Major League Baseball expanded its playoff format to 10 teams Friday, adding a second wild card in each league.
The decision establishes a new one-game, wild-card round in each league between the teams with the best records who are not division winners, meaning a third-place team could win the World Series.
Seems cool! I"m looking forward to seeing more teams involved in the race down the stretch. It'll be nice to not see teams that have locked up a wild card spot put on the cruise control. Instead they'll still have to compete for their division in order to be assured a spot in the playoffs. Great idea, let's see if it turns out well!
This is a great idea. It gives more teams a sliver of a chance to win the Series, and it will create more hype, excitement, competition, and baseball fans. This is exactly what baseball needs. Love it..
The 1 game Play-Off kind of sucks, but I guess it's better than nothing. Teams will definitely want to avoid finishing in the 4th or 5th spots, because 1 game really comes down to a lot of luck.
I think the extra playoff spot is a great idea, extra round = more baseball!!! should definately make a difference in the east.. The Indians could make the playoffs this year and maybe make a run!!
I really like the idea of an extra wild card spot. And while it will indeed allow more teams the chance to make the postseason, I don't think that is really the primary motivation. It really is to emphasize the importance of winning your division and provide division winners with a little extra advantage for doing just that. As it stands right now, there is really no advantage to being a division winner vs a wild card team. With the extra spot, it means that the only way to truly guarantee a spot in the postseason is to win your division. And for the wild card teams, this means you need to play one more game, expend a little more energy to make it to the divisional round.
Hmm that's an interesting concept. Can't wait to see how this affects the game. I agree with jbessert's analysis, division winners will get a guaranteed spot after this move.
It's going to be interesting to see how this works. I see some benefits to it. Gives 2 more teams a 'chance.' And some negatives too. FOr instance, what about the year that the wildcard winner beats the next team by like 6 or 7 games then loses one game and is out. That would suck!
Yeah, I like it too. It will definitely create a lot of excitement. And I like how it finally gives the No. 1 seed advantage, since the winner of the play-in game will be fatigued and already down a starting pitcher.
Actually, I like that idea with the new format. It gives some teams a shot to make it into the playoffs. It will be fun to watch to see how things goes in the new format. I just hope that it will succeed, with the new format.
This should be interesting to watch. I like the idea of giving 2 more teams a shot. SOme teams may not have the best overall record...but may have improved greatly by the end of the season.
