Padres: Potential of Playoff Expansion Would be Great for Baseball

There is still hope for expanded playoffs in the 2020 MLB season, which can only be great news for the San Diego Padres and their fans.

There is nothing that would make me happier than seeing the San Diego Padres in the playoffs this season.

They’re a young team with a lot of excitement and I think it would be huge for them to get a taste of the postseason even if it’s short-lived or in a three-game series.

Playoff expansion is something that was discussed throughout those brutal labor negotiations. But since MLB and the MLBPA never actually reached any kind of agreement that idea was scrapped.

Jon Heyman is reporting that it’s back on the table.

But it always made sense for them to put playoff expansion back on the table. There is just too much randomness in a 60-game season.

It’s been said several times at this point, but the Washington Nationals don’t even make the postseason through 60 games of the 2019 season and they went on to win the World Series.

With the way the format is now you’re going to have a team get hot and sneak in that probably shouldn’t be there, and you’re going to have a powerhouse team stumble out of the gates and miss the playoffs when they shouldn’t.

Not only that, but schedules are far from even with you only playing teams in your region.

I mean, think about the fact that the Padres could be battling the Philadelphia Phillies for a Wild Card spot and yet they never even play a game against them. How does that make sense?

And you consider that the NL Central teams will get to play the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers, while the NL West teams have to go up against a difficult AL West division.

There are just too many variables that will ultimately lead to someone being left out of the playoffs that shouldn’t or vice versa.

So even though they’re trying to negotiate these expanded playoffs in the final hour with the season starting today (Thursday), I still think it gets done and needs to get done.

I’m not a huge fan of expanded playoffs in a normal season, but for the 2020 season, it’s gotta happen.