Major League Baseball wild-card game

The Major League Baseball Wild Card game is a play-in game which was added to the Major League Baseball postseason in 2012.^[1] The addition keeps the playoff format similar to the three-tiered postseason format used from 1995 through 2011, but adds a second wild-card team. Two wild-card teams in each league play each other in a single-game playoff on the day after the regular season ends. The winner of the game advances to the Division Series. The home team for the wild-card game is the team with the better regular-season record.

If both teams have the same number of wins and losses, tie-breaking procedures are used, with no additional games being played. On the other hand, teams tied for the division title will now always play a one game playoff for the division title, even if both teams are already qualified for the postseason. This is in contrast to the earlier wild card format used, for example in the 2005 season when the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox tied for first place in their division but did not play an additional game as both teams were qualified for the postseason in any event.

In the division series, the winner of the wild-card game will always face whichever division champion has the best record. All division winners receive a bye as they await the result of the game. Previously, a wild-card team could not face the champion of its own division. This change makes it possible for the two teams with the best record in the league to face each other before the League Championship Series for the first time since 1997 (from 1995 to 1997 the matchups for the division series were determined by annual rotation between the west, central and east divisions).

Purpose

The addition of a second wild-card team to each league was completed for multiple reasons:

• Added importance to division races. Before 1995, only division-winning teams advanced to the playoffs, creating excitement when teams within a division competed for the best record in that division. From 1995 to 2011, the division race took a back seat to the wild-card race.^{[citation needed]} The addition of a single-game elimination game results in a 50% chance that each team will be eliminated, adding incentive to win the division instead of settling for the wild-card berth.

• Competition for home field advantage (such as between division winners) gains importance. Before the wild-card game, there was virtually no advantage to having the best record in your league. Now, that team gains the advantage of facing the survivor of the wild-card game — a team that has probably just used up their best pitcher in order to advance.

• Wild-card teams are penalized. In the four-team format from 1995 to 2011, the wild-card team had just as good a chance to reach the World Series as a division winner. Now the winner of the wild-card game is at a disadvantage because it has to play an extra game.

• Increases postseason excitement and revenue, but adds only one day to the postseason (assuming there are no regular season ties requiring additional tie-breakers). Recent examples of this kind of excitement were seen in tie-breaking games in 2007, 2008, and 2009, as well as the final day of the 2011 regular season.

• The wild-card game adds sudden-death tension at the beginning of the postseason. This elimination game is similar to a Game 7, but on the first day of the postseason.

• Because the second wild card will likely have fewer wins, more teams will be in the race for the spot, leading to a more exciting finish to the regular season.

Implementation

With the adoption of MLB's new collective bargaining agreement in November 2011, baseball commissioner Bud Selig announced that a new playoff system will begin within the next two years; the change was ultimately put into place in 2012.^[2]

Results

American League

National League

• Winning team in bold.

References