Baseball and the Wild Card
In baseball, more than any other sport, a bad team has a shot at beating a really good team on any given night or during any given series. I like the wild card, but with the recent rash of success of wild card teams in the postseason (again, like no other sport), something MUST be done.
If you were commissioner, what would you do to give the wild card team the disadvantage it has "earned" come playoff time? How about the wildcard team would have to win 4 of 7, while the pennent winner would only have to win 3 of five? I don't know. Just a random Monday rant.
-EarlJam
P.S. My team, the ZerO's have no chance at any playoff this year.
The wild card is the problem.
Having a wild card is appropriate in a sport like football where you only play 16 games and there are lots of ties for division champ slots. IMHO, if you can't prove your superiority over the other teams in your division over 162 gaves, you don't belong in the playoffs, period. Of course, part of the problem in baseball is the fact that there are too many divisions, with too few teams in them, especially the AL West. Of course, I was one of the purists who didn't even like the expansion to 12 teams with 2 divisions in 1969, but learned to live with it because there was still a legitimate division with 6 teams in it, and because the better team usually, although not always, advanced to the World Series. (There were exceptions like the 1973 Mets.)
Wild cards in 3 divisions setup will always be ready
The division winner clinched it over a week ago while the wild card contender was exactly that, a contender, right up until the last day. He never let his guard down for those last few games and that put him on top of his game. Wild cards may not be any worse a team than the div champ, may actually have a winning record against the div champ, the real difference is that he started his playoff rounds a week or so earlier than the champ and his game is sharper and more focused.