Tuesday brought official word of the MLB playoff “bubble” format, with top seeds hosting the opening round before subsequent rounds and the World Series move to neutral sites. Under the guidelines set forth by the agreement between the league and union, some of which may still be subject to tweakage, AL teams still mathematically in contention will start a transition period on September 22. NL teams will do the same the following day.
That means up to 90 members of an organization (28 active players, 12 tax-squad players, and 50 additional team personnel from coaches to front-office staff) must stay at the team’s transition hotel — which sounds like a fancy name for a halfway house — or travel with the team on the road from that point forward.