#MLB playoff contenders to enter quarantine before season ends

Beginning next week — the last of the regular season — all players on contending teams will move into hotels to create a quarantine-like situation before the playoffs, sources told The Post.

That was the most difficult detail that needed to be worked out between MLB and the Players Association before the sides reached an accord Monday night on how to try to complete this season.

Some players fought against the concept believing that the sport has done well in the last month in minimizing COVID-19 cases and were concerned that teams that went into the quarantine in late September and reached the World Series could be away from families for a month or more.

But MLB has strongly expressed a fear of coming this far and not concluding the playoffs and pushed hard for the safest possible protocols to finish out the year. The postseason is worth nearly $1 billion to MLB.

So the plan that was hammered out requires all contending clubs — even those at home — to move to a hotel in the last week of the regular season. All players on the 40-man roster and IL will be asked to join that quarantine because once it begins, clubs can no longer summon a player from the alternate site to join the 28-man roster — it will only be those who are in the quarantine.

As teams are eliminated from playoff contention, players on those clubs can leave the hotels if they desire.

The expanded 16-team playoffs will have the best-of-three first round played exclusively in the higher seed’s home stadium. The Division Series and League Championship Series will be played in bubble-like scenarios. The NL playoffs will be contested in Houston and Arlington, Texas at the stadiums of the Astros and Rangers. The AL playoffs will be contested in San Diego and Los Angeles and at the stadiums of the Padres and Dodgers.

The World Series will be played at the new Globe Life Field in Arlington.