Expanded Playoffs For Baseball

The expansion of Major League Baseball's playoffs with the addition of two Wild Card teams and a play-in game in each league will begin this year.

An agreement between MLB and the Players Association, finalized on Friday, adds a second Wild Card in each league, making for a postseason field of 10. The three division winners in each league will await the survivor of a one-game playoff between the Wild Card teams in each league, establishing the Division Series field of four teams in each league. The subsequent Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series formats will remain the same.

For the 2012 postseason only, the five-game Division Series will begin with two home games for lower seeds, followed by up to three home games for higher seeds. This one-year change will eliminate a travel day prior to a decisive Game 5 of a Division Series and was necessary because the 2012 regular-season schedule was announced before the agreement on the new postseason was reached.

Next year, the Division Series will return to the 2-2-1 format used in previous years. Details on the scheduling of the new elimination games between each League's Wild Cards will be announced in the near future.

Adding Wild Card teams this year created a logistical issue: The regular season is scheduled to end on Wednesday, Oct. 3, leaving two days for travel, weather problems, possible season-ending tiebreakers to decide division titles and Wild Card berths and the Wild Card play-in games prior to the start of the Division Series on Saturday, Oct. 6. The World Series is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, Oct. 24.

The additional Wild Cards will place a premium on winning a division title. Division winners will get at least two days of rest before the start of the Division Series, while the Wild Card teams will possibly have to use their best pitchers to win a play-in game.