MLB: The '1 Game Wild Card Playoff' - The Biggest Middle Finger in Western Civilization

MLB: The '1 Game Wild Card Playoff' - The Biggest Middle Finger in Western Civilization Oct 1, 2018 21:50:33 GMT

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Post by Rufus-T on Oct 1, 2018 21:50:33 GMT

Oct 1, 2018 19:45:51 GMT @screamingtreefrogs said:

Oct 1, 2018 19:35:15 GMT klawrencio79 said:

It rendered the last few weeks meaningless. The division winner and the WC leader behind them could switch spots and all it would mean is one less home game for the WC. They'd rest their entire team. Winning the WC essentially put you right alongside the division winners back then. There was no reason to push to win the division if you had the WC.

Now, you definitely want to win the division and not be faced with a one-game do or die scenario. If you want to argue about records and whatnot, or about a great division where the WC winner is actually better than the other 2 division winners, that's fair, but it definitely used to be that once you had the WC spot secured, you coasted and rendered everyone's games worthless for the balance of the season. Can't do that anymore.

But did you just get to 'coast' if you were a Wildcard team back in the day?

What if another team was hot on your heels.

I'm thinking there was no coasting involved and you still needed to be on top of your game or you'd be in danger of losing the WC.............

Or did the '4th Best' team in the League just get to surf into a playoff spot?

In the old format, teams clinched at least a wild card coasted through the rest of the season even if they had great chance of winning the division. With this format, they better win the division to avoid that one WC game.