Another first in a strange year: MLB playoffs expand to 16 teams for 2020 – The Athletic

For the first time in baseball history, over half the teams in Major League Baseball will certify for the postseason.
Sixteen clubs– including the very first- and second-place finishers in every division– will make the 2020 playoffs, up from 10 under the existing system. The Players Association and the owners struck a deal Thursday simply hours before the very first regular-season video game of 2020, adding another wrinkle to a currently bizarre season that is to be played mainly, if not totally, without fans.
The offer in between the league and the union covers just this year and is to pay the gamers a $50 million reward swimming pool. For all the advantages of novelty and change, money was a driving factor for both sides in a season where incomes are taking an enormous hit. The owners are to get increased dollars from their media partners for the expanded postseason– TBS and ESPN will carry the new games– and the gamers were really not otherwise ensured any …