Major League Baseball officially announced that its playoffs will expand to 10 teams in 2012, the Chicago Tribune said.
An agreement was finalized Friday between the MLB and the Players association, which allowed for an additional Wild Card team in each league. The two Wild Card teams will meet in a one-game playoff, with the winner joining the other three division winners in the tournament format.
Another change in the format comes during the divisional series, where the lower-seeded teams will host the first two games of the series, and then the higher-seeded teams will host the following three. The change eliminates one travel day, which was necessary because the regular season schedule is already set.
The expansion of the playoff format places a larger value on winning a division title.
Five Wild Card teams have won the World Series since the format was put in place in 1995.
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