That was maybe one of the few things I like about the new CBA that was enacted by both MLB and the Players Association yesterday.
I do NOT like the fact that two more teams are being added to the playoffs. Everyone seems to think it's a wonderful thing that two Wild Card teams will play in a one-game playoff to determine who will be the Wild Card representative. It makes the regular season less relevant in my eyes, and can bring in teams that really have no business being in the playoffs. And think of last season's Wild Card race. The Red Sox and Braves both would have had gone to the playoffs and made that final night of the 2011 regular season far less than what it turned out to be. (And I write that as a Red Sox fan, too.)
Eight teams in the postseason is ENOUGH. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. We don't need baseball to turn into basketball or hockey.
And I REALLY don't like the fact that the Houston Astros are moving to the American League to make both leagues an even 15 teams in 2013. That means that the "scourge of baseball", interleague, will become a daily nuisance. And it will likely be expanded to as many as 30 games per team. Unless the NL decides to finally join the rest of the baseball world and adopt a DH, this is a disaster for AL teams. Pure and simple. I know some people think I maybe a stick in the mud because I don't think interleague baseball isn't greatest thing since sliced bread. I detest it, as it has created wildly uneven schedules, and puts the AL teams at an unfair disadvantage in NL parks. Unless that is addressed in this new system, count me out.
The CBA includes other changes like the expansion of replay (which is fine with me), HGH testing for the first time and changes to the amateur draft. Here is the complete list from The Biz of Baseball.
It's a new five year deal between the owners and players, and at least we don't have to hear words like "lockout" or "players strike" until at least the end of 2016.
