Baseball’s wild card just got wilder, with one more team per league added to the postseason mix.The article goes on to mention that there doesn’t appear to be any opposition on any side and that new system is likely to be ratified.
The new playoff system could be implemented as early as the 2012 season, according to commissioner Bud Selig, who also announced the transfer of the Houston Astros to the AL in 2013 – creating a balance of 15 clubs in each league.
Selig dubbed Thursday as “a very historic day,” as MLB’s general managers and quarterly owners meetings wrapped up at the Pfister Hotel, in the commissioner’s hometown. “[It’s] a monumental day,” he said.
First, baseball’s owners unanimously approved the Astros sale from Drayton McLane to Jim Crane, who paid $615 million according to The Associated Press; that’s a cut from the original $680 million sale price.
For the sale to go through, Crane had to agree to the Astros switching from the six-team NL Central to the four-team AL West, thus creating the balance desired by owners and giving the Texas Rangers a natural rival within their division.
To make the schedule work, Selig said there would be interleague play throughout the regular season beginning in 2013.
In announcing the addition of two wild-card teams, Selig said his panel favors a dramatic one-game playoff to determine which club advances to the division series – a system that puts far greater emphasis on winning the division.
“This will be very good for us,” said Selig, who was optimistic – but not certain – that the new playoff format would be adopted for 2012.
“I say that with some reservation, because we have some work to do,” Selig said. “But I’m hopeful.”
Jayson Stark also mentioned today that this "is just the beginning. Once the new labor deal gets finished, there's a whole lot more coming -- changes that will affect big-league payroll disparity, revenue sharing, the draft, free agency and the broad scope of the business of baseball." Clearly, none of this will help the Yankees.
The Houston move to the AL makes sense. The leagues should have the same amount of teams. And I guess the new playoff system will help the division winners, so that's probably a good thing. But when it comes to the addition of more interleague games I couldn't be more against it.
Interleague play, as it is now, is unnecessary, boring, and clearly the novelty wore off about 5 years ago. Why add more? Does Selig really think fans are eagerly awaiting another thrilling Indians-Pirates series? Please just admit that interleague play is stupid and let it go the way of the dinosaurs.
