The Houston Astros and New York Yankees will get the MLB postseason underway tonight with the American League Wild Card game.
Baseball fans are thrilled it finally feels like October again, and they should be.
But Tuesday night’s game shouldn’t exist because the Wild Card Games are stupid, and they should be retired. I don’t care that the Wild Card Game was added to the postseason in 2012. Some can argue it hasn’t been in place long enough to determine its effectiveness, but they’re wrong.
I’ve seen enough. I thought Wild Card Games were pointless then, and I still view them as pointless in 2015.
The baseball season is almost endless. Seriously, I feel like baseball is played year-round. As soon as the World Series wraps up, it seems pitchers and catchers are already
reporting.
The six-month, 162-game, marathon regular season is a massive sample size.
So why is a Wild Card Game necessary to determine who moves on to the ALDS or NLDS, you ask?
It’s not.
Eliminate the second wild card team and take the team with the better record. If your team has an inferior record after 162 games, I’m sorry. Your team just doesn’t deserve a place in the playoffs.
This season, those teams with the inferior records are the Astros and the Chicago Cubs. Admittedly, either of those two teams winning the World Series would provide a great story.
The Cubs are chasing their first World Series title since 1908. To put that in perspective, Theodore Roosevelt was President in 1908, and the Model T was just unveiled.
The Astros have been at the bottom of their division, or in the bottom half of their division, for years. This season, they’re been exciting and have a legitimate Cy Young Award candidate in pitcher Dallas Keuchel.
I would love if either team managed to win it all, but they shouldn’t even be there.
The Yankees finished the regular season 87-75, and the Astros finished 86-76. The
Pittsburgh Pirates finished 98-64, and the Cubs finished 97-65.
Each of the wild card teams in both conferences finished one game apart, but any separation after 162 games should be
recognized.
I fail to see how it’s fair that the Yankees, who posted a better record over half a year, could be eliminated from playoff contention if Keuchel throws a gem.
I have sympathy for the Cubs because their record is better than every division winner outside the National League Central Division, but sometimes the world isn’t fair.
A one-off Wild Card Game seems to favor the team that has the better ace, or the team that can Johnny Wholestaff its way to one victory. The team with the better ace or the team whose bullpen turns up for a night might not necessarily be better. I’d rather have the team that proved its worth over 162 games than the team that can put it together for one night.
If the trend of two wild card teams continues, I’d at least like to see it become a three or five-game series. A series would make me feel more confident the better team is advancing to the division series.
Make it a series or abolish the Wild Card Games altogether. Just make a change, MLB.
Jack Woods is a 22-year-old mass communication senior from Ruston, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter
@Jack_TDR.