The 2012 Major League Baseball season is the 143rd season of Major League Baseball. It began on March 28 with the first of a two game series between the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. On November 22, 2011, a new contract between Major League Baseball and its players union was ratified, and as a result, an expanded playoff format adding two clubs will be adopted no later than 2013 according to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The new format was finalized for the 2012 season on March 2, 2012, and will use the 2–3 format for the Division Series for the 2012 season only. The stateside portion of the regular season started April 4 in Miami, Florida with the opening of the new Marlins Park, as the newly renamed Miami Marlins hosted the defending Wo