With three days remaining in the MLB season, the Atlanta Braves (93-66) are closer in the standings to having the league’s best record than the NL’s second wild card team.
The Braves will be penalized by having to win a one-game playoff to advance to the NLDS, since they did not win their division.
With their record, the Braves would be leading three of the six MLB divisions.
In the offseason, MLB added a second wild-card team solely to penalize the first wild card team. Many World Series champions, such as last year’s Cardinals, happen to be wild card teams.
But MLB’s new wild card playoff is shortsighted.
First, wild card teams are still very likely to win the World Series, because championship teams are won based on who’s hot at the end of the year rather than which team had the best regular season.
Secondly, they play 162 games in the regular season, and now MLB wants to have one game determine your entire season? That’s not baseball. Baseball is played in series.
And another consequence of this one-game playoff is that the wild card victor won’t have their best starter for Game 1 of the Division Series.
MLB’s extra playoff will create drama, but it’s not fair to the wild card teams.
