Does the Concept of a "Wildcard" even Allow for Two?

            It seems that the close races for the wildcard in both the American league and National league last season got the MLB a little excited.  They are now considering (if not already decided upon) establishing this extra postseason game as a standard part of the season.  How can I begin to express my disdain for this move?

            Let’s start with a look at what the wildcard is.  There are three divisions in both leagues of baseball; from each division we have one division champion.  But that means one of those teams has no one to face off against.  The wildcard was created as a way to give that unmatched team someone to play.  The wildcard is not a winner, but rather a lucky sonofabitch. 

            If we are to create this new pre-post-season, it changes the meaning of the entire postseason.  It’s no longer the best teams as the sole winners, but now there are runner-ups who can still win it all.  Granted, this is what the wildcard has always been, but this new rule would change the meaning of the wildcard.  Instead of the best team from each division and the lucky runner up, we will have the two closest runner ups duking it out for the last spot.  It eliminates that natural element of luck from the game.  If you cannot win in your division, you do not belong in the post-season; consider yourself lucky for getting the wildcard, let’s not make an official game to crown someone the “wildcard champ.”

            This element of luck I mention is what makes baseball so American.  It’s the fact that one ump is always going to call a game entirely different than another.  A pitcher can throw the exact same game and have it go in two entirely different directions.  It’s the fact that we keep the use of instant replay (which I hate in baseball) to a minimum.  Baseball isn’t football where we need to endlessly repeat footage of plays in order to make sure we made the perfect call.  Hell no, baseball is America. You can be stuck in a tough division and even if you’re a pretty good team, you just don’t make it.  It’s the myth behind the game; it’s the chaos and the odd little inconsistencies that keep us from worrying too much about whether a ball was foul.  We can always complain about an umpire’s call blowing the game; it’s never entirely our team’s fault and this translates to the race for the wildcard as well.   

            By establishing this extra game at the end of the season, I feel the MLB is merely trying to generate more interest in the sport.  I’m being generous with that statement- this move is not for the benefit of the game, but rather driven by some corporate individual figuring out this will ultimately make the MLB more money.  Hell, let’s just go the way of the NBA and let everyone into the playoffs.  That way every team could be a wildcard; it’s the same thing, eventually there would be just one champion.  The NBA playoffs are boring because of the way in which they are set up.  The same thing could happen with baseball.  Right now the system works and there is nothing wrong with it (we fixed it back in ’94 when it clearly wasn’t working).  Let’s not start down this path; let’s keep the very best teams in the postseason- not just keep the worst out.