Sask. Olympians, Paralympians make a splash with young fans in Saskatoon
2h ago
Aquatic athletes were at Saskatoon's Shaw Centre on Saturday meeting young swimmers and divers.
Just hours before the first pitch in the 2020 Major League Baseball season, the league and players signed off on a 16-team playoff format.
Many believe now that MLB has gone to 16 for this COVID-shortened season, it’ll be hard to reduce the number of teams going forward.
Baseball’s regular season has always been far more important than any other sport. In the earliest days, only two teams got to play for the World Series title. Then the playoffs expanded to four teams, then eight and lately it has been 10 with two wild-card teams.
The NFL has 12 teams in the playoffs. The NHL has been 16 teams for 40 years, the NBA for 36.
While there are baseball purists who will not want to see further watering down of the playoffs, to heck with them. This is about fan engagement, something baseball needs more of desperately.
Keeping more fan bases interested deeper into the fall is a healthy move for baseball for this shortened season, and hopefully MLB will keep it around for good.