Baseball owners approve playoffs changes

Published November 20, 2014

Owners on Thursday approved changes to Major League Baseball's playoff structure for this season, giving the go-ahead for wild card winners to host the first two games of the Division Series.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig made the announcement.

One wild card berth was added for both leagues in March, creating a one-game playoff to determine the teams that will reach the divisional round -- the first change to MLB's postseason since the six-division, eight-team format was adopted for the 1995 season.

But because the 2012 schedule had already been announced, MLB needed to get rid of a travel day and decided to give the lower-seeded Wild Card winners home field for the first two games of the divisional series.

The 2-3 format will only apply to this season and will revert back to the 2-2-1 schedule in 2013, giving the higher-seeded teams the first two games at home.

The 10-team playoff format was included in the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement, which was announced in November.

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