MLB commish Bud Selig expects the MLB playoffs will expand to 10 teams, the Associated Press reported today.
Selig was quoted at his annual AP interview:
"I would say we're moving to expanding the playoffs, but there's a myriad of details to work out. Ten is a fair number."
The move could come as soon as 2012 the AP sates. But it will require a change to the collective bargaining agreement first.
My take:
From a TV and fan standpoint, I guess this is good. It also allows more fans to think their team is in the playoff hunt.
But personally, I don't like it one bit. I do not like the ever-cheapening of the regular season. The MLB barely needs playoffs to begin with. When you play 162 games, the team with the best record is probably the best team. (This is messed up a bit because of AL and NL differences, as well as interleague play.) And how many times do we hear the phrase "anything can happen in a short series"? Again, it might make for good TV. But it isn't always good for finding out which team actually is best. But admittedly, that debate was lost long before I was born. Americans like their playoffs so much even historical college conferences have moved into the realm of meaningless regular seasons. Almighty dollar at work, there.
Another possible issue is how a 10-team field will actually play out. We don't know yet. We can only speculate. I'm not going to bother getting my nose out of joint over speculation. But frankly the MLB may as well go to a 12 team field like the NFL rather than have an odd number of teams in each league.
So what do you feel about these developments?