Heyman: New Playoff System An 'Exciting' Twist
(WSCR) In an effort to create more excitement among more teams, Major League Baseball is changing its playoff policy.
Under the new rules, instead of having just eight playoff teams, MLB will add an extra wild card team from each league for a total of 10 teams.
Now, the two wild card teams from each league will play in a one-game playoff, the winner will then play the No. 1 seed from each league in a five-game playoff, just the way it has been in the past.
"I'm not opposed to adding two teams," Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com told The McNeil and Spiegel Show. "It's still not watered down with (only) 10 out of 30 teams in the playoffs. Two-thirds of the teams are still not in. It's not like basketball or hockey or anything like that. I do think 10 is a good number. I like the one-game playoff. I think it's very exciting. Often, they play 162 games and it'll come down to one. I think that's all right. It might put a little extra premium on that one starting pitcher you might have, but it doesn't bother me at all."
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One criticism of this new system is the negative affect it will have on a good division. For example, there is now more pressure to win your division, so good teams in poor divisions, like the AL Central, could wrap up their division early and rest their starters. While good teams in good divisions, like the AL East, will have to fight until the very end to lock up the divisional title to avoid the one-game playoff.
"It's not perfect," Heyman admitted. "I'll give you that. That's a little bit of a flaw, but there are flaws in every system, as we found out from the drug (testing) protocol."
