MLB expands playoff format from 8 teams to 10

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by alnorth

The wild card with more wins gets to host the knockout game, and the 3 division winners now get a real, huge reward over the Wild Cards. (The Wild Cards will likely have to use their best pitcher, and by doing so they probably wont be able to set things up to pitch him twice in the divisional round. So, a Wild Card team will be less able to ride on the back of one elite pitcher to glory)

Don't like it? Win your damned division.

Exactly.

The division championship matters again.

There's absolutely nothing dumb about that. And no, this doesn't help the large market squads. Now the Red Sox, Yankees, Angels or Rangers may end up having to go up against the D-Backs and Price/Moore/Shields in a 1-game playoff to decide if they make the dance. And even if they manage to win, they've now burned Lester, CC, Haren or Darvish just to make it in.

I'd eliminate the WC altogether, but this is a great approach to helping level the playing field and reward teams for winning their division.