Andrew Bailey to Red Sox: Why More Teams Are Trying to Become Competitive

Andrew Bailey was traded to the Boston Red Sox from the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday afternoon for Josh Reddick and a couple of prospects. At first glance, the deal looks like the typical "Evil Empire" move that the Red Sox and the New York Yankees have been known for over the past couple of seasons.

However, looking into some of the changes in Major League Baseball next season shows a different side to the trade.

Beginning in 2012, MLB will be installing a second wild-card team for the postseason. This will be the first major change to the postseason since 1994, when the field expanded from two teams to four teams in each league.

The basic principle of the change is this: There will be more teams in contention toward the end of the season. More teams in contention means there is a greater chance that a team will make the playoffs. A chance to make the playoffs means that more teams are going to go for it.

That's what happened in the Andrew Bailey trade. Yes, the Red Sox have made trades like this before—they've traded for Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett. They'll probably make another trade like this in the next five years, but it's not the Red Sox that are the only team doing this.

Out west, the Los Angeles Angels are doing the same thing. While the Angels didn't make a big trade, they have made two huge free agent signings in CJ Wilson and Albert Pujols.

Some people will point to the Angels signing a massive television contract (thereby increasing revenue) as the main reason for their willingness to go for it. The reality is that the Angels know that even if they can't dethrone the Texas Rangers as AL West champions, they can now compete for a wild-card spot even if there are two stud teams in the AL East.

That's where Boston had to protect their interests. The Red Sox could have decided to go with an in-house replacement for the departed Jonathan Papelbon. Instead, they decided to make an aggressive move knowing that there will be more teams that will be able to compete for a playoff spot.

The main reason for adding a fifth playoff team in each league was to add more excitement to the postseason. In the same move, Bud Selig has added more excitement to the offseason as well.