Peyton Hillis Tries to Set The Record Straight, Professes Love For Cleveland
March 3, 2012
March Madness in Ohio, tickets available through WFNY
March 3, 2012Major League Baseball finally announced that they will be expanding their playoff format to include a second Wild Card team this season. A total of ten teams will now make the postseason, with two wild cards facing off in a one-game playoff. The three division winners are technically rewarded by not having to participate in this initial one-game round. It could mean that a third place team in a division can make the postseason.
It’s encouraging news for Tribe fans, with the Tigers dropping a bomb on the Central Division and the Dolans this offseason and continuing to increase payroll with the Prince Fielder acquisition. The Indians were already up against it competing in the AL, which is loaded with major market spending teams in New York, Boston, Anaheim, and Chicago.
Even with the heavy-spending Tigers and White Sox in the Central, the additional spot and one-game playoff reward ain’t enough for the tweeting rage of Chris Perez.
As baseball fans, will you be satisfied if your team is one of the Wild Cards, and makes the “playoffs” for only that one game? Is that a successful season? Not in these eyes.
5 Comments
Still doesn’t help much. The AL East has NY, Boston, and TB and the West has Anaheim, Texas, and Oakland.
He brings up a good point. Its not really adding an extra playoff team it just letting one team play one more game and weakening the the wildcard team that goes on by making them use their ace in the one game playoff.
I don’t mind this though. At first I thought it was all about making sure BOS/NYY make it in every year, but the more I think about it I think it’s better for the small teams. It’s not really the postseaon it just makes it harder for the wild card team of the past. Say the Yanks win the East with Boston as the traditional Wildcard. Maybe we sneak in as the new Wildcard and have the chance to knock off Bos. in one game and make the real playoffs. I just wish there was a rule the two couldn’t be from the same division…
And I’d rather not have my ace starting the first game of a five game series (he could still start game 4/5) than not making the playoffs at all.
It keeps more teams in the running for longer in the regular season……I’m sure it won’t take long for that last team in to win it all and then everyone will be singing the system’s praises. It isn’t all bad for a team like the Indians with (hopefully) two legit #1’s. We throw JMast in the 1 game playoff and then Ubaldo to start off the 5 game series.