MLB expands playoffs for 2012 By QMI Agency

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig says the expanded playoffs allows two additional markets to experience playoff baseball each year. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

NEW YORK - The expanded playoff format is official.

MLB confirmed Friday the post-season would be expanded to 10 teams from eight.

An agreement was finalized with the players union, allowing for an additional wild-card team in each league. The wild-card teams will meet in a one-game playoff, with the winner joining the three division winners in the format that has been in use since 1995.

To accommodate the extra playoff game this season, MLB needed to eliminate a travel day in the division series. For 2012 only, the lower-seeded teams will be home for the first two games, with the higher-seeded teams home for the final three.

Five wild-card teams have won the World Series: The Florida (now Miami) Marlins (1997, 2003), Boston Red Sox (2004) and St. Louis Cardinals (2011).