. 29, the curtain will rise on an unprecedented postseason that might chafe traditionalists more than a competitive swing on a 3- 0 count, yet also might ensnare a few casual observers.
Eight best- of- three miniseries, four in each league, will unfold over four days, with higher “seeds” given the nominal advantage of batting last in all three games. It will be a programming bonanza for ESPN, which will televise seven of the miniseries, and a financial salve for a league that lost all of its live gate and nearly two- thirds of its TV inventory in this year of the pandemic.
Of course, as in all things 2020, a major question remains unanswered. Where are they playing?
It could get cozy. MLB is considering several contingencies for the postseason, including hub sites that would cluster American and National League playoffs in singular locations, according to a person with direct knowledge
of the planning. The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity because of the fluid nature of the plans.
Bear in mind, the word “bubble” will be tossed around loosely in coming weeks. It evokes an image of safety and security, and with the so far flawless performance of largely controlled environments for the NHL and NBA, it’s not an entirely inaccurate term.
It has also served as a contrast to the more ad hoc approach championed by MLB, which experienced the capricious ravage of the novel coronavirus when first the Marlins and then the Cardinals each saw nearly two dozen players and staff test positive or fall ill – Cards pitcher Carlos Martinez acknowledged a trip to the emergency room on social media – despite a low leaguewide positivity rate.
The teams’ dozens of postponements has threatened the validity of the season but did not shut it down. It also exposed the vulnerabilities of shuttling hundreds of players and staffers from city to city amid a pandemic.
Sure, the rumors and half- truths of the Marlins’ and Cardinals’ outbreaks provided fodder for the personal accountability crowd. And the absurd and selfish late- night maneuverings of Indians pitchers Zach Plesac and Mike Clevinger confirmed the worst fears of setting a gaggle of twenty- somethings loose with minimal supervision.
But the occasionally dire state of this season is not a result of these high- profile breaches as much as it is the reality of moving about in a COVID- 19 landscape. And that’s why, while plenty can change in several weeks, the concept of “hubs” figures to look more and more attractive.
Consider how the playoffs will unfold, what could go wrong and which system might be best to mitigate those problems.
They’ll start with four AL best- ofthree series and, a day later, four NL series, all contested over three days. While the postseason schedule has not yet been finalized, presumably there would be just one off day before jumping into the traditional Division Series.
Now, imagine a scenario in which, say, the Astros advance to a Division Series beginning at Oakland and Tampa Bay wins its miniseries and goes on to play the Yankees in New York.
Would you want to put the viability of the playoffs, the chance to truly complete a championship season, in addition to the many millions of dollars, on a couple of airplanes traveling from a pair of perpetual COVID- 19 hot spots?
What if a positive test grounded a team for even just a couple of days? Or an asymptomatic team member didn’t test positive until hopping on a plane with everyone else?
Certainly, a “soft bubble” provides no guarantees. For all the success of the NHL and NBA, they’re still just getting started and thus far have dodged the threats that come with off- campus workers mingling in the same space as their heavily- tested personnel.
Come October, we’ll know for sure whether those leagues – whose regular seasons were largely completed – managed to pull off the great isolation experiment.
But regional hubs would make way too much sense for MLB’s playoffs. The Los Angeles- Anaheim- San Diego corridor puts three virtually weatherproof venues within a two- hour bus ride.
Milwaukee plus the two Chicago stadiums could provide a similar, if weather- risky, slew of stadiums within easy reach. New York, suddenly as COVIDfree as almost anywhere, would provide a big- market bang and two excellent stadiums.
Meanwhile, if a team posted up at the same hotel/ resort for the entirety of the playoffs, it would allow consistent use of spaces for team functions – be they socially distanced meetings, meals or improvised, rainy- day bullpen sessions. Perhaps hotel staff could be tested, as well, as the NHL is doing, creating as close to a bubble as baseball could get without commandeering a portion of Disney’s Orlando, Florida, empire, as the NBA did.
There’d be another upside in committing early to a hub/ bubble ( hubble?). It would all but dispel the notion that fans would be attending games anytime soon.
While the Red Sox acknowledged Tuesday that they will not welcome fans to Fenway Park this year, there are still rumblings from certain clubs that they might want to bring in paying customers.
Please. It’s been no small triumph to keep enough players safe to stage a game. As we know all too well by now, even “safe” markets can fluctuate as the coronavirus comes and goes. College campuses are already a debacle. The playoffs are barely a month away.
Better to end that notion now and ensure an even playing field, in addition to the safety of fans.
That first third of the season flew by fairly quickly. The playoffs will come a lot quicker than we’d imagine, which is why MLB is committed to staying nimble.
The pragmatic move would be to stay put. Cut out the planes and trains come playoff time, and there’s a far better chance the World Series bubble won’t be burst.