Even the math is exciting. Eight teams. Four playoff spots. One week.
Welcome to the playoffs before the playoffs. The race to fill the National League postseason bracket has the potential chaos to help turn the one-year trial of an expanded postseason into a permanent format.
Owners and players will have to negotiate whether the format continues, including with some needed tweaks if it does. For instance, this year the best-in-class Dodgers will earn virtually no greater advantage than will the second-place Padres. That should not happen over a 162-game schedule.
The best parts of an expanded postseason are being seen in practice: more players experience postseason baseball; more teams stay in the race rather than punting the last third of a season, if not the entire one (the Marlins obtained the best position player traded at the deadline, Starling Marte); and more games in September that mean something.