We've done at least one poll like this before, but this time I just want to know if baseball's better off after the change it's actually making.

Oh, and no "it increases MLB's revenue" arguments. I don't wanna hear it. As a fan, do you think it makes the season more entertaining/fun/fair/aesthetically pleasing/etc., or not?

No divisions or interleague and a balanced schedule would've been better, but this'll do for the time being.

What johnny said ^

It's very marginal either way.  And I'm not sure how I voted, tried to click True, but feel like I might have clicked False.

I like the dynamic of both Wildcards losing their Ace for the first couple of games of the Divisional Series.  It gives the Division winner a greater advantage.

I think it puts the wildcard teams at a huge disadvantage in the ALDS: no time to rest, no Ace, travelling, shortened prep time. In the past, wild card teams have had a pretty decent shot at the Ring. It will be interesting to see how it plays out over the next 10 years.
Mind you, there's going to be some interesting head games with the pitching match-ups in the wildcard playoff. A team with a strong rotation would definitely have the advantage.

I voted true because as a Blue Jay fan my team has too little of a chance to get in the playoffs. So that sounds like my selfish priority.

However if I am correct that 80% of fans lose a significant amount of interest when their team is not in it then baseball wins.
I will try to do the easy math 10 teams = 33%, 8 = 27%, a 5% increase in playoff teams. If 6 teams more are in the hunt for the 1st WC that is 20%, 6 more for the 2nd WC is another 20%. I know the rest is very complicated math so I will not try it, due to numerous scenarios. Actually the math is fascinating, eg 1 or 2 super teams both in the NL East always win the division & 1st WC. Every team in the NL could be in it, except Pittsburgh (bad for too long), NLC & NLW have some sort of parity & the other 3 NLE teams have a shot at the 2nd WC.

That is a lot of fan interest.

Both don't fit with my traditional sensibility.  Four divisions.  Winner gets in, and that's it.  It would be horrible for the home nine, but it would concentrate the mind. :)

I think it puts the wildcard teams at a huge disadvantage in the ALDS: no time to rest, no Ace, travelling, shortened prep time. In the past, wild card teams have had a pretty decent shot at the Ring. It will be interesting to see how it plays out over the next 10 years.

After much thought I have to say I think I'm okay with this. As has been mentioned, it gives an advantage to the teams that win their division, and a big advantage for being regular season champion, which, on the face of it, isn't a bad thing in my book. With that being said, 1 game is basically a coin flip in baseball, which isn't great, and clearly there will be years when one or both wild card teams are better than a division winner, but c'est la vie.

There are a few problems with this system. First, I don't want to see it expanded and that's what worries me. I don't want to see a 3-game playoff or anything more. Second, here are two a realistic scenarios which I don't like:1) Texas and LAA are fighting it out for the AL West while let's say the Yanks and Tigers have locked up their divisions and the Red Sox have locked up the second Wild Card spot. The Red Sox can then set their rotation up perfectly for the Wild-Card game. They can rest their key bullpen guys, give injured players rests, etc...In this scenario, it is is better to be the Red Sox than the loser of the AL West battle. 2) When after 162 games, a 84 win team beats a 96 win team in a one-game playoff, it hardly seems fair.

My biggest problem with the playoffs now is that they don't replicate the season at all. You can win with two top starters in the playoffs. A 7 game series makes this harder, but even in a 5 game series, a team like the Phillies who had excellent depth in pitching gets hurt by the shortness of the series.

I don't get the wringing of hands over the possible scenarios laid out above. 1) happens now with wild card teams clinching before division winners. It can't happen moreso, and doesn't seem more likely that before. Now there is an advantage to winning the division...good...I hate the "no one cares who wins" division title races.  2) also happens now, worse records win all the time, even with a 10-15 game spread. Under this system, what's the worst team that would have made it?

It's not a massive improvement, but I like that (1) it increases the incentive for teams to win their division; (2) it gives more teams a shot at a ticket into the playoffs (without actually increasing the number of playoff teams in the divisional series). I think the Jays are going to continue to have a hard time, though, given their AL East roost, their interleague matchups and the unbalanced schedule.