Before the 2012 season, the likelihood of a Major League Baseball team making the postseason was just 26.7 percent, as three division leaders and one wild card team represented each league.
But starting last season, the MLB finally did the logical thing by adding an extra wild card team to each league’s championship race and having them face off in a one-game playoff.
Well, at least it seemed logical.
On the surface, this did not sound like a bad idea, as one winner-take-all game would generate high ratings and revenue for the MLB and would theoretically bring about a whole new level of excitement for fans. It also made winning the division an even loftier goal than it was previously.
However, many sentiments changed after the game’s debut last year in Atlanta.
The Braves, which finished in the wild card standings four games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals, ended up almost losing the game on a controversial infield fly rule call by umpires Jeff Kellogg and Sam Holbrook.
Not only did the Braves lose on a widely regarded missed call, but they also proved to be the better team during the regular season.
And they had nothing to show for it.
The fact that the one-game playoff could boil down to one controversial call or one mistaken pitch should make fans uneasy, because the fact of the matter is that the higher-seeded team could run away with the first spot but lose everything in one single game where anything can happen.
Not only does the one-game playoff lack any measure of who is the better team, it also puts the teams in a headlock at the end of the regular season.
Because the wild card game is held the day after the regular season ends, teams that may still have a chance at winning the division are forced to plan around the possibility of the one-game playoff.
Therefore, the teams cannot put out their best pitching matchups in the final series of the season because they have to save their best arm for the wild card game.
There are many alternative options to a one-game playoff and one popular suggestion is a three-game miniseries.
ks363012@ohiou.edu
