Expanded playoffs help Marlins’ chances, but ‘nothing’s really changed’ in their preparation
The 2020 Major League Baseball season being shortened to 60 games due to the coronavirus pandemic gave the Miami Marlins a slightly better chance to do the unlikely and reach the postseason this year.
Their odds got slightly better Thursday, the eve of their season opener against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, when the league and the MLB Players Association announced that the playoff field will be expanded to 16 teams instead of the usual 10 for this year alone.
While this gives the Marlins a little more margin for error, which will likely be needed considering they face the league’s toughest schedule when looking at opponent winning percentage from last year, president of baseball operations Michael Hill said the expanded playoff field doesn’t alter how the Marlins attack the shortened season.
“I think on the whole, it’ll be exciting for our industry,” Hill said Thursday. “Nothing’s really changed on our end. From Day One, we talked about how we prepare and what we prepare for. We all know that this is a 60-game sprint. We like where we’re at with our starting pitching, with the depth that we’ve been able to build and create. We’re excited with the thought that we’re competing for a playoff spot.”
This is uncharted territory for the Marlins, who are still searching for their first National League East crown in club history and first playoff berth since winning their second World Series title in 2003. Miami has never led its division with 60 or fewer games to go in a season.
“[This is] playoff baseball,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, “in the sense that every game is going to count.”
This mad dash to an expanded playoff field provides a young roster an opportunity to be a realistic competitor for a playoff spot late in the season for the first time since 2016. That team was within four games of the eventual division winner Washington Nationals after 105 games before going 22-34 to close the season.
“You can’t think about winning 40 games,” catcher Francisco Cervelli said. “You have to win one first. Every day is different. You have to be strong and go with the same mentality. It’s a short season, so a lot of things can happen.”
Under the revised playoff format, the top two teams in each division will be guaranteed a playoff spot. The next two teams with the best record in each league will be the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds.
The wild card round will take place Sept. 29-Oct. 2 be a best-of-3 series with traditional seeding (No. 1 vs. No. 8, No. 2 vs. No. 7, No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5). The higher seed will host all three games.
The four Divisional Series remain best-of-5 contests and the League Championships and World Series are still best-of-7.
“We think the format is especially good considering our shortened season this year,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday on ESPN. “We think it’ll be great for fans and great for our players.”
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