The Wild Card

I guess I've come around on the Wild Card.
When it first came into play, in 1995, I was against it. I thought you should win your division to go to the playoffs and the Wild Card was backing into the post-season.
For the most part it has been good for baseball as the attendance figures show. If the Rockies weren't in contention for the Wild Card, there would be no interest in Denver at this time, especially with the Broncos season getting underway.
But here is where the Wild Card stinks.
The Yankees and Rays are deadlocked at 81-50 atop the AL East with 31-games to play. Prior to the Wild Card, this would be shaping up to be a race for the ages. Only one team can win the division and the other team goes home. How dramatic would that be?
Instead, we have two teams going for the division crown but with the safety net of the Wild Card.
The last real pennant race in baseball was 1993. That season the Giants and Braves battled for the NL West title with the loser knowing they would go home. The Braves won the division with a 104-58 record. The Giants were done after going 103-59. People said at the time, it wasn't fair that San Fran won 103 games and didn't play in the post-season. I say, win two more games.
It was an intense and dramatic race that wasn't decided until the last game of the season. The Dodgers by the way, beat the Giants on the final day of the regular season, on October 3rd, just 42-years after the Giants bounced the Dodgers from the World Series on Bobby Thomson's home run at the Polo Grounds. Funny how baseball works.
While that 1993 race was most memorable, this year's Yankees-Rays race will fall well short in the drama department since the loser of the two will still, in all likelihood go to the playoffs.