Major League Baseball and its players’ union have reached an agreement on playing this year’s postseason in bubble settings, sources confirmed to ESPN.
The Athletic earlier reported MLB and the MLB Players Association have reached agreement.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported on Friday that under the plan, which awaited the MLBPA’s approval, the World Series would start Oct. 20 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, and would end no later than Oct. 28. It would culminate a month of playoff games that begins with the top four seeds in each league hosting all the games in a best-of-three wild-card series. The four American League series would run Sept. 29, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, and the National League would play Sept. 30, Oct. 1 and Oct. 2.
Tuesday’s agreement will allow family members to join the players as early as the division series. They will need to quarantine for a week before then and take a charter to their division series site. Everyone inside the bubble will be tested daily for the coronavirus, according to sources.
The highest remaining seed in the NL would play its division series in Arlington, and the next-highest seed would face its opponent at Houston’s Minute Maid Park. The top seed from the AL would be the home team at San Diego’s Petco Park, and the other series would be held at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium.
The AL Championship Series would take place in San Diego and the NLCS in Arlington, giving the NL’s top seed — likely the Los Angeles Dodgers — a path to a stationary October.