While we have been able to make some assumptions about the presence of a playoff bubble and the schedule of games therein thanks to some recent reporting by Jeff Passan and others, it had been suspiciously quiet from the league regarding the actual details regarding what is set to go down. This is likely because those details had yet to be ironed out and getting clearance from various localities is a non-zero concern these days, but it was still a bit unsettling that we are just a few short weeks from the end of the season and the playoffs were such an unknown.
That is no longer the case.
Here is the round-by-round schedule for the entire @MLB postseason: pic.twitter.com/mkw6n1c49I
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) September 15, 2020
Interesting twist on @MLB’s postseason schedule: there will be no off days in the Wild Card Series, Division Series or League Championship Series, which will force teams to make some pitching decisions. The World Series will have its traditional off days between Games 2-3 & 5-6.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) September 15, 2020
Earlier, we wrote up what the playoff bubbles are actually going to look like, so I won’t go into too much detail here on that part, but the scheduling has its one quirks. As Feinsand notes, there are no off days built into the non-World Series series which could force some quick turnaround times for some pitchers and some added challenges for teams like the Braves that are a bit less pitching deep, especially if a division or league championship series goes long.
While there will be breaks in-between series still and the World Series will be broken up a bit as per normal, the truncated schedule is likely a result of the combination of the extra playoff round as well as the desire to wrap up the season as quickly as possible to avoid the colder weather and subsequent potential spike in COVID-19 cases.