A second wild card team is coming to the the MLB postseason, the biggest question though at this point is will it come in 2013 or this upcoming season in 2012?
“I really believe we’ll have the wild card for 2012, this year,” Commissioner Bud Selig said Friday.
But despite all the recent reports saying that the extra wild card is pretty much a done deal for 2012, multiple sources are reporting that there are several scheduling obstacles still to climb.
Selig though remains hopeful that the extra wild card could be added in 2012 despite being told several times it simply will not work out this season.
Here is what Jason Cantana of ESPN.com has to say on the issue…
The main obstacle at this point is figuring out the scheduling details for a playoff field that will, at some point, be expanded from eight teams to 10. The MLB and players’ union have until March 1 to enact the new rule for this coming season.
One thing that has already been decided? MLB and the players’ association have agreed that, under the new format, ties for division titles will be broken on the field rather than via head-to-head record in the regular season.
FoxSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal has more on the scheduling issues that come into play in 2012, considering the end of the regular season and start of the World Series have already been determined. The conclusion he draws is that it might be best for baseball to put this off until 2013.
Furthermore though once the concept is set, there will be a one-game play-in between teams with the two best records in each league that are not division winners.
Ref: ESPN.com, FOXSports.com, MLB Reports (image)