Report: World Series and NLCS to be held at neutral-site bubble in Dallas and ALCS in San Diego

USA Today's Bob Nightengale was the first to report that Major League Baseball will follow the NBA's and NHL's lead by using a bubble format for at least part of its postseason, with the National League Championship Series and World Series to be held at the new Globe Life Park outside Dallas, and the American League Championship Series to be staged at Petco Park in San Diego. All the early rounds would be held via the usual home-field format.

Of course, Petco Park is home to the Padres and they are going to make the playoffs. Presumably, MLB is putting the ALCS there so the Friars don't have some sort of advantage in the NLCS/World Series. The Texas Rangers play at Globe Life Field and they have zero shot at the playoffs, so no worries there.

The bubble format has worked wonders with both the NBA and NHL, while MLB had had a few coronavirus outbreaks but now seems to have things under control and is on track to finish the regular season and the end of the month – although some teams won't reach the full 60 games.

MLB owners really make their money not in the regular season but in the playoffs, so clearly the league wants to make sure that gets completed with this bubble format. Plus, the two sites are warm-weather cities. It never rains in San Diego, either, and Globe Life Park has a retractable roof.

Nightengale reports this isn't finalized yet because MLB is working out details on the health and safety protocols for the proposed bubbles. For example, the players would want their families there. The NBA didn't allow any families to enter the bubble until after the first round of the playoffs.

The 2020 postseason field has been expanded to 16 teams with all three division winners and five Wild-Card clubs from each league. The Wild-Card series is best-of-3 and all games at that higher seed's home park (i.e. top seed would host No. 8). The Division Series is the traditional best-of-5 with a 2-2-1 home/road format.

The LCS and World Series are best-of-7 per usual with the 2-3-2 home/road format. With the neutral site it still would matter to have the better seed because that club would bat last in four of the seven possible games.

At William Hill sportsbook, the Los Angeles Dodgers are clear +340 favorites to win their first World Series since 1988. Once favored, the struggling New York Yankees are next at +600. 

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