Are Expanded Playoffs Coming, and Does it Help the Mariners?

The players’ side of expanded playoffs

The players have been a little skeptical about expanding the playoff format. James Dator of SB Nation explained the dispute on playoff expansion as such.

"Finally, on the topic of potential playoff expansion, players are concerned that expanding the field will motivate teams to spend less on players knowing they could still slide into the postseason and benefit from the TV revenue from the playoffs."

It has been also reported that the players only want a 12 team playoff field going forward. As Dator explains above, the players don’t want to give teams a chance to barely compete and still slide into the playoffs. Expanding the playoffs could however have the effect of giving teams more motivation to pay better players. If a team is close to .500, winning about 75-82 games, then maybe in the offseason they would be more incentivized to go add another player or two instead.

This could lead to more contracts for players and give them more money if more teams try to make the playoffs. The players want to keep the playoffs for the best teams it appears, but they should be willing to hear the rationale of having more playoff teams, which could also bring more fans to the game, which has not been happening lately.