Posted by MikeT23 on 10/30/2013 11:10:00 AM (view original):
Oops.
The other thing to consider relative to the impact is the other change that came in with the extra WC - now the #1 seed always gets the WC, as opposed to before when you weren't allowed to a team from the same division in the first round.
Under the old system, St. Louis would have played LA in the first round. And Cleveland would have been the sole WC under the old system, but if that rule hadn't changed with the new system, Boston would have played Detroit.
I think given the nature of baseball it's really going to be tough to isolate the real impact on the postseason, but I agree with you that the primary purpose of the change was more reasons for more teams to play meaningful regular games in September.