by Julian Spivey
Major League Baseball has completely overhauled its postseason for the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season – but many believe the format for 2020 is one that will likely be here to stay heading into the future. Baseball has added three more playoff teams per league, upping the total to eight per league. The top two teams in each division automatically qualify for the postseason and then you have two wild card teams. All eight teams play in the first round of the postseason in a best of three series to determine which four teams move on to your standard division series.
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The National League side of the postseason bracket begins today with four games. The National League East Division champion Atlanta Braves will take on the Cincinnati Reds, the seventh seed on the N.L. side of the bracket at 11 a.m. on ESPN.
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The N.L. Central winning Chicago Cubs will play the N.L. East second-place finishing Miami Marlins on ABC at 1 p.m.

The N.L. West second-place finishing San Diego Padres will take on the N.L. Central second-place finishing St. Louis Cardinals at 4 p.m. on ESPN 2.

The N.L. Wild Card Series game ones will wrap with the N.L. West Division winning Los Angeles Dodgers playing the Milwaukee Brewers, the eighth seed in the N.L., at 9 p.m. on ESPN.

Game twos from all four American League Wild Card Series games will also be interspersed throughout the day giving baseball fans about 13 or more straight hours of playoff baseball.

One of the controversial aspects of opening the postseason with every team in a best of three game series is the fact that any team could get hot for two games and upset a potentially much better team from the regular season. This aspect of the first round could also lead to more excitement, depending on your opinion of it.
Pitching has always been incredibly important in postseason baseball and I think it’ll play an even more crucial role in a best of three series.

It’s been nearly 20 years since the Atlanta Braves have won a playoff series and Braves fans definitely feel it. I hate to say it, but I think that streak of losing in the postseason is going to continue for the Braves. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind the Braves were a better team this season than the Cincinnati Reds – one only has to look at their respective records to see that. The Braves finished four games ahead of the Reds this season, which doesn’t seem like a whole lot but you have to factor in that in the shortened season every win and loss equals a bit more than three in a normal year. The Reds offense this year was anemic, but in a best of three series the Braves having to face N.L. Cy Young frontrunner Trevor Bauer and then Luis Castillo in game two should be bothersome for Braves fans. If the Braves powerful offense can get to Bauer in game one, I think they will prevail, if not I’m predicting the Reds sweep in two games.

The Miami Marlins are an incredibly story in 2020. Not only were they a last place team in 2019 that lost more than 100 games. They were also ravaged by COVID-19 in the early part of the season and when they came back were fielding a roster with many names even hardcore Marlins fans may not have been knowledgeable on. I don’t expect the Marlins Cinderella story to last much longer. The Cubs have their ace Kyle Hendricks going in game one and he’s been lights out in past postseasons with a 2.98 ERA in 11 postseason starts. Hendricks also finished the season strong going 3-1 with a 1.45 ERA in September. Going in game two for the Cubs is Yu Darvish who has truly had a bounce back season this year going 8-3 with a 2.01 ERA and 93 strikeouts. However, Darvish has statistically been a horrible postseason pitcher with a 5.81 ERA in six postseason games. I’m predicting Cubs win the series in two games.

The most interesting N.L. Wild Card Series matchup is the San Diego Padres vs. St. Louis Cardinals. The Padres were the N.L.’s second best team this season but fall to the number four seed due to not winning their division. The Cardinals, much like the Marlins, were another great story this season after being wrecked by COVID-19 (the team didn’t even complete the 60 game schedule). The Padres winning percentage is 100 points higher than the Cardinals, but I think this series is going the three game distance and the Cardinals have their best pitcher Jack Flaherty lined up for that game. If the Padres are going to win the series, they better jump on Cards pitchers Kwang Hyun Kim and veteran Adam Wainwright in games one and two.

The Milwaukee Brewers finished the season two games under .500 and are the first losing team to ever make the playoffs in the National League. They don’t deserve to be in the playoffs and are only there because baseball is trying to look more like the NBA and NFL. Don’t expect the Brewers to be around long against baseball’s best team the Los Angeles Dodgers and their one-two pitching punch of Walker Buehler in game one and Clayton Kershaw in game two.

by Julian Spivey
Major League Baseball has completely overhauled its postseason for the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season – but many believe the format for 2020 is one that will likely be here to stay heading into the future. Baseball has added three more playoff teams per league, upping the total to eight per league. The top two teams in each division automatically qualify for the postseason and then you have two wild card teams. All eight teams play in the first round of the postseason in a best of three series to determine which four teams move on to your standard division series.

The American League side of the postseason bracket begins today with four games. The A.L. Central Division winning Minnesota Twins will take on the American League West Division second place finishing Houston Astros (the first team to ever make the A.L. Playoffs with a losing record) at 1 p.m. (all times in this article will be central time) on ABC.

The A.L. West Division champion Oakland Athletics will take on the seventh seeded (or first wild card) Chicago White Sox on ESPN at 2 p.m.

The A.L. East Division champion Tampa Bay Rays will take on their inner-division rival Toronto Blue Jays, the eight seed, at 4 p.m. on TBS.

And the first day of the MLB playoffs will cap off with the Central Division second place finishing Cleveland Indians taking on the East Division second place finishing New York Yankees. The Indians are the four seed and will be the home team for this series. That game can be seen on ESPN at 6 p.m.

One of the controversial aspects of opening the postseason with every team in a best of three game series is the fact that any team could get hot for two games and upset a potentially much better team from the regular season. This aspect of the first round could also lead to more excitement, depending on your opinion of it.

Pitching has always been incredibly important in postseason baseball and I think it’ll play an even more crucial role in a best of three series.

The Rays/Blue Jays series could be a fascinating one. The Rays were eight games better than the Blue Jays in the 60-game regular season but will that matter come the playoffs. I think the Rays have the advantage in game one with their ace Blake Snell on the bump, but the Blue Jays have their best pitcher Hyun Jin Ryu going for them in game two. I think this series will go the distance, but the Rays will ultimately take it with Charlie Morton pitching in a do-or-die game three. Morton is the only pitcher in baseball history with three wins in winner-take-all playoff games and I’m predicting he’ll make it four come Thursday.

The Oakland A’s won the A.L. West rather easily this year by seven games over the Houston Astros, who finished the second two games under .500. But I think they’re going to have some trouble with the Chicago White Sox, who slumped their way to the end of the season after clinching a playoff spot. Maybe the White Sox will keep struggling and give the A’s a break, but I think their one-two pitching punch of Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel will be too tough for the A’s, who’s best overall player Matt Chapman was hurt recently and is out for the remainder of the season. The White Sox might be the away team for the series, but I’m predicting a two-game sweep of the A’s.

I’ll be the first to tell you I don’t like this new playoff format and hope it doesn’t continue into the future as many (including myself) believe it will. It simply lets too many teams into the postseason and that’s evident by the losing Houston Astros making it. In all of baseball history no losing team had ever qualified for the postseason, but this year one team from each league (the Milwaukee Brewers made the National League postseason with a losing record) made it. Some might say it would be harder for that to happen in a full season, but I’m not so sure as more than half of the teams in the sport now make the postseason. The Astros offense is capable of being scary, but I like the one-two punch the Minnesota Twins pitching staff will be throwing at them with a rejuvenated Kenta Maeda in game one and Jose Berrios in game two. Plus, the Twins have a better offense. I’m predicting the Twins win two in a row and go on to the Division Series.

I believe the best American League opening round series will be the four/five matchup of the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees and no baseball fan is going to want to miss the epic pitching matchup in game one of the series tonight between Gerrit Cole for the Yanks and Shane Bieber, who won the pitching Triple Crown in this shortened season, for the Indians. Whoever wins game one is likely going to go on to win this series. I like Masahiro Tanaka in game two for the Yankees and probably Zach Plesac in game three for Cleveland (the Yankees don’t yet have a probable starter for that game). I’m predicting the Indians win this one in three.

16. Matt DiBenedetto
You have to win races to have any shot at winning the NASCAR Cup Series championship. Matt DiBenedetto is the only driver in the 16-driver field who has yet to win a race in his career. He was also the last driver into the field on points. Making his playoff debut will have to be his “win.”

15. Austin Dillon
Austin Dillon only seems to win race by either wrecking the leader on the final lap of the Daytona 500 or by a crew chief strategy call. He’s not a real championship threat.

14. Cole Custer
Cole Custer’s surprising win at Kentucky on an amazing final restart move got him into the playoffs in his rookie year, which is a terrific feat and locks him into being NASCAR’s Rookie of the Year for the Cup Series this year. I think he’ll be happy just to make the show.

13. Clint Bowyer
Clint Bowyer just doesn’t win enough races to be a real threat to win a title. I feel like the champion has to go out and win three of so of the 10 playoff races and Bowyer hasn’t even won that many races in the last eight seasons combined.

12. William Byron
William Byron finally broke into Victory Lane in the Cup Series at Daytona last weekend to clinch a spot into the playoffs. It’s honestly been a disappointing start to Byron’s career after the talent he showed in NASCAR’s lower levels. He might survive the first cut of the playoffs, but that’s about it.

11. Aric Almirola
As mentioned with Aric Almirola’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer I believe you have to win a few playoff races to have a real shot at the title and Almirola only has two career wins period.

10. Kurt Busch
Kurt Busch had top-10 finishes in more than half of the 26 regular season events in NASCAR’s schedule so he’s definitely a guy who could point himself into the second or maybe even third round depending on what happens, but he just isn’t threatening for wins.

9. Alex Bowman
Alex Bowman has raced himself into the second best driver at Hendrick Motorsports over the last two seasons and won a race early this season at Fontana, but just doesn’t spend enough time up front to really threatened to win a title.

8. Ryan Blaney
Ryan Blaney is good for a win a year. He’s won exactly one race in each of the last four seasons. I’m going to need to see him win multiple races in a year before I can put him any further on this list.
 
These next seven drivers are the ones who I actually believe have a shot at winning the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship.
 
7. Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch’s inability to get into Victory Lane despite being the reigning series champion has arguably been the biggest story of the 2020 NASCAR season. But that’s not enough for me to count him out. Busch often seems like a late bloomer in the season and even though I certainly wouldn’t put my money on it I wouldn’t be surprised to see him and his team go on a bit of a run during the playoffs. I know there’s only 10 races left in the season, but I’ll still be shocked if he doesn’t win at least one race.

6. Chase Elliott
I could just as easily have put Chase Elliott in the fourth spot here as the sixth – that’s how close I think some of these drivers are. Elliott has won twice this season and has 10 top-five finishes. And when it comes to the Charlotte roval race in October I think he’s the closest thing to a lock you can possibly have in any of these 10 playoff races.

5. Brad Keselowski
Brad Keselowski’s three wins this season are the third most of any driver in the Cup Series, but they’ve been kind of quiet wins. He seems like he’s just kind of hanging around, but has had great success at many of the playoff tracks. Interestingly enough if Keselowski doesn’t win a race in the playoffs (which would all but ensure he doesn’t win the title) it’ll be his fourth consecutive season with exactly three wins.

4. Joey Logano
Joey Logano has two wins this season, which is tied with Chase Elliott for the fourth most in the sport, but of the drivers I have ranked from fourth to sixth on this list just seems like the one most likely to run off a quick win streak during the playoffs. He’s certainly more aggressive than Keselowski and Elliott, which could work to his advantage or disadvantage depending on the breaks.

3. Martin Truex Jr.
Martin Truex Jr. has only won one race this season (at Martinsville, which is the final cutoff race in the playoffs before the championship race at Phoenix), which is a noticeable drop off from the previous four seasons when he combined to win 23 races, but I just can’t count him and his Joe Gibbs Racing team out. I chalk Truex’s lack of wins this season to his crew chief Cole Pearn of the last few seasons abruptly retiring before this season, but when you look at his 11 top five finishes he’s clearly still toward the front of most of these races.

2. Denny Hamlin
1. Kevin Harvick
 
The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season has been the Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick show. The two drivers have combined to win 13 races, which is exactly half of the 26 regular season races in the series. Harvick narrowly leads the way with seven wins to Hamlin’s six. Hamlin is well on his way to being the greatest driver in NASCAR history to never win a championship if he can’t capture one before the end of his career and this has been the best year yet for him, but I have to give a slight edge to Harvick. Harvick has been just a bit more consistent this season than Hamlin with two more top five finishes and four more top 10 finishes and I just believe Harvick to be the more reliable driver when it comes to putting himself in position to win races. I think both will continue to dominate in the playoffs like that have throughout the regular season and should make for a fun back-and-forth during these next 10 races, but if I had to put money on one of the two drivers I’d say Harvick wins championship number two come November.