Dodgers to open playoffs Wednesday against Brewers
LOS ANGELES - The Dodgers will open their National League wildcard series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday, forcing Los Angeles fans into a difficult choice.
The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., one hour after the scheduled start of Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat.
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The Dodgers and Brewers are set to play Games 2 and 3 of their best-of-three series Thursday and Friday. Start times have not been announced. Game 2 of the NBA Finals is scheduled for Friday.
Mookie Betts #50 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates the solo homerun of A.J. Pollock #11, to take a 4-2 lead over the Oakland Athletics, during the fourth inning at Dodger Stadium on September 22, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry H (Getty Images)
The entire series will be played at Dodger Stadium without fans present.
The Dodgers' 43-17 record for a .717 winning percentage during the coronavirus-shortened season was the best in Major League Baseball, sixth-best all-time and second-best since 1910. Only the 1954 Cleveland Indians had a higher winning percentage than the Dodgers since 1910, .721.
Of the three teams ahead of them who played since the establishment of the modern World Series in 1903, two lost in the World Series, including the 1954 Indians, who were swept by the New York Giants after recording a 111-43 record during the regular season.
The 1906 Chicago Cubs, who had baseball's best record, 116-36, for a .763 winning percentage, lost the World Series in six games to the Chicago White Sox.
The 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates, who had a 110-42 record for a .724 winning percentage, fourth-best, defeated the Detroit Tigers in seven games in the World Series.
The other teams with better records than the Dodgers were the 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates, who were 103-36 for a .741 winning percentage, and the 1886 Chicago White Stockings, who were 90-13 for a .726 winning percentage. They would later become known as the Cubs.
The Brewers were 29-31 for a .483 winning percentage, one of two teams in the 2020 postseason with losing records. The Houston Astros with an identical record qualified for the playoffs in the American League.
The Brewers qualified for the playoffs at 3:28 p.m. Sunday when Austin Slater was called out on strikes with the bases empty to end the San Francisco Giants' 5-4 loss to the San Diego Padres in San Francisco.
San Francisco also had a 29-31 record, but the Brewers qualified for the playoffs because they had a better record in games against teams from their division, 19-21 against 18-22.
The winner of the series will face the winner of the series between the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals in a National League Division Series to be played at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
The final three rounds of baseball's postseason will be played at neutral sites in an attempt to reduce the possibility of spreading the coronavirus.