Retired baseball managers favor expanded playoffs

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) —Joe Torre's biggest concern about expanding the playoffs is making certain division winners get rewarded for first-place finishes.

With commissioner Bud Selig's special committee set to meet later today and consider how to add wild cards, the former Los Angeles Dodgers manager said he favored a switch from eight playoff teams to 10.

"I felt that winning a division didn't have as much clout as it probably should have," Torre said at a news conference with Lou Piniella and Cito Gaston, two other longtime managers who retired along with him in 2010.

Any change proposed by management would be subject to talks with the players' union, making change more likely for 2012 than next year.

Union head Michael Weiner said last week that Major League Baseball should negotiate with the union before formulating a specific proposal.

"Three games in one place, two games in another, I don't think that's enough of a detriment," Torre said, referring to the current best-of-five division series format. "I'd like to make winning the division, because it is tough to do, I'd like to see them have a little more of an advantage."

Piniella backed expanded playoffs, as did Gaston.