Why Major League Baseball Needs Four More Wild Cards

(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Peter Gammons beat this article's intent to the punch. But as you can tell from sportsfanIQ's "Daily Discussions" page, the following is an elaboration on a previous concern. 

Come Week One of the NFL season, markets which produce both baseball and football see a change in viewership, as MLB fans quickly shift their attention toward the NFL. 

It's understandable to see this pattern in areas like Kansas City, Cincinnati, or Pittsburgh, where their respective teams are, for the most part, not in contention by September.  

In major markets like New York and Boston, however, where the Yankees and Red Sox consistently prepare for October, fan interest drops off just as dramatically in the last month of the baseball calendar. 

For the true fan whose team will be competing in October, their attention will refocus. But for the casual fan, the one that most sports depend on for added viewership, seasons like MLB's 2009 could become an issue.

So rather than sit by idly, MLB needs to be proactive. 

Last year at this time, the Red Sox were within three games of Tampa Bay; Minnesota and Chicago were neck and neck (they ended up playing a one-game playoff); the Mets were fighting for their wild card and divisional lives; and the Diamondbacks were only two games behind the Dodgers.  

Fast-forward to this year and the Yankees are 8.5 up on the Sox, who are six up on the Rangers in the wild card, who are six behind to the Angels for the division. In the NL, the Phillies are five up on the Braves, the Cardinals are 8.5 up on the Cubs, and the Dodgers are five up on the Rockies.  

The only two races worth watching are the Tigers and Twins, separated by two games, as well as the Rockies and Braves, divided by 2.5.

Reacting to the current criticism the game is facing, MLB aims to prove this year is an anomaly.  

They responded with the following:

   —From 2001 to 2008, only the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cardinals have made it to the World Series more than once. 

   —In this time, of the 30 MLB teams, 23 made the playoffs. In three of the six divisions, every team but one made it to October (AL Central, AL West, and NL East) and in a fourth, the NL West, all five teams moved on to the postseason, including three World Series runs.    

   —From 2005 to 2006, only one team in both leagues made the playoffs back-to-back. (Not surprisingly, the Yankees.)

But parity isn't MLB's main concern.

The sport has seen variety in October, sure. But in a season of 162 games, when the casual fan decides to tune in with the hopes of catching exciting, down-to-the-wire baseball, if the product is suffering down the stretch, further revisions may be necessary.

Since most complain about the length of the season anyway, shorten it back to 154 games. Include two additional wild card teams per league (three total) and structure it according to the NFL standard—top two get a first-round bye, and so on.

If this system were in place this year, we'd see the Mariners, Twins, and Rays all within two games of the final spot with the Rangers holding a four-game lead for the fifth position.

In the NL, the Braves would hold a 2.5-game lead for the fifth slot, with the Marlins, Giants and Cubs jockeying for the sixth, all separated by only 1.5 games.

This suggestion may sound like it would water down the prospect of making the postseason, but so did the initial wild card format when it was implemented in 1994.  And for that matter, the thought of adding two division winners per league probably didn't go over so well when first conceived in 1969.  

In order to survive, leagues need to evolve. 

Eventually, more than one wild card per league will become essential for MLB to do just that.

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