According to FoxSports.com [1], Major League Baseball will approve formally an expansion of the playoffs from eight to 10 teams for the 2012 season. The report suggests that while some "loose ends" remain in negotiations, MLB owners and the Players' Association could make an announcement as soon as Thursday on the expanded postseason.
That means that, this year, there will be two wild card teams in each league that will face off in a one-game playoff, with the winner advancing to play one of the three division winners. While the new Collective Bargaining Agreement suggested that the playoff expansion would happen for either 2012 or 2013, the owners and union evidently were able to resolve concerns about scheduling inequities to push ahead with expansion for this season.
Had there been a second wild-card in 2011, the Red Sox would have reached the playoffs and had a one-game playoff against the Rays. Former Red Sox manager Terry Francona was mindful of that fact when asked by reporters in the Yankees' spring training camp in Tampa Bay about playoff expansion.
"I’d be in uniform – maybe," he chuckled.
For complete Red Sox coverage, visit weei.com/redsox [2].
Links:
[1] http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/MLB-to-expand-playoffs-beginning-in-2012-postseason-022912
[2] http://www.weei.com/redsox
[3] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/red-sox