By Jeff Ohlson
When i first got wind of Major League Baseball and Bud Selig’s recent comments about baseball extending its playoff bracket to include ten teams, my reaction as a baseball purist was:
You kiddin' me?
But after giving it some careful thought, I’m warming up to the idea. Since the inception of the original wild card in 1995, four teams have won the world series:
Boston in 2004
Florida in 2003
Anaheim in 2002
Florida in 1997
Thats four in 15 years. 37%.
A lot of the negativity surrounding this idea of extended playoff is centered around the idea that the regular season will count less if another team is added. This idea does not hold water. The regular season will still determine home field advantage up to the world series just as it always has and teams will still have to win around 89-94 games to secure that second wild card spot. If anything it makes winning the division more import, because no team would coast through the regular season knowing that they could wind up in a one or three game series for their playoff lively-hood if they dont win the division.
Some people will also say that a second wild card team doesn’t deserve a spot in the playoffs. This is also a ridiculous argument. The Cardinals won their division with 83 victories during the regular in 2006. If any team has ever “not deserved” to make the playoffs, its that team. Five teams finished with a better record than the Cardinals that year and didn’t make the playoffs. Those same St. Louis Cardinals with 83 wins, won the World Series that year. Hard to say a team that wins a championship doesn’t belong in the playoffs.
My thoughts after long consideration are that Baseball needs more playoff teams. Why stop at ten?
Sports News. By Bums Like You. 