As the New York Yankees and New York Mets set to start Spring Training, word emerged from Major League Baseball about a proposal for 2022, when the current CBA has expired. The proposal is to expand the current playoff format. Now, it would certainly benefit both New York teams, but why bring this up with a full 2 seasons left in the current CBA?
Playoffs Expand to 14 Teams
The crutch of the expansion in October depends on more Wild Card teams. The proposal will have the top 4 Wild Card teams in both leagues get into the playoffs. The Yankees, a perennial playoff contender since 1995, would have made it to October every year since 95 if this format existed then. The Mets, a consistent fringe team, who made it to the end of the season each of the last handful of years before getting eliminated from the playoffs, would benefit the most.
What makes the format interesting in the room baseball is permitting for smack talk under this format. The team in each league would get a first-round bye. The team with the second-best record gets first choice of which playoff team they want to play in a best of 2 series. The team with the third-best team gets to pick next, and the Wild Card team gets the last remaining Wild Card team. They all play a best of 3 series, and then the Divisional round begins in earnest.
Why Now?
Why bring this up now? As stated, there’s still 2 seasons left under the current CBA. And players are just starting to trickle in for Spring Training.
Is it to distract EVERYONE from the ongoing fallout still surrounding baseball from the leagues findings into the Astros sign stealing scandal? Seems plausible. But, who am I to say definitively one way or another.