Idk, if we wanted to trim the playoffs so much than we might not have gotten an opportunity to see a team from the worst division upset LAD and HOU to win a title. Yes the NL east would always have a playoff team but if they went back to the old format with 1 division only? No Atlanta, I think.
LAD will always win the most games in this era, lower the amount of playoff competitors and they are far more likely to win more championships, thus further showing that assertion of economic power for front office and on field talent is the best way to win games. Didnt we all get tired of that during the era of New York Yankees baseball?
Fuck that, expand playoffs, let some teams in and see if they get hot at the right time. Getting hot isnt just a thing that randomly happens and if it does than the other team got robbed, it takes cohesion has a group and everyone pulling from the same rope in the most intense games of your lives. We are all aware of what that can look like in the playoffs. What if the Cleveland did catch up but the Sox still won 90ish games and we didnt get to see how special it can be when a team gets hot at the right time? Why shouldn't a team that won 90 games.. a pretty damn good record, not have a chance to defend that title? If they lost 90 games sure but the 2006 Sox still had a good year and didnt get to try and defend.
Every once in awhile, it may occur that a team who loses more games than they win make it in, but I think I analyzed it awhile back and in some expanded formats, it allowed mostly just teams who won more games than they lost in, which isnt necessarily a bad thing IMO.