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 22:11:33 GMT

Quote

Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2018 22:11:33 GMT

Oct 1, 2018 21:50:33 GMT Rufus-T said:

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

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.

I guess that's arguable every season depending upon how tight the division race is and how tight the #2 team is in the league to the division leader.

But now there's '2 Wild Cards' and the hunter is the hunted.

Which is good for competition and makes for awesome drama -

You've got to be on your toes as we've seen with play this year to clinch a WC.

But does this make it a better product for fans and is this exactly 'fair' to the #1 WC team?

I get it to an extent - 'Boo Hoo! There's no crying in baseball' - Want to advance - well just win the game - but to a 1 game elimination is just barbaric when you've invested an entire year to your craft.