Those variables account, in part, for conflicting estimates of New Yorkâs land area since the city was consolidated in 1898. At that time, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island joined Manhattan and the Bronx to form Greater New York, and the city ballooned to a trumpeted 360 square miles from 60 or so.
Confidence votes 162. Two wild card teams from each league makes the MLB playoff each year. As of 2012 there is a one game wild card playoff between the two best records in each league who didn't win their division. + 134 others found this useful.
This addition brought the total number of franchises to 30. In early 1997, MLB decided to assign one new team to each league: Tampa Bay joined the AL and Arizona joined the NL. The original plan was to have an odd number of teams in each league (15 per league, with 5 in each division).