I really want Atlanta and Tampa Bay to win the Wild Card races.
But under my new proposed rule, they shouldn’t.
Here is the new rule. If you finish more than five games out of first, you do not win the wild card. How does Boston deserve the Wild Card when they are 9 games out of first ? Tampa Bay is 10 games out of first . Atlanta? Please they are 10.5 games out of first .
Yet, by some strange twist of fate, all these teams, even though they couldn’t touch first place with a ten foot bat, can make the playoffs and then beat the winner of the division. Please. Do the Red Sox , who, may finish as many as 10 games out of first even deserve to play the Yankees in the play offs?
Let’s have some respect for the winners of the divisions who , over the course of 162 games, clinched first place, at least ten games ahead of their nearest competitors. Think about that. You WIN the division by TEN games and then, in the playoffs, you have to play the team you pounded all seaon.
This new rule should begin next year. If you finish more than five games out of first place, pack your cleats, go home and watch the playoffs on TV. If you finish that far out of first place, you do not deserve to make the playoffs.
Some further clarification: If no team is within five games, no wild card. The first place team with the best record gets a bye, the other two teams play each other.
Or to drive the gamblers crazy, if no team is within five games, you put all the team names in a hat, draw a name and that team makes the wildcard. That would be not fair, but sure would be interesting,