Baseball labor negotiations are currently at a standstill, but players and owners are not at odds on every issue. There are reports that both sides favor expanding the playoffs, although owners want it more than players, since they stand to make a lot of money off more playoff games. Players get some money too - they don’t get salaries during the post-season, but they do get playoff “shares” - so while they are for it, they don’t want it as badly as owners and will use it as a bargaining chip to get other concessions.
Owners have proposed a 14-team playoff:
- Three division winners in each league
- Four Wild Cards in each league
- The best record in each league gets a first-round bye
- The two remaining division winners can pick their Wild Card opponent
- Best-of-three Wild Card round, followed by the regular Divisional round
Players have proposed a 12-team playoff:
- Realignment to two divisions in each league
- Two division winners in each league plus four Wild Cards
- Not much else in specifics have been made public, but likely the division winners would get first-round byes, while the four Wild Card teams play each other in the opening round
Baseball has long been the most difficult major sport in North America for teams to reach the post-season.