Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Does the Wild Card ultimately help or hurt Major League Baseball?

11 comments:

Justin said...

What is "the wild card?"

John said...

Help, no question. In an ideal world they'd take it back to two divisions and have 2 wild cards.

Scottie said...

Absolutely help, because most of the time, the wild card team is better than one of the division champs. What doesn't help is having home field advantage for the world series decided by the friggin all-star game.

Two suggested improvements (in case you're planning to send this off to Bud Selig's office):
1. Either put the DH in the NL or take it out of the AL.
2. Make all minor league teams independent and implement a relegation system. There's no reason that we should still be watching the Pirates in the bigs when the Toledo Mud Hens would probably have at least reached .500 in the last 17 years.

Cate said...

i really like scottie's suggestions.

i think the wild card helps because it motivates additional fan bases. that is good for any sport.

Mike said...

Wild card helps. Seems like half the time a wild card team makes the world series.

Relegation would be awesome. It will never happen in the US.

Another suggestion for improvement. Time limits for at bats. No stepping in and out of the batters box a billion times. I went to a Phillies Red Sox game last week and I was ready to kill someone by the third inning.

Andrew said...

It helps for a host of reasons:

- Increases interest in the sport building city/team pride come September when the Wild Card Race gets tense.

- Rewards teams that may be the second best in their respective league but not a division champ.

- Traditionally helps get the Red Sox into the playoffs.

Leslie said...

I dig the wild card.

I definitely agree with Scott that for the sport it would make sense to have the DH in both leagues or neither. However, for my enjoyment I really like watching AL pitchers try and hit. It cracks me up.

I do not agree about the All Star game / home field advantage for the WS. I actually like this rule. It makes the game interesting. I actually care about the outcome.

Leslie said...

And yeah, what Andrew said. The wild card tends to help the Red Sox get into the playoffs. Stupid Yankees.

Unknown said...

I think the wild card really helps keep their dugout games of Uno interesting, so I would have to say I'm in favor of it.

wait, is that not what you're asking?

Unknown said...

Totally what Scottie said, esp. regarding the All-Star game, even if it does help the Red Sox extend their season a couple more games.

Awful Announcing said...

It ultimately helps because of the amount of teams in the Majors now. Back in the day having only four teams total make it to the playoffs wasn't a big deal because of the number of teams (and there only being an East and West Division, no Central).