Wild Card Comparison

A conversation with Matt Bentel of the DoorMatts sparked this observation. Matt was listening to some sports talk show (Sportscentral on WGN, I believe) and the hosts were massively massaging Bud Selig’s hindquarters and telling him what a great idea introducing the Wild Card was. So many teams now had a chance to make the playoffs. Well the numbers don’t prove that true. The one thing the Wild Card does (aside from watering down the value of the regular season) is that it keeps more teams in the playoff chase. But it hasn’t let more teams in the playoffs.

Matt looked at how many teams have made the playoffs in the 12 years the Wild Card has been in existence (1995-2006). Twenty-three of the thirty teams have made it to the playoffs during this time frame, or 76.7% of the league. Now for comparison sake, if you look at the last twelve years PRIOR to the Wild Card (1982-1993 with 1994 being sent to the penalty box because Major League Baseball wanted to kill itself) what you find is that 88.5% of the teams (23/26) made a playoff appearance. Twenty three of twenty-six, vying for four playoff spots vs. twenty-three of thirty vying for eight playoff spots.

For the sake of this comparison, I did not include the Rockies, D-Rays, Diamondbacks or Marlins in the Pre-Wild Card Era since the Diamondbacks and D-Rays didn’t exist until there was a Wild Card and the Rockies and Marlins only played for one year in Pre-Wild Card days.

The answer to solving baseball’s woes is not to dilute the playoffs. It’s revenue sharing (with a salary cap and bottom) so that every team has a legitimate chance at vying for the World Series title.

Here’s a couple of interesting facts:

The Pittsburgh Pirates made it to the playoffs 3 times in the 12 years prior to the Wild Card. They haven’t been to the playoffs since the Wild Card started.

The Kansas City Royals made it to the playoffs twice in the Pre-Wild Card timeframe, zero after.

Milwaukee Brewers made it once before, zero after.

Chicago Cubs are equally inept, twice before, twice after.

The New York Yankees DID NOT make the playoffs in the 12 years prior to the Wild Card! They have not missed the playoffs since the Wild Card was instituted.

If Bud wants to leave a worthwhile legacy, what he needs to do, instead of trying to turn the MLB into the NBA, NHL or NFL, is fix the problem. Fix the broken window, Bud! Stop adding more curtains.