Pros and Cons of a Houston Astros Move to the AL West | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

This is simple mathematics. In the National League you have to be one of the four best teams in a league with sixteen teams. For the math challenged that means you have a 25 percent chance of advancing to the postseason.

Of course, that is not even literally true.

If you finish third in your division you could be the third-best team in the league and still miss the playoffs. The notion may seem unlikely, but go talk to a Tampa Bay Rays fan about the unlikelihood of that scenario.

Under Bud Selig's new proposal, six teams will make the playoffs with the top two teams getting a bye in the first round.

Of course, a number of different scenarios will be proposed between now and then, but six teams appears to be the consensus. In a fifteen team league, six teams amounts to close to forty percent of the participants. Also, if divisions are kept, as many as three teams in one division could make the playoffs under some scenarios.