In the first part of this two-part story I fired my opening salvo, telling why I’d get rid of the concept of the wild card in baseball if I had the power to do so. As a purist I hate the idea of teams which didn’t prove themselves to be the best in the game over the long haul having the opportunity to play for the title of world champion. I gave reasons why I believe the battle between two wild card teams in the World Series cheapens the title, as was the case in 2014. That tirade was just a start.
There’s much more to be dismayed about. A scrutiny of the records books reveals that the team with the worst winning percentage ever in regular season play to then go on to claim the world champions title was the St. Louis Cardinals of 2006. They went 83-78 on the season for a paltry .516 WL%. A team which was pretty darn close to being a measly .500 club got to play in, and win the granddaddy of all showcase games? Amazing. Disgusting.
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Shouldn’t it sicken you to think that all a team has to do is play a tad better than break-even ball, then get hot over a short stretch in order to call themselves the best in baseball for a given year? Come on—almost every major league team, over the course of a season, goes on a tear and wins, say, eight in a row. Or what about winning 12 of 17 games, which is exactly what the San Francisco Giants did in the postseason to win the 2014 World Series? I just can’t see a 12-5 record being a means, being enough, for a team which couldn’t even win their division to capture the championship.
Need proof that virtually anyone can sizzle over the short term? The 2014 Texas Rangers at 67-95 (.414 WL%) had the worst record in the American League and the third worst record in all of baseball. Those woeful Rangers won seven in a row at one point and, incredibly, had a stretch in which they went 12-1!
Actually, I yearn for the years without divisions at all, the pre-1969 era. Look what damage to the purity of the game division play did once it was spawned. The 1973 New York Mets could muster a record of just 82-79, a pathetic three games over .500 with a winning (if you can call that winning) percentage of .509, and they got to play in the World Series. And the 2005 San Diego Padres were worse— they had a record just two games above .500 at 82-80 (.506 WL%) and they actually won their division!
If there was no division play back then, the Padres would’ve finished a distant 18 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals (100-62). As it turned out, the Cards didn’t even make it to the World Series as they were knocked off in the NLCS by the Houston Astros in six games. Those were the same Astros who played in the same division as the Cards and, after 162 games, were only good enough to finish 11 games behind St. Louis. So, a wild card, not able to hang with the Redbirds all year long, somehow deserve to win the NL pennant and vie for the world championship?!
Mark my words, someday a team at or maybe even below .500 will win the World Series. The ’05 Padres could’ve actually won their division that year with a record of 78-84 because the second place team, Arizona, finished five games behind San Diego at 77-85. So Bruce Bochy’s Padres could have conceivably made it to the playoffs as a club that finished six games below .500! Then, if they got hot enough, they could have won the World Series.
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The 1987 Minnesota Twins, as another example, had only the fifth best win total in the AL (85-77) and yet they advanced to knock off Detroit, who had won 98 games during regular season play, in six games in the ALCS. Then, losing three games on the road to the Cards, who had 95 victories to their credit, the Twins still won it all by taking four decisions while they played at home during the World Series.
If you think the wild card is one of baseball’s good points, I would love to see you leave a comment for me— and that’s especially true if you’re old enough to remember the BWC era of baseball, Before Wild Card, that is.