Major League Baseball Playoff Recap:

On Tuesday, September 29, the Major League Baseball Playoffs began. Due to COVID-19,  Major League Baseball changed its playoff system so that “the American League and the National League have eight teams from each of the leagues that will engage in a best-of-three  series hosted in the high seeded teams ballpark.”

The bracket for the 2020 National League included: 

The bracket for the 2020 American League included:

As stated earlier, the Wild Card Series was a best of three games, all being hosted by the higher-seeded team. The Wild Card Series determines if the team moves up to the Division Series, a best of five series and essentially a quarter-finals match up before the Fall Classic. Teams advancing to the divisional round included the Yankees, Astros, A’s, and Rays of the American League and the Marlins, Braves, Padres, and Dodgers of the National League. On October 8th, the league championship series and semifinal matchups were set between the Astros and Rays and Braves and Dodgers. 

Wild Card and Divisional Series

When the Dodgers played the Brewers in the playoffs, the Dodgers swept the series 2-0 and moved up the bracket to play the Padres. The Dodgers swept that series also, this time needing three games to do so. The other teams that played in the National League were the Marlins and the Cubs, the Marlins competed hard to fight for the next spot on the bracket and the result of the games between the Marlins and Cubs was a 2-0 sweep at Wrigley Field. This meant that the Marlins had to take on either the Braves or the Reds. Turns out that the Marlins did face division rival Braves, and the Braves definitely showed who needed to win the next spot in the bracket. The final score of the game was the Braves winning 3-0, handing the Marlins their first-ever postseason series loss in franchise history.

Moving on to the American League, the Rays and Toronto Bluejays played rough, but the Rays prevailed 2-0. The Rays needed to face either the Indians or the Yankees next, and the Yankees beat the Indians 2-0. The next Wild Card matchup featured the Twins and the Astros. The Astros finished that series with a 2-0 sweep. The Astros then faced the Athletics who beat four games into the five-game series. The teams that moved on to the championship series are the Braves, Rays, Dodgers, and the Astros. 

League Championship Series

The League Championship Series had the final four teams - Dodgers playing the Braves and the Rays playing the Astros. The first game between the Dodgers and the Braves finished with a score of 5-1 in favor of the Braves. The second game went to the Braves as well to the tune of 8-7. In the third game, the Dodgers were hitting rockets into the field giving them a score of 15-3. In the fourth game, the Braves were coming in with hot bats and firing balls into the field, ending the score with 10-4, . In the fifth game, the Dodgers were fired up with 7 runs.  Not giving up, the Braves ended with 2 runs, though it was not enough to beat the Dodgers.  In the sixth game, The Dodgers were still showing the Braves that they wanted to win it and came out with 3 runs to the Braves lone score from Nick Markakis. Finally, with game seven on October 18th, Justin Turner started it off for the Dodgers with one run, and following him was also Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger,  and Enrique Hernandez. The Braves right fielder, Ronald Acuña Jr. gave the Braves their first point that night. The second baseman, Ozzie Albies, and shortstop Dansby Swanson also had one run, netting a total of 3 points. It was a very close game, but the Braves just did not have enough to beat the Dodgers. The final score was 4-3. 

Outside of the Senior Circuit, the Rays and the Astros went to seven games as well. In the first game, the Rays were ready to play; they started with the two runs that made the entire difference in the game, staving off the Astros 2-1. In the second game, the Rays pumped up and their bats were on fire that night and ended with 4 runs, to the Astros’ 2. In the third game, the Rays still had the fire in them, winning by one of the larger margins of victory in the series, 5-2.  In the fourth game, the Astros have not given up and finally have fired up the bats to score 4 runs, winning a close 4-3 game. Game 5 was a repeat of Game 4 with the Astros prevailing 4-3. In the sixth game, the Astros were definitely not done winning, they were on the roll and scored 7 runs to the Rays’ 4. The Rays really came through in Game 7, and Manuel Margot started the Rays with their first point of that night with a run. Randy Arozarena, Choi Ji-Man, and Mike Zunino, also having one run in the game. The Astros, second baseman José Altuve, and shortstop Aledmys Díaz had one run having 2 total which finalized the Rays and Astros game with a score of 4-2. This set up a World Series matchup between the Dodgers and an underdog Tampa Bay Rays team.

World Series

On October 20th, the first game took place at the Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. In the first game the Dodgers really hit it off with 8 runs and the Rays only had 3. In the second game, the Rays came through and were ready to show the Dodgers how they really play. The Rays had 6 runs and left the Dodgers with 4. In the third game, the Dodgers were ready to fight back with another win and hit 6 runs and the Rays had only scored 2. In the fourth game, it was a very close one but the Rays did take the lead with 8 and the Dodgers with 7, this being the final score. In the fifth game, Dodgers showed up and were ready to hit. The Dodgers scored 4 while the Rays only scored 2. Game 6 and the series were won by the Dodgers after playing to a 3-1 victory. The Dodgers right fielder, Mookie Betts scored twice and catcher Austin Barnes added one more for a total of 3. The only person that scored for the Rays was left fielder, Randy Arozarena.  This is a miracle for the Dodgers because the last time they won the World Series was 1988. Every time someone wins the World Series, there is an MVP player and this year’s MVP is the Dodgers’, Corey Seager. Corey Seager was an outstanding player. Corey finished the series with a 0.400 average and 1.256 OPS. He had two home runs and five RBIs. Since the Dodgers won the World Series, they get the honor to have the Commissioner's Trophy.