Burnett was 34-35 with a 4.79 ERA during three seasons with the Yankees, including 11-11 with a 5.15 ERA last year. He led the major leagues with 25 wild pitches last year and allowed a career-high 31 homers. BY BEN
BY BEN WALKER | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — With less than a month to go before opening day, baseball at last decided who’s in and who’s out come October.
Now, even a third-place team can win the World Series.
Major League Baseball made it official Friday, expanding the playoff format to 10 teams by adding a wild-card club to each league.
“I hope we get that extra spot,” said new Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, whose team is coming off a 56-106 finish that was the worst in the majors. “I think it’s great any time you have more markets involved.”
Who knows, maybe a rookie such as Bryce Harper will get that shot this year.
“Cool,” the 19-year-old Washington sensation said after a game against college kids. “It’s great. Hopefully, we’re that playoff team.”
Boston and Atlanta sure could’ve used this setup last year. They went through awful collapses in September that eventually cost them playoff spots on the final day of the season.
“I think the more, the merrier,” new Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said. “I think for the fans, the players, the energy at the end of the season, I don’t mind. What would it be, a third of the teams? I think it’ll be good.”
This is the first switch in MLB’s postseason format since the 1995 season, when wild cards were first added. The move creates a new one-game, wild-card round in the AL and NL between the teams with the best records who are not division winners.
“It’s a good thing for baseball. That seems to be what the people want,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said.
“There are a lot of mixed emotions but as long as the playoffs don’t get watered down, it’s fine, but that won’t happen in baseball,” he said.
The additions mean 10 of the 30 MLB teams will get into the playoffs. That’s still fewer than in the other pro leagues — 12 of 32 make it in the NFL, and 16 of 30 advance in the NBA and NHL.
The long-expected decision was announced less than an hour before Seattle and Oakland started the exhibition season. On March 28, the Mariners and Athletics will play the big league opener in Tokyo.
“This change increases the rewards of a division championship and allows two additional markets to experience playoff baseball each year,” Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.
Also, a tweak: For the 2012 postseason, the five-game division series will begin with two home games for lower seeds, followed by home games for the higher seed. After that, it will return to the 2-2-1 format previously used.
MLB said that with schedules already drawn for this season, the postseason had to be compressed to fit in the extra games. Hence, fewer off-days for travel.
“I don’t think it really changes the way you look at this season. You really have to fight to win your division,” New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “It is kind of strange to start on the road. That doesn’t quite seem right, but it’s a one-year thing. I understand why they’re doing it.”
If the World Series goes to Game 7 this year — as it did last season, when the wild-card St. Louis Cardinals won the championship — it would be played Nov. 1.
“I like the extra playoff spot. I like the one-game playoff because it really gives the advantages to the division winner,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said this week.
As in, it’ll be real dicey for the wild-card contenders to immediately jump into a winner-take-all game, then quickly turn around to start the division series.
Starting this year, too, there’s no restriction on teams from the same division meeting in that best-of-five division series.
Baseball players’ union head Michael Weiner said there had been internal discussions way back about possibly having six playoff teams from each league. He said that once bargaining began with owners on a new labor deal, it was clear MLB only wanted five.
“The players were in favor of expanding the playoffs,” Weiner said.
In particular, he said, the players wanted to put more emphasis on winning a division, especially when MLB goes to a pair of 15-team leagues next year with three divisions each. The Astros are switching from the NL to the AL to make that possible.
A portion of the money generated by the one-game playoffs will go in the players’ pool that is split among the postseason participants.
In 1999, Valentine and the New York Mets won a one-game tiebreaker for the NL wild-card spot.
“I didn’t think that entering the playoffs in ’99 when I had to play a one-game playoff against Cincinnati that the next round was cheapened,” he said. “It seems to be similar to that. I don’t know if it’s the same thing, but it seems.”
BROCK, GARCIAPARRA ELECTED TO COLLEGE BASEBALL HOF
LUBBOCK, Texas — Former major league All-Stars Lou Brock and Nomar Garciaparra are among seven players and coaches elected to the College Baseball Hall of Fame.
Joining Brock and Garciaparra on Friday were former big leaguer Brad Wilkerson, former Wisconsin-Oshkosh shortstop Tim Jorgensen and a trio of coaches: Lewis-Clark State’s Ed Cheff, Arizona’s Frank Sancet and current Rice skipper Wayne Graham.
The college hall, run by the Lubbock-based College Baseball Foundation, focuses solely on nominees’ collegiate careers. This year’s group, the seventh to be inducted, will be honored June 30 in Lubbock.
Brock, also a member of the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., starred at Southern University from 1958-1960. Garciaparra played shortstop at Georgia Tech from 1992-94, while Wilkerson was a standout outfielder and pitcher at Florida from 1996-98.
MASTERSON GETS OPENING DAY NOD FOR INDIANS
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Justin Masterson deserved something for all his consistency last season. On Friday, he got it.
Masteron will start Cleveland’s opener on April 5 against Toronto, a reward for the right-hander who was the one pitcher manager Manny Acta knew he could count on last year.
“He earned it by being the guy we wanted to see out there every five days,” Acta said. “By being the guy that whenever you rolled into another town, the other team was wondering if they were going to see him or not. That’s what being a No.1 means in this league.”
Acta chose Masterson over Ubaldo Jimenez, the staff’s presumed ace who came over in a five-player trade at the July 31 deadline from Colorado. Jimenez went 4-4 in 11 starts for Cleveland.
Acta made up his mind months ago, but only told the two pitchers of his decision on Thursday.
“We’ve come a long way to actually think about it and have choices for our opening day starter,” said Acta, who is beginning his third season with the Indians. “Two years ago we named Jake Westbrook, who was coming back from Tommy John surgery. This year we had a choice between Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez.”
Masterson went 12-10 with a 3.21 ERA in 33 starts last year. The right-hander, who had bounced between the bullpen and rotation in his career, led the Indians in ERA, strikeouts, starts and innings. He won his first five starts and continued to keep the Indians in games — despite little run support — until his last outing in September.
The 27-year-old is excited about getting the ball on opening day.
“It’s an honor,” Masterson said, “and to set the tone out there for the team, for the game and for the season. It should be fun. Usually, it’s a packed house in Cleveland. Who doesn’t like playing in that type of situation?”
Masterson had minor surgery on his left (non-throwing) shoulder during the off-season, and Acta waited until making sure the 6-foot-6 pitcher was fully recovered in camp before announcing him as the opening-day starter.
PIRATES’ BURNETT OUT 2-3 MONTHS WITH FACIAL INJURY
BRADENTON, Fla. — Newly acquired Pittsburgh pitcher A.J. Burnett is expected to miss two to three months while recovering from surgery for a facial fracture, forcing the Pirates to rearrange their plans for opening day.
The Pirates had hoped Burnett would be able to start April 5 in the opener at home against Philadelphia. Pittsburgh got the 35-year-old righty on Feb. 19 from the New York Yankees in a trade for two minor leaguers and cash.
Burnett had surgery Friday in Pittsburgh for a broken orbital bone near his right eye. He was injured when he fouled a ball off his face Wednesday during a bunting drill.
A day after the trade, Burnett had said he looked forward to a fresh start with the Pirates.
“It’s going to be fun. I’m going back to the National League, where I can hit and bunt and get the joy back into the game,” he said then.
The Pirates said the injury didn’t affect Burnett’s vision and that there was no impingement to the muscles and nerves around his eye.
Burnett will return to Bradenton for his recovery.
“The initial step will be to heal from the surgery,” general manager Neal Huntington said. “Secondly, we will recondition his arm and body to where he was prior to the injury. Lastly, we will put A.J. through the same progression as he would have gone through here in spring training.”
“The very rough timetable to complete this process and have A.J. prepared to compete without restrictions at the major league level is eight to 12 weeks,” he said.
The Pirates got Burnett and about $20 million from the Yankees to help cover his hefty salary. Burnett was due to make $33 million total over the next two seasons.
Burnett was 34-35 with a 4.79 ERA during three seasons with the Yankees, including 11-11 with a 5.15 ERA last year. He led the major leagues with 25 wild pitches last year and allowed a career-high 31 homers.
