2020 American League Wild Card Series

The 2020 American League Wild Card Series were four best-of-three series in Major League Baseball (MLB) to determine participating teams in the 2020 American League Division Series. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MLB expanded the postseason instead of holding the regular Wild Card Game for each league. All games for each series were played at the higher seeded team's home ballpark.

2020 American League Wild Card Series
September 29–October 1, 2020
Tampa Bay Rays 2–0 Toronto Blue Jays
Oakland Athletics 2–1 Chicago White Sox
Minnesota Twins 0–2 Houston Astros
Cleveland Indians 0–2 New York Yankees
← 2019
ALWC
2021 →

The matchups were:

Background

On September 15, 2020, MLB announced the playoff bracket for the 2020 season, which was shortened to 60 regular season games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The postseason will consist of eight teams from each league: The top two teams from each division, plus the teams from each division with the next two best records. The Wild Card Series will be a best-of-three series, as opposed to the play-in game format of the Wild Card Game from previous seasons, while the Division Series, League Championship Series, and World Series will be their normal lengths. The Wild Card Series games will be played at the home field of the higher seeded team.[1]

Matchups

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Tampa Bay won the series, 2–0.

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1September 29Toronto Blue Jays – 1, Tampa Bay Rays – 3Tropicana Field3:06N/A[2] 
2September 30Toronto Blue Jays – 2, Tampa Bay Rays – 8Tropicana Field3:05N/A[3]

Oakland Athletics vs. Chicago White Sox

Oakland won the series, 2–1.

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1September 29Chicago White Sox – 4, Oakland Athletics – 1Oakland Coliseum2:53N/A[4] 
2September 30Chicago White Sox – 3, Oakland Athletics – 5Oakland Coliseum3:05N/A[5] 
3October 1Chicago White Sox – 4, Oakland Athletics – 6Oakland Coliseum4:09N/A[6]

Minnesota Twins vs. Houston Astros

Houston won the series, 2–0.

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1September 29Houston Astros – 4, Minnesota Twins – 1Target Field3:49N/A[7] 
2September 30Houston Astros – 3, Minnesota Twins – 1Target Field3:32N/A[8]

Cleveland Indians vs. New York Yankees

New York won the series, 2–0.

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1September 29New York Yankees – 12, Cleveland Indians – 3Progressive Field3:17N/A[9] 
2September 30New York Yankees – 10, Cleveland Indians – 9Progressive Field4:50N/A[10]

Tampa Bay vs. Toronto

This is the first postseason series between the Rays and Blue Jays.

Game 1
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 5:07 pm (EDT) at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida
Team123456789RHE
Toronto000000010150
Tampa Bay00010020X340
WP: Blake Snell (1–0)   LP: Robbie Ray (0–1)   Sv: Pete Fairbanks (1)
Home runs:
TOR: None
TB: Manuel Margot (1)
Attendance: N/A
Boxscore

Game 2
Wednesday, September 30, 2020 4:07 pm (EDT) at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida
Team123456789RHE
Toronto001010000272
Tampa Bay16100000X8120
WP: Tyler Glasnow (1–0)   LP: Hyun-jin Ryu (0–1)
Home runs:
TOR: Danny Jansen 2 (2)
TB: Mike Zunino (1), Hunter Renfroe (1)
Attendance: N/A
Boxscore

Composite line score

2020 ALWC (2–0): Tampa Bay Rays defeated Toronto Blue Jays

Team123456789RHE
Toronto Blue Jays0010100103122
Tampa Bay Rays16110020011160

Oakland vs. Chicago

This is the first postseason series between the Athletics and White Sox.

Game 1
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 12:08 pm (PDT) at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California
Team123456789RHE
Chicago012000010490
Oakland000000010130
WP: Lucas Giolito (1–0)   LP: Jesus Luzardo (0–1)   Sv: Álex Colomé (1)
Home runs:
CWS: Adam Engel (1), Jose Abreu (1), Yasmani Grandal (1)
OAK: None
Attendance: N/A
Boxscore

Game 2
Wednesday, September 30, 2020 12:10 pm (PDT) at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California
Team123456789RHE
Chicago0000000213102
Oakland22010000X570
WP: Chris Bassitt (1–0)   LP: Dallas Keuchel (0–1)   Sv: Jake Diekman (1)
Home runs:
CWS: Yasmani Grandal (2)
OAK: Marcus Semien (1), Khris Davis (1)
Attendance: N/A
Boxscore

Game 3
Thursday, October 1, 2020 12:10 pm (PDT) at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California
Team123456789RHE
Chicago0120100004121
Oakland00042000X681
WP: Frankie Montas (1–0)   LP: Evan Marshall (0–1)   Sv: Liam Hendriks (1)
Home runs:
CWS: Luis Robert (1)
OAK: Sean Murphy (1)
Attendance: N/A
Boxscore

This was the White Sox first winner-take-all elimination game in the club's 119-year history. The Athletics had lost nine straight such winner-take-all elimination games until this win. [11]

Composite line score

2020 ALWC (2–1): Oakland Athletics defeated Chicago White Sox

Team123456789RHE
Chicago White Sox02401003111313
Oakland Athletics22052001012181

Minnesota vs. Houston

This is the first postseason meeting between the Twins and Astros.

Game 1
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 1:08 pm (CDT) at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Team123456789RHE
Houston000000103480
Minnesota001000000141
WP: Framber Valdez (1–0)   LP: Sergio Romo (0–1)
Attendance: N/A
Boxscore

This was the Twins’ 17th straight postseason loss, setting a team record for major professional sports in North America.[12]

Game 2
Wednesday, September 30, 2020 12:08 pm (CDT) at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Team123456789RHE
Houston000100101351
Minnesota000010000130
WP: Cristian Javier (1–0)   LP: Cody Stashak (0–1)   Sv: Ryan Pressly (1)
Home runs:
HOU: Carlos Correa (1)
MIN: None
Attendance: N/A
Boxscore

This was the Twins' 18th straight postseason loss, extending the record they set in Game 1. This was Dusty Baker's first playoff series win since the 2003 NLDS while manager of the Chicago Cubs

Composite line score

2020 ALWC (2–0): Houston Astros defeated Minnesota Twins

Team123456789RHE
Houston Astros0001002047131
Minnesota Twins001010000271

Cleveland vs. New York

This is the fifth postseason meeting between the Indians and Yankees, with both teams splitting their first four postseason meetings. The Indians previously won the 1997 American League Division Series 3–2 and the 2007 American League Division Series 3–1, while the Yankees previously won the 1998 American League Championship Series 4–2 and the 2017 American League Division Series 3–2.

Game 1
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 7:08 pm (EDT) at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio
Team123456789RHE
New York20122040112150
Cleveland001100001380
WP: Gerrit Cole (1–0)   LP: Shane Bieber (0–1)
Home runs:
NYY: Aaron Judge (1), Gleyber Torres (1), Brett Gardner (1), Giancarlo Stanton (1)
CLE: Josh Naylor (1)
Attendance: N/A
Boxscore

Game 2
Wednesday, September 30, 2020 7:08 pm (EDT) at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio
Team123456789RHE
New York0104120021080
Cleveland4000202109102
WP: Aroldis Chapman (1–0)   LP: Brad Hand (0–1)
Home runs:
NYY: Giancarlo Stanton (2), Gio Urshela (1), Gary Sanchez (1)
CLE: None
Attendance: N/A
Boxscore

This was the longest nine-inning game in MLB history. [13]

This extended the Indians consecutive playoff losing streak to eight games. This was the fourth time in the last five years that the Indians were eliminated from the postseason at home.

This was also Francisco Lindor’s last game with the Cleveland Indians, as he was traded along with Carlos Carrasco to the New York Mets in the off-season.[14]

Composite line score

2020 ALWC (2–0): New York Yankees defeated Cleveland Indians

Team123456789RHE
New York Yankees21163240322230
Cleveland Indians40112021112182

Broadcasting

The games were televised on ESPN, and TBS in the United States, with ABC showing the first game of the Twins–Astros series and ESPN2 showing the second game. TBS aired the entirety of the Rays–Blue Jays series. Sportsnet, a property of Toronto Blue Jays owner Rogers Communications, broadcast games in Canada.[15]

See also

References
  1. "MLB sets playoff bubbles: Schedule, neutral-site locations and everything else to know for 2020 postseason". cbssports.com. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  2. "Game 1 boxscore – Toronto at Tampa Bay". MLB.com.
  3. "Game 2 boxscore – Toronto at Tampa Bay". MLB.com.
  4. "Game 1 boxscore – Chicago at Oakland". MLB.com.
  5. "Game 2 boxscore – Chicago at Oakland". MLB.com.
  6. "Game 3 boxscore – Chicago at Oakland". MLB.com.
  7. "Game 1 boxscore – Houston at Minnesota". MLB.com.
  8. "Game 2 boxscore – Houston at Minnesota". MLB.com.
  9. "Game 1 boxscore – New York at Cleveland". MLB.com.
  10. "Game 2 boxscore – New York at Cleveland". MLB.com.
  11. "Athletics outlast White Sox in winner-take-all Game 3 to reach ALDS". USAtoday.com. USA Today. October 1, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  12. "The Twins 18 straight postseason losses put in persepctive". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  13. "New York Yankees advance, beat Cleveland Indians in longest 9-inning game in MLB history". ESPN.com. Associated Press. September 30, 2020. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  14. Puma, Mike (2021-01-07). "Mets trade for Indians stars Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco". New York Post. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  15. "MLB playoff schedule 2020: Full bracket, dates, times, TV channels for every series". sportingnews.com. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
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