In 2022, MLB followed the trend of expanded playoff formats across professional sports with the addition of a third Wild Card team, bringing the total number of clubs that qualify for October baseball to 12.
With MLB dating as far back to 1876, the history of professional baseball championships in the United States has undergone extensive changes and evolutions.
The 12-team expanded postseason format is perhaps the biggest development since the Division Series was re-introduced in 1994. It is also the most recent change to stick around since the addition of a second Wild Card team in 2012.
The first two years of an expanded MLB playoffs format caused quite a stir in the baseball community as the sixth seed represented the National League in the World Series each time and the fifth seed represented the American League in 2023.
Along the process, the top two seeds failed to make it out of the NL Division Series each year and same went for the No. 1 team in the AL in 2023.
The results evened out for the most part in 2024, but the conversation surrounding the sustainability of the new format remains. One idea that has emerged is expanding the NLDS to a best-of-seven to ideally give the better team a chance to emerge victorious.
Dodgers split on NLDS format
Teoscar Hernández recently said he did not oppose the idea but is satisfied with the status quo.
“I think it’s a good setup. I don’t think seven games will make any different,” Hernández said. “Maybe you get a little bit of chance. I’ve had a chance to win more games. But at this point it’s been working really good for the league. I don’t think they have to make any changes on that.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was more enthusiastic about the possibility of a theoretical change to the format for the NLDS, and openly endorsed it.
“Obviously the seven-game series certainly gives a better test of the opponents. But yeah, we’ll see if we can work on that. I definitely like the seven-game series for sure,” Roberts said.
Roberts is talking from experience as the Dodgers have had a bye week in all three years of the current format’s existence.
Of the three most popular professional sports leagues in the United States, MLB was the final one to increase the number of playoff teams in pursuit of more revenue following the pandemic in 2020.
The NFL was the first to make the change, expanding to 14-team playoff format in 2020. The NBA followed suit with an even more drastic change in 2021, growing from 16 teams to 20 with the introduction of the play-in round.
While the NLDS remains a best-of-five, the Dodgers are looking to become MLB’s first repeat champion since the New York Yankees won three World Series in a row from 1998-2000.
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