In the short 60-game the Major League Baseball (MLB) season and a 16 team playoff format, due to COVID-19, the MLB seedings were a little unbalanced. When it comes to teams and their records, some teams should have been ranked higher going into the postseason. If the MLB rearranged the standings by the best record, two wild card series in the NL (National League) were right. All of the AL (American League) wild card series would be mixed up.
The eight NL teams that made it to the postseason were the Los Angles Dodgers (43-17) as the first spot, Atlanta Braves (35-25) as the second spot, Chicago Cubs (34-26) as the third spot, San Diego Padres (37-23) in fourth place, St. Louis Cardinals (30-28) in fifth place, Miami Marlins (31-29) in sixth place, Cincinnati Reds (31-29) in seventh, and the Milwaukee Brewers (29-31) in the final eighth spot.
How the MLB ranked it for the NL is 1-3 spots were determined by who led their divisions. The 4-6 spots were determined by who came in 2nd in their divisions. Then the 7th and 8th spots were determined by what two teams out of the 3 divisions can come up with the best records. Then, the situation of who would play who would be 1st plays 8th, 2nd plays 7th, 3rd plays 6th, and 4th plays 5th. The AL is ranked the same way.
The San Diego Padres, who had one of their best seasons in 14 years, got robbed of having second place going into the wild card series.
If the MLB ranked the NL by best to worst records the Los Angles Dodgers (43-17) would be in first, San Diego Padres (37-23) would be the second, Atlanta Braves (35-25) would be the third, followed by the Chicago Cubs (34-26) , the St.Louis Cardinals (30-28), Cincinnati Reds (31-29), Miami Marlins (31-29), and the Milwaukee Brewers (29-31).
From late September to early October, the NL wild card series were; Dodgers versus Brewers, Braves versus Reds, Cubs versus Marlins, and Padres versus Cardinals.
If the MLB went by best to worst record placements going into the NL wild card series, it would be Dodgers versus Brewers (same series), Padres versus Marlins, Braves versus Reds (same series but different placements), and Cubs versus Cardinals.
It would have made for different match-ups going into the wild card series, National League Division Series (NLDS), and National League Championship Series (NLCS).
The eight AL teams that made it to the postseason were; Tampa Bay Rays (40-20) in the 1st spot, the Oakland Athletics (36-24) in the 2nd spot, the Minnesota Twins (36-24) in the 3rd spot, Cleveland Indians (35-25) coming in 4th place, the New York Yankees (33-27) in the 5th spot, the Houston Astros (29-31) in the 6th spot, the Chicago White Sox (35-25) in the 7th spot, and the Toronto Blue Jays (32-28) coming in the 8th spot.
If the MLB did the best to worst record placement rankings the only teams that would be changing would be the White Sox (35-25) in 5th place, the Yankees (33-27) in 6th place, the Blue Jays (32-28) in 7th place, and the Astros (29-31) in 8th place.
The AL wild card series were; Rays versus Blue Jays, Athletics versus White Sox, Twins versus Astros, and Indians versus Yankees.
If the MLB went by best to worst record placement back in late September to early October, the AL wild card series would have Rays versus Astros, Athletics versus Blue Jays, Twins versus Yankees, and Indians versus White Sox.
Even though there weren’t any fans allowed in the stands for the wild card series, a lot of teams missed having home games in the postseason.
