Major League Baseball is expanding its playoff format to 10 teams.

MLB announced the move Friday, adding two clubs to the postseason format.

A second wild-card team now will be included in each league. There will be a one-game playoff to decide which team advances.

Commissioner Bud Selig said the change “increases the rewards of a division championship and allows two additional markets to experience playoff baseball each year.”

This is the first change in baseball’s playoff structure since the 1995 season, when wild-card teams were added.

“You don’t want to be in that one-game playoff,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said yesterday in Tampa. “Your motivation is to win the division.

“I like [the proposed format]. It gives more of an advantage to the division winners, which I think they deserve.’’

Mets third baseman David Wright said he wished the change had come about sooner.

“It would have been nice five years ago, but I think it will be good for the game,” said the Mets third baseman, alluding to his team’s historic 2007 fade in which it went from seven games ahead in the NL East with 17 games to play only to miss the playoffs completely.

“Any time you get that win-or-go-home mentality, it’s good for the players and good for the fans. You obviously don’t want to dilute the playoffs, but I think this is good … and will make things very exciting.”

The long-expected decision was announced less than an hour before Seattle and Oakland started the exhibition season. On March 28, the Mariners and Athletics will play the big league opener in Tokyo.

“This change increases the rewards of a division championship and allows two additional markets to experience playoff baseball each year,” Selig said in a statement.

Also, a tweak: For the 2012 postseason, the five-game division series will begin with two home games for lower seeds, followed by home games for the higher seed. After that, it will return to the 2-2-1 format previously used.

MLB said with schedules already drawn for this season, the postseason had to be compressed to fit in the extra games. Hence, fewer off days for travel.

Starting this year, too, there’s no restriction on teams from the same division meeting in that best-of-5 Division Series.

If the World Series goes to Game 7 this year — as it did last season, when the wild-card St. Louis Cardinals won the championship — it would be played Nov. 1.

“I don’t think there is a perfect system,” Girardi said. “The only way you can have a perfect system is if the schedules were completely balanced.

“I don’t think they are looking for a perfect system. I think they are looking to create excitement.’’

With Post staff