Change in Playoff Format Becomes a Matter of Record

Teams with better records will have more of an advantage in the baseball playoffs this season.

The home-field advantage in the division series and league championship series will go to teams with the best win-loss records unless they are wild cards, owners said Thursday.

In addition, the teams with the home-field advantage in the best-of-five first round will be host for games 1, 2 and 5, rather than 3, 4 and 5.

As before, wild-card teams cannot have home-field advantage in the first two rounds.

The changes were proposed by general managers in November and approved in January by the ruling executive council. They will not alter the World Series format, in which home field advantage alternates each year between leagues.

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Manny Ramirez apparently will not be suspended for slapping a clubhouse worker, but he was not on the Cleveland Indians’ travel squad for the second consecutive day.

Ramirez, the Indians’ cleanup batter and second-leading hitter this spring, stayed in Winter Haven, Fla., because of a sore left thigh, Manager Mike Hargrove said. Cleveland’s game against the Houston Astros was rained out.

Ramirez slapped clubhouse assistant Tom Foster in the face after the two exchanged words about two hours after Cleveland’s 8-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Tuesday. Ramirez had taken two of his bats out of the equipment room, where players are forbidden to go. Foster reportedly berated Ramirez for ignoring the rules.

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The Oakland Athletics are studying Las Vegas to see how well the city can support a major league baseball team, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

But A’s owners Steve Schott and Ken Hofmann apparently still prefer San Jose as a future home and are hoping to build a new ballpark there.

Las Vegas, the fastest-growing city in the country over the last 10 years, has become a possible big-league city. The area’s population is expected to grow from 1.2 million to 2 million within the 10 years.

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Despite a discussion with Cablevision, George Steinbrenner said he has no intention of selling the New York Yankees. “I’m not talking to anybody about selling,” Steinbrenner said, responding to a report in Newsday.

Cablevision chairman Charles Dolan, whose company owns the NBA’s New York Knicks and the NHL’s New York Rangers, talked with the Yankees about a purchase, Newsday reported.

Cablevision, which has television rights to the Yankees and New York Mets, has been rumored in baseball circles to be interested in buying the Yankees or Mets.

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Andy Pettitte will start the New York Yankees’ regular-season opener April 1 against the Angels at Edison International Field of Anaheim.

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Outfielder Phil Plantier, a non-roster player, was released by the Toronto Blue Jays, after refusing an assignment to triple-A Syracuse.