Extra wild card will become a reality

Major League Baseball and the Players Association continued working Wednesday to make the extra wild card a reality for the 2012 season. There was optimism that would happen by Thursday, the deadline to announce the change.

As per the new collective bargaining agreement, the new system will feature a one-game play-in between the two best teams in each league that do not win their division. The winner of that game would advance to the best-of-five League Division Series. The arrangement would theoretically place more of an emphasis on winning the division than the old setup created, and it would also likely increase attendance by lowering the playoff bar.

Baseball officials have acknowledged privately that adding the extra wild card this year will be messy, because a schedule without that addition is already in place. Yet both commissioner Bud Selig and a large segment of players want to make it happen. Next year, when the Houston Astros migrate from the National League Central to the American League West, a schedule will be designed to accommodate the extra wild card.