Purists Go Home: Why Adding Two Wild Card Teams Is a Wonderful Development

Purists, it's time to face the inevitable. In the next season or two, each league will have two wild card teams. It is a good thing.

The major advantage is that the race for the playoffs won't end until the last few days of the season. Interest will remain high and fans' hopes will remain even higher.

Imagine how great it will be when a team that is barely winning one-half of its games, or better yet, is playing below .500 ball, still has a chance to become world champions. It's similar to a young American raised in poverty becoming the President.

Few teams will be out of it near the end of July, which means that many stars will remain with their teams, which will help engender even more team loyalty.  Fans of New York's most beloved team, the New York Mets, won't sit and worry over concern that David Wright or the great Jose Reyes will be gone at or before the trading deadline.

This season has been one in which no team has dominated any division. The offensively challenged Philadelphia Phillies three game lead over the even more offensively challenged Atlanta Braves is the largest of any team. Imagine if today's standings were the standings on the last week of the season.

In the American League, the Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers would be leading the wild card races, but the Toronto Blue Jays trail the Tigers by a mere game, while the surprising Seattle Mariners are only two and one-half games behind.

In the Senior Circuit, the Milwaukee Brewers are the best runner-up team, the Braves and the Arizona Diamondbacks are tied for the second wild card slot, and the Cincinnati Reds trail them by two and one-half games.

The financially strapped New York Mets would still have an outside chance based upon today's standings.

The purists' concept of excellence being compromised is hogwash.

Once the playoffs start, it's a new season and anyone can win. Before divisional play began in 1969, there were many instances in which pennant winners coasted for the last month of the season or even longer.

The 1958 New York Yankees are a prime example. There was a time in June when the Yankees, incredibly, were the only team in the eight team league that was above the .500 mark. It took the Yankees until the fifth game of the World Series that year to finally respond to the situation and win the last three games of the Series against the Milwaukee Braves.

Another Yankees team in 2000 won only 87 games during the regular season, but they beat the Oakland A's (91 wins) the Seattle Mariners (91 wins), and finally the Mets (94 wins) to become World Champions.

Purists may take the position that the 2001 Mariners, a team that won a record 116 games were penalized because they had to win the playoffs. They weren't penalized. They weren't good enough when it counted and they lost to a Yankees team that won only 95 games.  Too bad, but winning in the clutch counts.

Let's go back to the thrilling days of yesteryear before there was divisional play. The team with its leagues best record won the pennant. How many times did the team that won the most games in the majors lose the World Series? The answer is many.

In 1906, when baseball players weren't coddled celebrities, the Chicago Cubs won 116 games. Their cross town rivals, the "Hitless Wonder" Chicago White Sox won 93 games. Guess who won the World Series.

In 1954, the Cleveland Indians won 111 games, which set a new American League record. They didn't win a single game in the World Series against the New York Giants, a team that won 97 games. There are many other instances.

The playoffs start on Oct. 1 this year, which is a Saturday. The wild cards would play a best of thee series that would end no later than Monday, Oct. 3.  Bobby Thomson hit his shot heard 'round the world on Oct. 3 in third game of a three game playoff series.

After the wild card round, the playoffs would proceed as in the past. The claim that the wild card team was forced to use its three top starters and is entering the next playoff round under a handicap often will not be true if that team is built on pitching, as many teams are today.

The claim that the division winners will be hurt by the wait between the end of the season and their first game in the playoffs is specious. The season ends Wednesday, Sept. 28. Waiting five days will help more than it will hurt.

Purists, go home. We are living in the 21st century, where the most important concern of baseball owners and baseball players is, as Joel Grey used to sing, money, money, money.