july 29 and 30, moving them up one week from their originally scheduled dates of august 3 and 4. the marlins later confirmed that 21 players and coaches tested positive. the next series for both teams, miami's home series against the washington nationals and philadelphia's series at the toronto blue jays, were postponed. both series would have taken place from july 31 to august 2. st. louis had six positive tests resulting in the postponement of three games at the milwaukee brewers from july 31 to august 2. four additional games, a home-and-home series against the detroit tigers originally scheduled for august 3 to 6, were also postponed after an additional seven positive tests were reported. after continued positive tests throughout the next week, st. louis's three-game series against the chicago cubs, originally august 7 to 9, and their three-game series against the pittsburgh pirates, originally august 10 to 12, were postponed. a doubleheader against detroit on august 13 which would have been made up games from august 3 and 4 was also postponed and later canceled. cincinnati had a player test positive resulting in the postponement of two games against pittsburgh on august 15 and 16. cincinnati's game against the kansas city royals on august 18 was postponed as well. the new york mets had a player and staff member test positive resulting in the postponement of their august 20 game against miami and their three-game series against the new york yankees on august 21 to 23. oakland had a positive test resulting in the postponement of their august 30 game against the houston astros. as a precaution, oakland's three-game series against the seattle mariners on september 1 to 3 was postponed. san francisco had a positive test resulting in the postponement of two games against the san diego padres originally scheduled for september 11 and 12. all postponed games were made up except for two games between the st. louis cardinals and detroit tigers, with both teams completing 58 out of 60 games. this had no bearing on the playoff teams other than seeding. shooting of jacob blake player protests in response to the shooting of jacob blake in kenosha, wisconsin resulted in the postponement of 11 games. the milwaukee brewers announced that they would not play their august 26 game against the cincinnati reds in the wake of the shooting, following three nba playoff games that were postponed the same day. two additional games were postponed that day. seven games on august 27 and one game on august 28 were also postponed. standings american league al east w l pct. gb home road (1) tampa bay rays 4020 0.667 — 20–9 20–11 (5) new york yankees 3327 0.550 7 22–9 11–18 (8) toronto blue jays 3228 0.533 8 17–9 15–19 baltimore orioles 2535 0.417 15 13–20 12–15 boston red sox 2436 0.400 16 11–20 13–16 al central w l pct. gb home road (3) minnesota twins 3624 0.600 — 24–7 12–17 (4) cleveland indians 3525 0.583 1 18–12 17–13 (7) chicago white sox 3525 0.583 1 18–12 17–13 kansas city royals 2634 0.433 10 15–15 11–19 detroit tigers 2335 0.397 12 12–15 11–20 al west w l pct. gb home road (2) oakland athletics 3624 0.600 — 22–10 14–14 (6) houston astros 2931 0.483 7 20–9 9–22 seattle mariners 2733 0.450 9 14–10 13–23 los angeles angels 2634 0.433 10 16–15 10–19 texas rangers 2238 0.367 14 16–14 6–24 national league nl east w l pct. gb home road (2) atlanta braves 3525 0.583 — 19–11 16–14 (6) miami marlins 3129 0.517 4 11–15 20–14 philadelphia phillies 2832 0.467 7 19–13 9–19 washington nationals 2634 0.433 9 15–18 11–16 new york mets 2634 0.433 9 12–17 14–17 nl central w l pct. gb home road (3) chicago cubs 3426 0.567 — 19–14 15–12 (5) st. louis cardinals 3028 0.517 3 14–13 16–15 (7) cincinnati reds 3129 0.517 3 16–13 15–16 (8) milwaukee brewers 2931 0.483 5 15–14 14–17 pittsburgh pirates 1941 0.317 15 13–19 6–22 nl west w l pct. gb home road (1) los angeles dodgers 4317 0.717 — 21–9 22–8 (4) san diego padres 3723 0.617 6 21–11 16–12 san francisco giants 2931 0.483 14 19–14 10–17 colorado rockies 2634 0.433 17 12–18 14–16 arizona diamondbacks 2535 0.417 18 16–14 9–21 postseason mlb announced the playoff bracket on september 15, consisting of eight teams from each league: the top two teams from each division, plus the teams from each league with the next two best records. the wild card series was a best-of-three series, while the division series, league championship series, and world series were their normal lengths. the wild card series games were played at the home field of the higher seeded team. the division and league championship series were played at neutral sites, similar to those used for both the national basketball association and national hockey league playoffs, to limit the possibility of another covid-19 outbreak that could both disrupt the schedule and affect competitive integrity. the american league played at the san diego padres' petco park and the los angeles dodgers' dodger stadium, while the national league played at the texas rangers' globe life field and the houston astros' minute maid park. the world series then took place at globe life field. the milwaukee brewers and houston astros became the first teams to make the postseason with a record below .500 since the 1981 royals. both clubs went 29–31 (.483) in the regular season. the astros became the first, and currently only, team with a record below .500 to win a playoff series, as they defeated the minnesota twins in the wild card series and the oakland athletics in the division series, before losing the american league championship series to the tampa bay rays. they also became the first, and currently only, team with a record below .500 to win a playoff game, as the 1981 royals and brewers were swept in the first rounds they played. they also became just the second team to force a game seven after being down 3–0 to the tampa bay rays in the alcs, joining only the boston red sox who ended up completing the comeback against the new york yankees in 2004. bracket wild card series(alwc, nlwc) division series(alds, nlds) league championship series(alcs, nlcs) world series 1 tampa bay 2 8 toronto 0 1 tampa bay 3 5 ny yankees 2 4 cleveland 0 5 ny yankees 2 1 tampa bay 4 american league 6 houston 3 3 minnesota 0 6 houston 2 6 houston 3 2 oakland 1 2 oakland 2 7 chicago white sox 1 al1 tampa bay 2 nl1 la dodgers 4 1 la dodgers 2 8 milwaukee 0 1 la dodgers 3 4 san diego 0 4 san diego 2 5 st. louis 1 1 la dodgers 4 national league 2 atlanta 3 3 chicago cubs 0 6 miami 2 6 miami 0 2 atlanta 3 2 atlanta 2 7 cincinnati 0 rule changes permanent changes announced prior to season the following changes, effective for the 2020 season, were officially announced by mlb on february 12: the size of the active roster expands from 25 players to 26 players, through august 31. during this time, and during the postseason, clubs can carry a maximum of 13 pitchers. any team that is playing the second game of a doubleheader or a scheduled neutral-site game (such as the mlb little league classic) may carry a 27th player for that game only. this player can either be a position player or pitcher. the size of the expanded roster in september is reduced from 40 players to 28 players. during this time, clubs can carry a maximum of 14 pitchers. any team that is playing the second game of a doubleheader or a scheduled neutral-site game may carry a 29th player for that game only. this player can either be a position player or pitcher. teams must designate players as either "position players" or "pitchers" before the start of the season. only players designated as pitchers will be allowed to pitch in any regular-season or postseason game, with limited exceptions (such as one team leading by at least seven runs, or the game going into extra innings). once a position player has pitched at least 20 innings and made at least three plate appearances as a position player or designated hitter in each of 20 games, he earns the status of "two-way player" for the remainder of the season plus all of the next season. players with this status may pitch at any time during a game. for this season only, any player who met the above requirements in either the 2018 or 2019 season qualifies for two-way status. players designated as pitchers, if placed on the injured list, must spend a minimum of 15 days on the il prior to being eligible for activation. position players may be activated after a minimum of 10 days on the il. two-way players are subject to the rules for pitchers. the seven-day minimum on the il for concussions remains unchanged. pitchers and two-way players optioned to the minor leagues must remain there for at least 15 days before being eligible for recall to the major league club, rather than the previous 10-day minimum. the minimum option period for position players remains 10 days. a pitcher must face at least three batters unless the inning ends or the pitcher is injured. managers now have up to 20 seconds to challenge a play (reduced from 30 seconds). additionally, rule 7.04 governing protested games was amended to read "protesting a game shall never be permitted, regardless of whether such complaint is based on judgement decisions by the umpire or an allegation that an umpire misapplied these rules or otherwise rendered a decision in violation of these rules." temporary rules for shortened 2020 season the following temporary rules for the shortened 2020 season were announced on june 24. note that some of these additional changes supersede the rule changes which were announced in february. each club could invite up to 60 players to its july training camp. the 60-man pool is composed of players on the 40-man roster and players currently signed to minor league contracts. clubs were not required to include all members of their 40-man roster in the 60-man pool. the transaction freeze in place since march 27 was lifted on june 26. only players eligible to play in the 2020 season could be invited to july camp, and only the 60 players included on the list submitted to the league office may be used by the team in regular season and postseason games for the 2020 season. if a player is added to the 60-man pool via trade, free agent signing, or other transaction, a corresponding transaction must be made to keep the total number of eligible players at 60. players in the 60-man pool who were not on a club's 40-man roster at the start of july camp must be added to the 40-man and active rosters in the usual fashion before they may play in regular season or postseason games. those not on the active roster train at an alternate training site. the designated hitter was used in both the american and national leagues. teams could have up to 30 active players on their opening day rosters. the active roster was reduced to 28 after the first two weeks of the season. originally, the roster was set to reduce to reduce to 26 players after four weeks, but this reduction was eliminated on august 4. the minimum option period for players optioned to their club's training site is 10 days for both pitchers and position players. the provision requiring pitchers to remain in the minor leagues for 15 days is not in effect this season. the trade deadline was august 31 (moved from july 31). to be eligible for the postseason, a player must have been added to a club's 40-man roster by september 15. clubs were permitted to carry a taxi-squad of players for away games. originally, the squad was limited to three players. on august 4, the squad was expanded to five players. the original rule stipulated that if three players were carried, at least one had to be a catcher.