Correct, the goal of the change was to make more regular season games meaningful to more teams at all spectrums.
You've got the additional teams on the fringe of the playoff picture that still feel they are in it. You've got the races for the division, which are now always extremely meaningful even if both teams are going to make the playoffs, and even the race for the #1 seed among division winners is more meaningful.
Yes, it sucks for WC1 as opposed to what they would have gotten in the past, but that's exactly what it was designed to (and I'd argue that the previous system gave them too much) - and the end result is that it improves the regular season, which is 6 of the 7 months on the baseball calendar.