BASEBALL

I don’t have a lot to say here that hasn’t been said by others.  Letting in extra teams seems a little silly after 162 games to decide who is the best team, especially since it is a 1-game playoff.  But,  since this makes winning the division a greater advantage it is probably overall a good change.

I was curious how many games apart the Wild Cards would have been historically.  The answer is 6 in a typical year.  Maybe it will be slightly less than 6 going forward since teams will not just play out the string.

I also was curious which Division would benefit the most.  Colorful graphs of course help me understand the most so:

The East would have had 4.5 more teams in the playoffs.  The Central 5 more teams and the West 6.5 more teams in.