On March 3, Major League Baseball announced an additional Wild Card team from each league will be added to the playoff field this October.
The move will, in commissioner Bud Selig’s estimation, “allow two additional markets to experience playoff baseball each year, all while maintaining the most exclusive postseason in professional sports.”
In total, five teams will make the playoffs from each league—two wild-card teams and three division winners. These two wild-card teams will play one game to determine who advances to the Division Series.
But is this change good for baseball? Here are the Pros and Cons of the growing playoff field.
The Pros:
Now there’s a real incentive to win your division
Until 1993, only division winners made the playoffs. But with the addition of the Wild Card in 1995, an additional team was added to the playoff mix. This format was as good for television as it was for baseball—multiple rounds mean increased drama and ratings.
But lost in this format was the incentive to win your division. Since playoff realignment was introduced in ‘95, Wild Card teams have won 10 pennants and five World Series titles. Now, when teams clinch a playoff spot, they rest their starters and set up their rotation, regardless of where they stand in the division.
Not anymore.
Now, wild-card teams will play each other in a one-game playoff immediately following the regular season. And both of these teams will send their aces to the mound. So, whoever advances must pit their No. 2 starter against a division-winner’s ace. The added rest and ability to save your best pitcher is a tremendous incentive to win your division.
Good teams in good divisions now have a shot at the playoffs
In 2003, the Mariners missed the playoffs with a 93-win season. But because the Twins were a division winner, they made the postseason that year with only 90 wins.
In 2001, the Giants missed the playoffs despite having a better record (90-72) than the Atlanta Braves, who won their division with an 88-74 record. .
The point is, good teams in good divisions routinely miss the playoffs, while lesser teams from average divisions play for the pennant.
No longer.
The third best team in the perennially tough AL East will have a shot at the postseason this year. And so will the second and third best teams in the talented NL East. The new playoff format allows good teams to end up where they belong: in the postseason.
September will be crazy
The last day of the regular season last year was spectacular. And with another playoff team in each league, the final two months will be just as entertaining.
At the trade deadline, 20 clubs could be in contention. Teams will keep their stars for a playoff run, instead of trading them away.
In August, when young starting pitchers have reached their "innings limit", teams are going to have to make some tough choices about protecting their young arms or pushing for a playoff berth.
Come late September, the regular season will reach a crescendo. Teams battling for the division will continue to pitch their aces and play their starters in hopes of securing a first-round bye. And teams desperate for a wild-card berth will resort to throwing their pitchers on short rest.
With so many teams in contention, the excitement and intrigue will be greater than ever.
The Cons:
One game is no way to determine the better team
Over a full season, the best teams in history still lost about a third of their games. And the worst teams in history still won 40. Any team can win on any day.
Wouldn’t it be a shame for a 90-win team to get bounced from the playoffs because of a bad call, bad bounce or bad luck? Does a team with one great starter and little else really deserve to advance?
Baseball is a game of tomorrows. Today’s failure can change in a day and fortunes shift in 24 hours. True success depends on sustained excellence over many "tomorrows." A series is the only way to determine the best team.
Division winners will open on the road, and may only get one home game.
Baseball has a schedule problem. In order to add two wild-card teams and complete the season as scheduled, there simply aren’t enough days on the postseason calendar.
So to eliminate an extra travel day, MLB scheduled the ALDS to open in the Wild Card winner’s ballpark. Then, after two games, the series would shift to the division-winner’s home turf.
But if the wild-card team wins both of their home games, a division champ would face the prospect of playing only one home game before getting bounced.
Some reward for winning the division: the prospect of starting on the road and only playing one home game.
MLB has said that in the future, they will return to a 2,2,1 series where the division winners start at home. But that will be too late for this year’s postseason teams.
Game 163 provides a real dilemma for tied division winners
Imagine your team’s just won 91 games. But you’re only tied for first in the division.
You’re in trouble.
The regular season ends on October 3. Your team will play a 163rd game on Oct. 4 to determine the division. The loser of this game plays the next day in the wild-card game.
So here’s the dilemma: Do you use your ace in Game 163, knowing he’ll be unavailable for the wild-card game if you lose? Or do you use your No. 2 starter and save your ace for the wild-card game? Either way, you lose your top starter for the first game of the Division Series.
By forcing division winners to play a 163rd game when tied, you negate the advantage of a first-round bye. For tied divisions, MLB should use head-to-head matchups to determine seeding.
The addition of two Wild Card teams to the playoff mix will be, on the whole, a good thing. Increased excitement for the second half of the season should mean more fans, better media coverage and stirring drama.
But until MLB solves all of the remaining issues with the added wild cards, they risk giving a division-winning team a raw deal.
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