Discussion: Should The MLB Overhaul Its Current Playoff Format?

As the second half of the MLB season gears up, there are many intriguing story-lines to follow, especially the AL East, where the Yankees and Red Sox duel has company this year. It is not inconceivable that New York, Tampa Bay, and Boston could all have 90 or more wins by season's end, possibly better than the AL Central winner.

In the NL, the situation is the opposite, with the winner of the West worse than the Wild Card entry.

Here a few ideas, please add yours as comments:

• Seed the top four teams in each league, regardless of division.  This would allow TB, NY, and BOS to all make the playoffs.  However, this would also eliminate the division race drama, which can sometimes be great entertainment, especially if you're a Twins fan.
• Seed the top eight teams in both leagues. This might cause two or more whole divisions to be shut out of the playoffs. For example, what if the Cubs and White Sox won their divisions, but were not allowed to participate in post-season play? This would alienate a large media market (and thousands of fans), something MLB would not want.
• Go back to the two-division-per-league, winner-take-all format. You might have a dramatically different take on this, depending on whether you were a Braves or Giants fan in 1993. I believe, however, that with the number of teams currently in the league, that there should be at least one wild-card team. Maybe the second-place team in each of the two divisions?
• My personal favorite would be to go back to the 1968 rules, except instead of having the top team from each league play for the World Series, have the top 4 teams from each league play each other.  This would give an old-school, true-pennant-race feeling to the season, and yet still have enough teams qualify for the MLB to get its obligatory TV revenues from extra playoff games. This would also require a drastic overhaul of the schedule, however.
  
• Or, there could be a mass brawl between the top two teams in each division (with a bonus wild card under-card!). This is already occuring in the AL East.
  

What do you think about the (serious) options above? Or do you think that the system is fine as it currently stands? Feel free to discuss other leagues as well, if you want.

Update: 7/21/08 - As of last night, only 4 1/2 games separate the Yankees in 3rd from the division-leading Rays.