Wild Thoughts on the Wild Card

Ok, they're not that "wild" per se;-) There are definite positives to having a Wild Card spot in the postseason playoff structure, the most salient being the disparate level of competition among the divisions. The AL Central is much weaker than the AL West and the AL East. Consequently, the winner of the Central has a considerably lower winning percentage than the winners of the other two divisions and often even the second-place teams of those divisions. Case in point: The AL East second place Red Sox have a .591 wpct. The AL West second place Texas Rangers have a .552 wpct. The AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers have a .539 wpct. If the Red Sox, Rangers, Yankees, and Angels were in the AL Central, they would all be ahead of the Tigers. The Wild Card mitigates the inequity to some extent by allowing the second place team with the best record among the second place teams in all three divisions a spot in the playoffs--that second place team with a superior record to one of the first-place teams. Incidentally, the Red Sox also have a better record than the AL-West-leading Angels.

Now for the fly in the Wild Card ointment: Teams like, say, the Red Sox, decide they want to back into a post-season spot, taking the Wild Card for granted, instead of playing their best team at least until a playoff spot is clinched. It's as if the Red Sox management didn't learn a lesson from the June 30th game this year where they were 8 runs up on the O's, but ended up losing the game, at one point walking off the field with only two outs in the inning. Right now, by not playing their best team against the Yankees while the Wild Card spot remains unclinched, they are doing the equivalent of walking off the field with two outs in the inning. The baseball gods frown on this type of thing, you know. The humiliating 11-10 O's victory is enough evidence of that. Red Sox, please don't choose to clinch the Wild Card by default (by having the Rangers lose three games). Have some pride and put your best team out there against the Yankees today and don't let them celebrate a division win on your watch. Play some REAL baseball today.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!