Will MLB Add Second Wild Card Team In 2012?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 7:32 am

Few people realize it, but the MLB labor agreement with the union ends at the end of this season and the two sides are quietly working on an agreement that could be announced during the World Series. Part of that new agreement seems to include a second wild card team in both leagues. Here's the latest update on that from today's SportsBusiness Daily:

Sources Say MLB Will Add Wild Card Teams, One Sudden-Death Game

Published September 26, 2011

Negotiations for a new MLB CBA "are moving at a fast pace and one issue the sides have all but agreed upon is adding two wild-card teams and holding one-game playoffs in each league to determine which of the wild cards advances," according to sources cited by Joel Sherman of the N.Y. POST. One source "described that scenario as a done deal and another hedged a little by saying it is likely to play out that way, but nothing will be finalized until an entire CBA is inked." Both sources said that "because there would be just a one-game playoff added, the second wild-card team could be installed as early as next year, but the new system will go into effect no later" than '13. The current CBA expires in December, "but there is hope by both the players and management to announce a new pact during the World Series." The "major hurdle remains issues involving the draft, notably whether to include a slotting system." The TV nets "generally have been uninterested in the other wild-card option -- a best-of-three series -- instead wanting the drama and ratings potential of a sudden-death game"

Thoughts?

Rainiers · Post by **Rainiers** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:20 am

Of all the new playoff ideas for MLB, this is the best one I've heard. It doesn't extend the season as much as the other ideas.

It will also make it more difficult for a wild card team to run the table at the same time benefiting at least two of the division winners with the better records as the wild card entrant making the next round would have spent one of its best pitchers on the one-game playoff.

I wonder, would this game be part of the regular season and be considered in the same realm as tie-breaking games are now?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:49 am

Originally posted by Rainiers:

I wonder, would this game be part of the regular season and be considered in the same realm as tie-breaking games are now? I would doubt it. It would be the first round of the playoffs between Wild Card teams. But that's just speculation on my part.