CBS Sports columnist Matt Snyder urged Major League Baseball to stop expanding its postseason, arguing that the current 12-team tournament already places too many clubs within reach of a championship after a 162-game regular season.

In a July 21 installment of “Snyder’s Soapbox,” the longtime baseball writer framed the issue around exclusivity. MLB sends 12 of its 30 teams to the playoffs, or 40% of the league. That remains a smaller share than the postseason fields used by the NFL, NBA and NHL, but Snyder argued that comparison should not determine whether baseball needs additional qualifiers.

The current system was introduced in 2022. Each league sends three division winners and three Wild Card teams to the postseason. The two highest-seeded division champions receive first-round byes, while the third division winner and the three Wild Card clubs play in two best-of-three series. Every game in those opening series is hosted by the higher seed.

Snyder’s central concern is that adding another team or two per league would further weaken the distinction between regular-season excellence and merely remaining near the middle of the standings. Baseball’s schedule is substantially longer than those of the other major U.S. professional leagues, making the regular season an unusually large test of roster depth, pitching durability and organizational planning.

A larger playoff field would give more teams a chance to win the World Series, but it would also increase the likelihood that a club with an ordinary or even losing record could qualify. Once inside the bracket, that team would need only a brief run of strong pitching, timely hitting or favorable matchups to eliminate a club that demonstrated superior performance over six months.

That possibility is not automatically a defect. Upsets are a central part of postseason sports, and underdog runs can create memorable national storylines. A lower seed advancing can energize a market, attract casual viewers and reinforce the idea that qualification gives every participant a legitimate chance.

The dispute is therefore less about whether unexpected results are entertaining than about how difficult postseason entry should be. Snyder’s position is that baseball already provides sufficient opportunity for surprises after allowing six teams per league into the field. Expanding further, he argued, would shift too much weight from the regular season to short October series.

Recent results have strengthened that critique. Snyder noted that an 83-win club reached the postseason in 2025, while teams with win totals in the mid-80s qualified in preceding seasons. Arizona’s 2023 team won 84 regular-season games before advancing through the National League bracket and reaching the World Series, demonstrating how quickly the hierarchy established during the regular season can change in October.

The current format also creates a continuing debate over first-round byes. Some observers have questioned whether the pause disadvantages the top two seeds by interrupting their playing rhythm while Wild Card winners remain active. That argument has been cited by advocates of formats in which every qualifier plays immediately.

Snyder rejected the idea that removing byes through expansion would improve the tournament. An eight-team field in each league, for example, could create a first-round matchup between a dominant top seed and a club that finished near or below .500. While that arrangement would increase television inventory and upset possibilities, it would leave fewer tangible rewards for finishing with one of baseball’s best records.

The business case for expansion is easier to identify. More postseason teams would mean more games available to broadcasters, more ticket sales for participating clubs and more markets following meaningful races late into September. Teams hovering around the final qualifying position would also have less reason to sell veteran players at the trade deadline.

Players could benefit as well. A larger field would give more players postseason experience and access to playoff-share distributions. It could also encourage borderline contenders to retain or acquire major-league talent instead of reducing payroll during the season’s second half.

Those incentives help explain why playoff expansion could remain attractive whenever MLB and the MLB Players Association negotiate the structure of the sport. The parties are currently working toward a new collective bargaining agreement before the existing deal expires in December. The latest publicly detailed union proposal, released July 21, addressed the amateur draft, including eligibility, signing bonuses, draft-pick trading and benefits for lower-revenue clubs.

The MLBPA proposal did not announce a change to the postseason. Other prominent subjects in the labor talks include a potential salary cap and floor, free-agency rules, roster regulations, revenue distribution and competitive balance. Those disputes are more immediate and potentially more contentious than playoff format, particularly with the possibility of a lockout before the 2027 season.

Still, the number of playoff teams intersects with many of those issues. Easier qualification can provide lower-revenue clubs with a plausible path to October without requiring them to assemble one of the league’s strongest regular-season rosters. Critics may view that as permission for ownership groups to target approximately 85 wins rather than invest enough to build a dominant team.

Supporters can make the opposite argument: More attainable playoff spots can prevent franchises from abandoning a season early, encourage competitive spending and give fans in more cities a reason to attend games through September. Under that view, broad contention is a strength rather than dilution, even when several participating teams have imperfect records.

Snyder acknowledged that MLB is unlikely to reduce the field. The current system keeps numerous teams mathematically relevant deep into the summer, and eliminating playoff places would surrender games, revenue and fan engagement that the league has already incorporated into its business model.

His request is therefore defensive rather than revolutionary: Keep the 12-team structure instead of moving to 14 or 16. That approach would preserve three Wild Card entries per league while maintaining first-round rewards for the strongest division winners.

The ultimate choice requires MLB to balance two competing versions of postseason value. One emphasizes inclusion, broad national interest and additional inventory. The other emphasizes scarcity, regular-season achievement and a championship field limited to teams that have clearly separated themselves.

For now, MLB’s official format remains unchanged. But with collective bargaining underway and the league contemplating longer-term expansion to 32 franchises, questions about October access are unlikely to disappear. Any future adjustment will help determine whether the postseason is primarily the final test for baseball’s best teams or a wider tournament designed to keep as much of the league involved as possible.