Like the majority (as I write this), I voted "keep as is," but actually would have voted "shrink" (as one person has) if not for the fact that I dismissed that as a money-losing option that would never be considered by MLB.

The problem with adding more teams to the playoffs, for me, is that you might get more playoff races, but they are between worse teams. I don't want to watch inferior teams fighting for playoff spots, especially since in baseball they have a good chance of beating better teams in the playoffs. I don't want the 5th, 6th, and 7th best teams fighting for their playoff chances. That's what the NHL gets - the bottom half of the league playing the most meaningful games for two months before the playoffs. Sure, it makes Leafs fans happy to some extent, but this is a bad thing, not something to strive for.  162 games is enough to sort them out, stop screwing around with it.

If there was a change, I would like to see two divisions per league, with two wildcards. Even out the leagues, play interleague year-round as necessary to make sure everyone can play at once. 4 teams still make it, but 3 can be from one division. This also removes the bizarre AL West/NL Central imbalance in terms of playoff chances.

Have the wildcards play a one game playoff. This, in effect, expands the playoffs and shrinks the playoffs at the same time. No team will be satisfied with just the wildcard spot as they can be eliminated with one bad game so they will do whatever they can to be division leader.

Scrap the divisions, balance the schedule, and send the top 4 from each league. Problem solved.

Like the majority (as I write this), I voted "keep as is," but actually would have voted "shrink" (as one person has) if not for the fact that I dismissed that as a money-losing option that would never be considered by MLB.

Spoken like a Yankee fan. If you were to shrink the playoffs would you also put measures in place to prevent the Yankees from continuing to make a mockery of the concept of a level playing field?

And Jonny, I am, so, um ... thank you?

But no, I don't believe my Bronx leanings affected my answer. I just like the "old" format where you had to win to advance, not just be pretty good to advance. I admit to the possibility that my perspective might be different if I lived in Milwaukee or Miami --  but actually, I live in North Texas where the home team almost went bankrupt last year, won the division, beat the Yankees in the playoffs and played in the World Series, so there is that ...

A bye for the #1 team in each league would provide a nice incentive for the 162-game grind.

If there was a change, I would like to see two divisions per league, with two wildcards. Even out the leagues, play interleague year-round as necessary to make sure everyone can play at once. 4 teams still make it, but 3 can be from one division. This also removes the bizarre AL West/NL Central imbalance in terms of playoff chances.

Seconded.

A one game playoff for wild card teams makes somewhat of a mockery of things, I think. Anything can happen in 1 game, and baseball, more than any other sport, is driven by randomness and luck. A balanced schedule and two divisions, with division winners and the next 2 best teams making it would be the fairest; it's pretty difficult to have between 5 and 7 teams (the number really has to be divisible by 2) without having a play in game, and as mentioned, those are basically crapshoots.

Scrap the divisions, balance the schedule, and send the top 4 from each league. Problem solved.

Exactly, but also reduce interleague play to only one home and away series to get a truer sense of the best 4 teams in each league. 

Scrap the divisions, balance the schedule, and send the top 4 from each league. Problem solved.

Agree.  But will never happen.

If there was a change, I would like to see two divisions per league, with two wildcards. Even out the leagues, play interleague year-round as necessary to make sure everyone can play at once. 4 teams still make it, but 3 can be from one division. This also removes the bizarre AL West/NL Central imbalance in terms of playoff chances.

Would also work for me.  And has a better shot of happening than the above proposition. But still I don't see it happening.

A bye for the #1 team in each league would provide a nice incentive for the 162-game grind.

I hate this idea.  Timing is so important in baseball.  A long off period (close to a week) is a really bad idea.  Remember the Tigers vs. Cards WS a few years ago.  The Tigers had to wait forever until the series started and were allegedly quite rusty.

Love the idea of expanded playoffs (as a Jays fan in the AL East, how could you not?) but I don't know the best way to go about it.  Ideally I'd probably like six playoff teams per league, but then you have to get into byes.  Still, something like six teams, the top two get a bye, 3 plays 6 and 4 plays 5 in a best of 5, and then go from there could be okay if you don't mind the top teams sitting for a week.  The other problem with this is you're pushing the season even later; either you have to start earlier, introduce doubleheaders, or cut something off the regular season.  I'd be okay with the latter option, but I doubt the owners would.

With respect to one game versus three game play in, there's an idea that I heard that kind of allows you to do both.  You make it a best of three, but you give the higher seeded wildcard a 1-0 lead in the series before it begins.  IOW they only have to win one game to advance, the lower seeded WC has to win two.  Both games if necessary are at the home of the higher WC.  This system makes winning your division very important as it allows you to avoid the short play in round, but also gives an advantage to the better wildcard if they happen to get that spot. 

I haven`t given much thought to this, but it`s outside the box...

How about five teams from each league play a round robin - each team would play the other four four times (2 home, 2 away).  The best team from each league would go to the World Series.

I really like the idea of a best-of-9 game WS too.

Scrap the divisions, balance the schedule, and send the top 4 from each league. Problem solved.

Your definition of problem, presumably the lack of fairness of the current system, is almost certainly not the same as that of the owners. They want to maximize revenue. More playoff teams means, one imagines, more regular season playoff races (with the corresponding hike in attendance) and more playoff games. Cha-ching. Their "problem" is now solved.

I liked the bye to the top team in both leagues, but they cannot sit for too long.
I also liked the Round Robin concept. Maybe as many as 4 wild card teams with a Round Robin or some sort of elimination eg 4 teams play a 1 game elimination, then the 2 survivors play a 1 game elimination resulting in 1 Wild Card survivor and in only 2 days. So all the division champs sit the same amount.

Scrap the divisions, balance the schedule, and send the top 4 from each league. Problem solved.

THIS. Exactly how i was going to answer "namely"