Eventually, it's going to go to 8 teams making it from each league. No byes. No one game play-ins.
Whether they shorten the regular season or not, is the bigger question.
To me, the 162 game season is what weeds out the bad or worse teams. Letting 16 out 30 teams in diminishes the value of such a long season, but it's all about money.
Had there been a 16 team playoffs, this year, the Sox would have been in the race much longer, and finished just 3 GB the CWS. The first round match-ups:
AL
CWS v HOU
TOR v SEA
BAL v NYY
TBR v CLE
NL
SFG v LAD
SDP v STL
MIL v ATL
PHI v NYM