Baseball question for Andrew

Sportscenter last night showed the schedule of one game playoffs if the Yankees, Red Sox, and Indians were to all finish the season with the same record. It appears that the Yankees and Red Sox will play one game at Yankee Stadium to determine the AL East champ, with the loser then flying to Cleveland to play the Tribe for the wild card entry. I have always been under the impression that if the rare one game playoff is necessary to determine a divisional champion, then that playoff game would count as a 163rd regular season game. Why in this scenario should Cleveland have to play their way into the playoffs against a team with a worse regular season record (on account of the one game playoff)? Is the league simply giving the Yanks and BoSox as many chances as possible to make the playoffs and hoping people won't notice?