Expanding the postseason

Bud Selig

Clearly risking fan revolt from the purists, Major League Baseball’s owners vote 33 years ago today to split the National and American leagues into three divisions with a wild card round for the playoffs.

The owners want the new format to start in 1994 – when there actually is a fan revolt after the same owners, led by interim-commissioner-for-life Bud Selig, cancel the playoffs and World Series as the players go out on strike.

Eventually, the extra playoff round begins in 1995 and quickly becomes – baseball purists be damned – one of the better moves ever made by the owners and Selig.

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