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MLB Wild Card: Keep at one game or go to best of three?

By Neil Harrington

DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 16: Colorado Rockies fans hold a sign referring to 'Rocktober', or a Rockies playoff run, during a game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres at Coors Field on September 16, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 16: Colorado Rockies fans hold a sign referring to 'Rocktober', or a Rockies playoff run, during a game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres at Coors Field on September 16, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /
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Should the format for the MLB Wild Card game change or stay at the status quo?

Major League baseball, known as America’s past-time, is a game filled with tradition and pageantry, where change is often unwelcome. One of the biggest modifications was implemented following the strike of the 1994 season, the addition of the Wild Card in each league, attempting to add some new flavor and excitement into the dying game. Beginning in the 1995 season, both NL and AL had three divisional winners, plus a non-division winner advance to the Postseason.

At the time, there really wasn’t any benefit to winning your division and the Wild Card qualifier had the same benefits as a team who earns a divisional crown. In 2012, Major League Baseball finally got the format correct, with the MLB Wild Card game, allowing for an additional qualifier, implementing a one-game playoff, with the winners of each game then entering into the “traditional” Postseason bracket.

There are now talks of changing the one-game format into a three-game series, or even adding more Wild Card teams to the format, but why break what’s been working the past few seasons? The initial format was a good start, with the 2012 change making it just right. The current set-up rewards divisional winners while making the Wild Card team’s path much more difficult, in theory, by pushing back their rotation one more game, possibly exhausting the bullpen, and adds that one and done thrill that was lacking from baseball before.

More from Call to the Pen

MLB Wild Card Fun-facts

  • The 1994 season would have been the first to implement the original Wild Card format, but the MLB Postseason was canceled due to the players strike.
  • The (now) Miami Marlins are the first Wild Card team to win the World Series, then to do it twice.
  • The Marlins are the only World Series champion to never have won a division title in their team’s history.
  • The Rockies have qualified as a Wild Card on four occasions (1995, 2007, 2009, 2017) but have never won their division (the NL West).
  •  A total of six Wild Card qualifiers have won the Fall Classic:
    1997: Miami Marlins
    2002 Los Angeles Angels
    2003: Miami Marlins
    2004 Boston Red Sox
    2011 St. Louis Cardinals
    2014 San Francisco Giants
  • 12 Wild Cards have made the World Series, with the before mentioned six winning it all.
  • The 2002 and 2014 seasons World Series are the only two including an all-Wild Card event ( Angels/Giants in 2002, Giants/Royals in 2014).
  • The 2001 Oakland Athletics have the best Wild Card record with a 102–60 regular season mark.
  • The Houston Astros are the only team to qualify as Wild Card team in both the National League (2004-2005) and American League (2015).
  • The AL East has produced 19 wild-card teams, with the NL Central snagging a total of 12 spots in its history.
  • The 2015 NL Wild Card featured all Central division teams (Cubs & Pirates), with the winner playing the NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals.

Next: Major League Baseball: Does tradition hold the sport back?

Hate it or love, the Wild Card format, along with the 2012 update have both been very exciting for the game of baseball. With the MLB at 32 current teams, having 10 qualifiers is the perfect balance by not having too many teams flood down the quality — yes we are talking to you, NBA. The current Wild Card one-game thriller is perfect as is and does not need a best of three format, which would hinder the quality of the rest of the Postseason, while dragging it on way too long. Baseball is finally finding a good balance of keeping a tradition that honors the game, while methodically making changes to enhance it.

Postseason baseball is finally upon us, with the before mentioned Wild Card games kicking off tonight and tomorrow, with the Yankees hosting the Twins tonight at 8:00 PM EST on Fox, while two divisional rivals, the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks face-off in the desert the following evening at 8:00 PM EST on TBS

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