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Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Each week, we send out questions to the most plugged in Giants fans, and fans across the country. Sign up here to join Reacts.
MLB decided to mess with the postseason format for 2020, and the results have been ... interesting. If you’ve tuned out the playoffs due to the exclusion of the San Francisco Giants, or just general protest over the concept of 16 freaking teams getting invited, no one is going to blame you.
But you’ve missed some thrilling, albeit ridiculous baseball.
The field has currently been narrowed down to eight, and all four of Thursday’s games are potential elimination games. So let’s see how smart fans are.
In the most recent SB Nation Reacts survey, which took place before the start of the Divisional Series, fans were asked to pick a winner for each matchup. Those fans picked the Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves to advance. The Braves earned the highest percentage of the fan vote with more than 75 percent.
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Each series is far from over, but so far the fans are three for four, with only the A’s trailing their series.
Additionally, fans were asked what they were most surprised by from the Wild Card series. Just over 40 percent of those who responded were most surprised by the Miami Marlins sweep of the Chicago Cubs. The Marlins were not supposed to be good this season, and then ... well .... weren’t good this season. But they snuck into the expanded postseason, and did their part in assuring that the whopping four NL Central teams that made the playoffs all got bounced in the first round (as did the three AL Central teams; maybe MLB should get rid of the Central divisions?).
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If you’ve been avoiding postseason baseball, I recommend changing that today. As much as my skin has turned inside out watching the Dodgers and Houston Astros have success, LA’s series against the San Diego Padres has been great theater, and the Braves are cruising with a large handful of Giants on their roster. There’s a lot of entertaining baseball going on.
To vote in the Reacts surveys and have your voice heard each week, sign up here.