Commissioner Bud Selig says that wild-card expansion is coming
BY TONI GINNETTI tginnetti@suntimes.com January 27, 2012 11:34PM
Warming up the arms? Sox players toss plastic baseballs to fans at the Palmer House Hilton. | John J. Kim~Sun-Times
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Updated: February 29, 2012 8:07AM
Baseball can expect to have a second wild-card team added to the playoffs this season, commissioner Bud Selig said Friday.
“I’m optimistic. I think we’ll have it in 2012,” he said. “The clubs really want it. It looks like we’ll have it.’’
Selig said the wild card was needed as the game expanded. “The objective in sports is to provide hope and faith in as many places as possible, and that’s what the wild card does,’’ he said.
The added wild-card team in each league would put 10 teams in the postseason. The format probably will involve a one-game elimination.
Long-term view
Selig said he decided to extend his longest-ever term as commissioner because owners, including Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, pressed him to stay.
“I really thought as late as a month ago, I would retire,’’ he said during a seminar led by Sox broadcaster Hawk Harrelson. “I looked forward to teaching, writing a book. But the owners, including Jerry Reinsdorf, kept coming to me. Jerry was relentless.
“I was brought up in the sport and to believe you do what people and you believe are in the best interest of the sport. I heard it so often, I decided [to stay].’’
Selig was attending SoxFest to honor the Sox and White Sox Charities as the outstanding charitable team in baseball in 2011.
Cubs comment
Selig said he has not decided anything on the compensation issue remaining between the Cubs and Boston Red Sox over Theo Epstein’s move to the North Side.
“I was hoping the teams could decide it, but I’ve learned that anything controversial will end up on my desk,’’ he said.
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