In the NBA and NHL, 16 teams make the playoffs, more than half of the league. In the NFL, 12 teams out of 32 make the playoffs. Since 1995, eight teams out of 30 have made the playoffs in Major League Baseball.
There were many against playoffs expansion in the 1990s as well, as four teams made the playoffs from 1969 to 1993, when MLB played in a four-division format. (Because of a strike, there were no playoffs in 1994.) Before 1969, only the teams with the best record in each league qualified for the World Series.
In October 2010, before Game 2 of the World Series, baseball commissioner Bud Selig said he was in favor of expanding the playoffs further, in order to expand revenue. The players' union is not opposed to the idea. A look at what some are saying:
- "We've got to work out a lot of details, see how much interest there is. And then we'll take it to all the constituencies. ... We have a lot of different opinions we're asking: when to do it, if to do it, and then how to do it." - Selig, to Fanhouse.
- "There is sentiment among a substantial segment of the players to consider expanding the playoffs." MLB Players Association Executive Director Michael Weiner, to the AP.
- "The current postseason format is working well, but this being America, more must be better. So I've bought into the idea of adding two more wild-card teams, creating a best-of-three first round between four wild-card teams. I'd be 100 percent in favor of shortening the regular season, but does anyone think MLB owners are going to open the gates 120 fewer times as a group? No way that's happening. So shorten spring training by a week, open the regular season earlier (bundle up, Midwesterners) and let teams have bigger rosters the first two weeks, protecting pitchers who may not as stretched out as normal." - Phil Rogers, Chicago Tribune
- "What always separated baseball from other sports was that so few teams advanced to October. The 162-game marathon culminated with teams playing for their lives in late September because only a select few earned the right to advance. When the wild-card element was added in1995, baseball began to dilute division pennant races. Yes, we've seen some great races for the final postseason berth and fans have come to embrace the extra round of playoffs. But adding another team is unnecessary. The final few weeks of the regular season will see teams jockeying for home-field advantage in October, so there will be fewer meaningful games late in the season. And by the time the World Series rolls around, fans will be burned out. If baseball wants to draw some attention away from the NFL, adding more postseason games isn't the solution." - Paul Doyle, Hartford Courant
- "Let's be honest, Selig is only taking about this because of one thing: money. That added wild-card club increases the odds you'll see the Red Sox and Yankees in the post-season as often as possible. That means bigger numbers TV-wise. It's funny, for all the folks who gripe every year about how it seems all TV cares about are the Red Sox and Yankees, the minute somebody else makes it to the World Series, the numbers go tumbling." - Geoff Baker, Seattle Times
- "As a purist, I find the idea horrifying. We discussed recently how having the wild card dilutes the interest in some pennant races and enhances interest in others. But with just one wild card in each league, most teams still aim to finish in first place to be assured of playing in October. Add more wild cards and it's like, win more than you lose and you're in. Not to mention the prospect of World Series games in a snowstorm." - Don Drumm, Utica (N.Y.) Observer-Dispatch
What do you think?
