MLB Playoff Expansion: Adding Wild Card Teams Will Ruin Baseball

It was almost two months ago now, but does anyone remember the last day of the regular season? Four games were left to decide two playoff spots.

In the American League, the Red Sox were in Baltimore and the Rays were hosting the Yankees. The two teams were tied. The same scenario existed in the National League. The Cardinals were tied with the Braves. The Cardinals were in Houston, while the Braves were hosting the Phillies in Atlanta. 

It was fun for me to flip around, watching those games. The Red Sox and Rays' games ended at virtually the same time. 

Well, all of that drama is about to be ruined. 

Jerry Crasnick is reporting that MLB will add a Wild Card team in each league to add a playoff spot in 2013, if not before.

Thursday, Nov. 17 at 12:22 p.m. EST

Thursday, Nov. 17 at 12:23 p.m. EST

Thursday, Nov. 17 at 12:25 p.m. EST

I have one very simple question to all of this.

Why?

Don't you play a 162-game season? Do you really want to have one playoff spot riding on one game?

Now, that's what happened this year, but that scenario is different. It didn't need to be that way. If the Red Sox or Rays in the American League, or the Cardinals or Braves in the National League, had won one more game in the first 161 games, Game 162 wouldn't have mattered.

But that's no longer going to be the case. In this scenario, the two best non-division winners will play in a one-game playoff for that Wild Card spot.

This is a terrible idea. In 2001, the Seattle Mariners won 116 games. The Oakland Athletics won 102. They were the second best team in baseball, but still had to play a Wild Card winner schedule in the playoffs, meaning they didn't have home-field advantage. 

If this scenario had been in place in 2001, the Athletics would have been in a one-game playoff against the Minnesota Twins, who won all of 85 games. 

Baseball is far and away the most unpredictable sport as it relates to any one game. So, how is it fair that team that won 17 more games than another would have had to go win one to prove their playoff worth over them?

In a scenario where two teams are actually tied, I get it. That's how baseball has operated for a long time. But if it's even a one-game difference, then it seems like the better of the two teams is being punished. You play 162 games for the right to go to the playoffs. If you can't win the division, you have the option to win the Wild Card. 

But if you are the best non-division winner, even if only by a game, you deserve the spoils of getting to the playoffs. 

Yes, this may add some drama to one game, but it makes a 162-game season far less relevant. Drama is great, but it's great when it's created naturally. This is being forced down our throats.