We got the best and worst of the Wild Card round the past two days.
On one hand, the insta-game 7 in KC was everything you could want in a baseball game (plus horrible managing!). On the other, a scrappy Pittsburgh team that could have caused some serious damage in the playoffs was decisively ousted without a whiff of the trademarked scrappiness they’ve shown all season long.
Wednesday we’ loved the Wild Card round. Thursday we hate the Wild Card round.
Personally, I think that MLB got it right.
1) You’re able to keep more teams in the hunt and keep more games meaningful in September.
2) The one-and-done scenario keeps teams incentivized to fight for the division title, rather than accept their fate as a lone Wild Card entrant to the tournament and prepare to take on the best team in their respective league.
3) The two games make for compelling games right at the top of the playoffs, instead of having to wait for at least a week for a win and advance/lose and go home game.
4) The games serve the greater good of baseball by helping people familiarize themselves with the underdogs of the playoffs.
Was that a fair fate for the Pirates? Meh. Probably not. They did deserve better. Then again, they weren’t able to close the gap on the Cardinals, who we all know weren’t playing unbeatable baseball all summer long.
They got a semi-punishment for that – a Wild Card game. They could have gotten off exile island, but they played one of their worst games of the season.
But… that’s everyone else. We care about the Cards.
The field is now set for the playoffs. LA vs STL, SF vs WAS, KC vs LAA and DET vs BAL. We’ve known since last October that this is the month that the Cardinals will be judged on – everything that has happened is pretty inconsequential.
Strap in.
Photo: Rant Sports
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