The Proposed New MLB Postseason System Is WILD

New York Post — Imagine a team picking its playoff opponent. Think about Brian Cashman and the Yankees deciding whether to face the Red Sox or avoid them in the first round of the postseason. All on live TV.

Well, it is probably coming soon to the major leagues.

MLB is seriously weighing a move from five to seven playoff teams in each league beginning in 2022, The Post has learned.

In this concept, the team with the best record in each league would receive a bye to avoid the wild-card round and go directly to the Division Series. The two other division winners and the wild card with the next best record would each host all three games in a best-of-three wild-card round. So the bottom three wild cards would have no first-round home games.

Holy cow, this would be insane.

I am generally opposed to such radical change to something that works pretty well as it is, but I think I actually love this. I know the exclusivity of the MLB Postseason is what makes it still so special to even get into the playoffs in baseball, but this change is so radical it just might be awesome.

Letting teams pick their opponents is a great twist. So many times in sports — particularly in the NFL — teams get stuck playing a team who may be the worst in record heading into the playoffs, but are the proverbial "team you don't want to play." For instance, would the Patriots have chosen to play the Titans in the Wild Card round this past season? Probably not.

I'm not crazy about going from five to seven teams, but adding the layer of intrigue of picking opponents almost makes it worth it. That selection show on TV would be electric.

The best part of this proposal is the three-game series in the first round. I have been a proponent of this in the Wild Card round ever since the Braves were hosed by ame Holbrook and the "infield fly" in 2012. Plus, baseball is a random game by its nature. A 162-game season should not come down to a single game. Have the advantage for the higher seed be that it gets to host all three games.

While it sort of dilutes the playoffs by adding four teams, it really adds a premium on having the best record in the league to avoid the first round and have your choice of opponent. You're basically putting the premium on one team having the best record instead of the three teams which win their divisions.

It's weird to see baseball possibly implement such a radical shift in how it does things, but I think that could be good. It's nice to see MLB looking to spice things up and make them more fun.

Let's do this.