Major League Baseball decided to add an extra wild card team in 2012 to both the American and National Leagues. The decision created a play-in game, in which the lowest ranking teams of either league are forced to play each other, to decide which team advances to the division series. The MLB got mixed feelings from fans at first.
However, everyone loves the play-in games now. Having two games, one of them being a playoff game, on back-to-back days is a perfect way to start the postseason because of the suspense and drama a do-or-die game gives us.
Another reason the MLB needed to add two wild card teams was because it was too tough to make the playoffs in baseball compared to the other three major sports. The NHL and NBA have half their league make the playoffs every year. The NFL has 12 teams make it every year. Before 2012, just eight teams in baseball made the playoffs every October. Seeing two more teams playing postseason baseball year in and year out is a great thing.
Some people thought the two extra teams that would make it every year would not deserve to be in. That has not been the case as the San Francisco Giants were the second wild card team in 2014 and went on to the World Series. Last year, the Chicago Cubs made it to the National League Championship Series as the second wild card team. Postseason baseball is very unpredictable, and yes, the best team usually does not win. But that is what makes it fun, right?
The MLB desperately needed some sort of suspense to mix things up. I have no trouble watching the whole regular season, but I do agree with people who think the season is too long and that most of the games go on forever. l just love baseball too much to stay away. Baseball does not have that intense finish to regular seasons that other sports like football and hockey have. The wild card games add that suspense. Nothing better in sports than an elimination game for both teams playing.
Every baseball fan remembers the craziness on the last day of the MLB season of 2011. The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays were tied for the wild card going into the day. The Red Sox were playing the Baltimore Orioles and maintained a 3-2 lead for most of the game. The Rays were hosting the New York Yankees and got down 7-0 early. The Rays rallied to tie it on a two-out pinch-hit homer in the ninth. Then, they hit a walk off homer in extra innings moments after the Red Sox just lost to the Orioles after blowing the lead in the ninth. It was incredible.
The point is the wild card games give us a better chance to experience moments like that. Dramatic baseball is the best baseball. It can even get non-baseball fans locked in.
Cheers to enjoying the wild card games on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Mike Smith is a senior studying journalism at Ohio University. What is your opinion of the MLB's decision? Let Mike know by emailing him at ms983012@ohio.edu.
