MLB announces postseason schedule, makes bubble official originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Major League Baseball is officially going into a bubble come October.
Tuesday, MLB announced its 2020 postseason schedule, which will be played at neutral sites beginning with the second round division series. The first round, a best-of-three wild-card series following MLB expanding the field to 16 teams for 2020, will be played at the home ballpark of the higher seed.
One interesting note is there are no scheduled off days in any of the rounds before the World Series. The AL's wild-card round will be from Sept. 29-Oct 1; the NL's will run Sept. 30-Oct. 2.
ALDS and ALCS games will be played in California at Petco Park (home of the Padres) and Dodger Stadium (Dodgers). Petco Park will also host the ALCS. Both ALDS series will run from Oct. 5-9, while the ALCS is scheduled for Oct. 11-17
NLDS and NLCS games will be played in Texas at Minute Maid Park (Astros) and Globe Life Field (Rangers). Both NLDS series will run Oct. 6-10, while the NLCS is slated for Oct. 12-18.
Globe Life Field will host the NLCS as well as the World Series. The Fall Classic is set for Oct. 20-28, with off days on Oct. 22 and 26.
A look at the matchups being played at each site (numbers represent seeds):
ALDS -- Petco Park: First-round series winner of 1/8 vs. winner of 4/5
ALDS -- Dodger Stadium: Winner of 2/7 vs. winner of 3/6
NLDS -- Globe Life Field: Winner of 1/8 vs. winner of 4/5
NLDS -- Minute Maid Park: Winner of 2/7 vs. winner of 3/6
Here's how the postseason field would look entering Tuesday:
AL: (1) White Sox vs. (8) Indians; (4) Twins vs. (5) Blue Jays; (2) Rays vs. (7) Yankees; (3) A's vs. (6) Astros
NL: (1) Dodgers. vs. (8) Giants; (4) Padres. vs. (5) Marlins; (2) Cubs vs. (7) Phillies; (3) Braves vs. (6) Cardinals
ESPN and TBS will air all first-round games. ALDS and ALCS games will be played on TBS, and NLDS and NLCS games will air on Fox, FS1 and MLB Network. Fox will air the World Series.
