Commish thinks expanded playoffs work, but Boone not so sure

While most of us are ready for 2020 to just end, MLB is thinking there are some things they can take away from this year.

In an interview with the AP, Rob Manfred said some of the changes made to the game, made in part to just get this 60-game season in as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the nation, turned out better than anticipated.

He said MLB hopes to keep an expanded playoffs and the new extra-inning rule.

“People were wildly unenthusiastic about the changes,” Manfred told the Associated Press before the Word Series began on Tuesday. “And then when they saw them in action, they were much more positive.”

You can count Yankees manager Aaron Boone among those who liked some of the changes, including the extra-inning rule that had a runner on second base to begin the extra innings.

“I think in hindsight, I really enjoyed, in the regular season anyway, the tenth-inning thing,” Boone said Tuesday on MLB Network Radio. “I think that’s something that potentially could continue to stick.”

The rule was tested in the minor leagues beginning in 2017 and was instituted this season to help control the amount of time that players were on the field in a season that was compressed into 66 days. It worked fairly well, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Of 68 games that went into the 10th inning, the longest was a pair of games decided in the 13th inning.

“I think the players like it,” Manfred said. “I think it’s really good from a safety and health perspective that keeps us from putting players in situations where they’re out there too long or in positions they’re not used to playing.”

Before the country was shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, MLB pushed for a future expansion of the playoffs to 14 teams. That is where MLB owners make a lot of money off television contracts. To try and recoup some of what Manfred said was about a $3 billion loss across the industry because of playing in empty ballparks, the players agreed to an expanded, 16-team playoff format.

Boone liked the best-of-three games series for the Wild Card round, but was not a fan of the amount of teams that got in.

“I mean moving forward, I don’t think you can do that many teams getting in as far as 16 out of 30 teams making the playoffs in a 162-game season,” Boone said earlier this month. “I think it does probably cheapen the season. I think it was necessary this year in the 60 games setting. I think there’s something too though, in a smaller scaled playoff format that you know the best of the three makes some sense. I just don’t think we should get too carried away with so many teams being involved, moving forward.”

Manfred agreed that 16 teams was too many and they had to protect the regular season.

“I don’t think we would do 16 like we did this year,” Manfred said. “I think we do have to be cognizant of making sure that we preserve the importance of our regular season. But I think something beyond the 10 that we were at would be a good change.”

Boone also liked the seven-inning doubleheaders and hoped maybe that would be considered going forward. With 45