Baseball last expanded the playoffs in 1995 with the addition of the wildcard round. A realignment in 1994 (implemented in 1995 because of the strike) created three divisions in both leagues and the need to add a wildcard. This angered many purists who preferred the old format where teams met in their respective League Championship Series and then advanced to the World Series.
I for one am satisfied with the current system. I think it is fair. I'm not really sure about expanding the playoffs further. Clearly the motivation is money. It waters down the competition a little more with teams who in the past would not have qualified. Bob Costas in his book Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball criticizes the current system saying that it diminishes the significance of winning a divisional championship. Costas proposes that a way to make it more competitive is to have just the three divisional winners in each league and the one with the best record gets a bye. Personally, I don't think the current system diminishes the divisional championship and for one reason I use my favorite team the LA Angels. As of this writing, the Angels are two games behind division leader Texas in the AL West. That is really all they can realistically achieve as they are eight games back in the wild card standings. It's divisional championship or bust for them.
An expanded postseason looks inevitable but the question is, can it succeed?
