5 ways the new postseason format is enhancing excitement 

This is the first year of an adjusted playoff format, and as it’s only May, it’s still early enough in the season that people aren't quite looking at potential postseason matchups yet. Having two extra playoff teams -- and Wild Card matchups that will go three games rather than one, and byes! -- changes things up in ways that won’t be fully unpacked until it unfurls in October.

As a reminder, here’s how the playoff format will work in 2022:

• The two division winners with the best records (currently the Yankees and the Angels in the AL, and the Dodgers and Mets in the NL; here’s to NYC and Southern California!) receive byes into the Division Series.
• The other two division winners get the No. 3 seeds.
• The three teams in each league with the best records after that take the Nos. 4-6 seeds. The No. 3 seed will host the No. 6 seed in all played games of a best-of-three series, and the No. 4 seed will do the same with the No. 5 seed.

That means, if the season ended today, the playoffs would look like this:

American League
First Round Byes: No. 1 Yankees, No. 2 Angels
Wild Card Series: No. 6 Blue Jays at No. 3 Twins; No. 5 Rays at No. 4 Astros

National League
First Round Byes: No. 1 Dodgers, No. 2 Mets
Wild Card Series: No. 6 Cardinals at No. 3 Brewers; No. 5 Giants at No. 4 Padres

Exciting matchups, right? But it’s truly remarkable how differently the new format forces you to look at the season. How? Here are five ways.

Division races are much more vivid and compelling.
As an example, let’s look at the NL Central. The Pirates, Cubs and Reds (a combined 32 games under .500) are not particularly relevant to the conversation over there. But the race to win that division between the Brewers and the Cardinals is of vital importance now. Not only does the team that wins instantly get home-field advantage, it might also be in position to get a bye into the NLDS. And with all the other teams fighting for a Wild Card spot -- the D-backs and Cardinals are tied, with the Rockies only half a game behind -- there’s no assurance the Wild Card will be available for whoever is in second. There is only one way to guarantee you will make the postseason: Win the division. The Brewers and Cardinals will be at each other’s throats all season, and this is why.

Teams have room to figure out slow starts without being out of the race early.
The defending champion Braves are off to a rough start. They’ve had some injury woes, their pitching hasn’t clicked, everything’s a bit of a mess right now. They’re still an incredibly talented team, and, eventually, that’s going to show on the field. The extra Wild Card spots give them more elbow room. Under the old system, they’d be six games behind the Padres for the first Wild Card spot; now they’re only three out of the third one. (While being seven out of first place in the NL East.) There’s margin for error for teams like them. Another example are the White Sox in the AL. They’re 15-14 and one game back from a Wild Card berth, and far from buried. One bad stretch won’t entirely sink you.

Teams with big division leads can’t take their foot off the gas.
How about those Mets, actually? They’ve got the biggest division lead in baseball, seven games over the Braves and 7 1/2 over the Marlins and Phillies. So they can rev that up to 10 and then just coast, right? Not with how important the No. 2 seed (or even the No. 1 seed) is. That big lead over the Braves is only a one-game lead over the Brewers for the No. 2 seed, which means the Mets are one bad day away from losing that first-round bye and having to fight through three games with the No. 6 seed. Even if you’ve clinched the division with two weeks left to go in the season, you’ve got to play every game to the hilt to make sure you secure that bye. Your race isn’t just in your division; your race is against everyone.

Divisions with a bunch of good teams are brutal.
Pity the poor Rockies. After an offseason when everyone piled on them, they’ve gotten off to a nice 16-14 start. If they were in the NL Central, they’d only be 3 1/2 games out of first (and have a ton of games against the Reds, Pirates and Cubs). But because they’re in the NL West, they have a gauntlet of games against the very teams they’re trying to climb over in the standings. The good news is that you can finish fourth in your division and still make the playoffs. The bad news is that you can be good enough to have a chance to make the playoffs and you’re still in fourth.

Your team is still in it!
This might be all that really matters, no? Check out how few games the following teams -- squads that aren’t exactly killing it right now -- are out of the playoffs:

• White Sox: 1 game
• Guardians: 1 1/2 games
• Braves: 3 games
• Mariners: 3 games
• Phillies: 3 1/2 games
• Marlins: 3 1/2 games
• Orioles: 3 1/2 games
• Rangers: 3 1/2 games
• Pirates: 4 games
• A’s: 5 games
• Red Sox: 5 1/2 games
• Cubs: 6 games
• Royals: 6 games

You can make up that many games by the end of this weekend! That’s the major point here, and the primary reason it’s going to take a while to adjust to the new standings. There are so many teams left in the race. And it’s going to stay that way, probably, all summer. I can’t wait.