“If you ain’t first, you’re last.” - Ricky Bobby
A race — as in pennant race — implies a certain singularity of purpose. There’s no next thing to consider. You want to finish first, or as close to first as possible. For as long as there have been playoff races in baseball, that’s been structurally true. The bracket was never big enough, the permutations never complex enough to alter the most fundamental consideration. Better regular season standing meant a better chance at the World Series.
As soon as the new MLB postseason format was unveiled at the end of the lockout, it was clear that wouldn’t necessarily be true anymore.