Second wildcard looks like a go for this season

[dagger]

Rosenthal
Ken Rosenthal
Sources: Additional wild cards a "go" for this season. Playoffs to expand from eight to 10 teams. Announcement tomorrow. #MLB

Rosenthal
Told agreement on expanded playoffs isn't final, but will happen. Same thing on announcement. Not certain for tomorrow, but possible. #MLB

Bruce Arthur also makes the point that had a second wildcard existed all along, the Jays would have qualified for the playoffs exactly once since their world series wins. That would have been in 1998.

[WorldBossFTW]

Kinda didnt want it because of the last day of the season last year. I guess the same can happen this year, only for the second wild card though. Also, I dont think this makes the bluejays a playoff team. I think it only makes them closer.

[Jimmy King]

woo!

[WorldBossFTW]

I hope it inspires the players.

[Dr Positivity]

It'll be hard to beat one of NYY/TB/TEX/LAA. Nevertheless a good sign for the future

[J-Roc]

The Jays will have blown an opportunity if the extra spot opens up this season. It's early on that this extra playoff spot will matter, when no one plans for it. But in another year or two there will just be more competition for that extra spot, more dollars spent by richer teams. The Jays will get left behind again.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

It'll be hard to beat one of NYY/TB/TEX/LAA. Nevertheless a good sign for the future

And Boston. Cleveland could be competitive, too, though I suspect the Jays will still finish ahead of them. But hey, good news!

[Lucky26]

Rosenthal
Ken Rosenthal
Sources: Additional wild cards a "go" for this season. Playoffs to expand from eight to 10 teams. Announcement tomorrow. #MLB

Rosenthal
Told agreement on expanded playoffs isn't final, but will happen. Same thing on announcement. Not certain for tomorrow, but possible. #MLB

Bruce Arthur also makes the point that had a second wildcard existed all along, the Jays would have qualified for the playoffs exactly once since their world series wins. That would have been in 1998.

Not if we didn't face our division opponents as many times as we did.

[Raps in 4]

The Jays will have blown an opportunity if the extra spot opens up this season. It's early on that this extra playoff spot will matter, when no one plans for it. But in another year or two there will just be more competition for that extra spot, more dollars spent by richer teams. The Jays will get left behind again.

This post doesn't make any sense.

[reck0n3r]

If anything the wildcard being introduced has been nothing but bad frickin luck for the Jays...

The current Wild Card format and three divisions in each league were adopted in 1994. From 1969-93, there were two divisions in each league and a League Championship Series between the first-place teams as a prelude to the World Series. Prior to 1969, only the pennant winners in each league met in the World Series.

Im totally against this one game playoff wildcard business. Thats damaging to the playoff system and REALLY hinders the wildcard team who has the better record, or whichever team ends up winning the game. Because this one game playoff forces you to use your pitching staff ace, while the team who faces the winner gets to rest theirs.

Its garbage. Very stupid idea. You play a season of 162 games, end up with a better record....but then are forced to be in a one game playoff? What the **** are they thinking?

And it took a special committee of 14 people TWO YEARS to come up with this trash.

The seniors have been forgetting to take their ginkgo supplements.

[Randle McMurphy]

The Jays will have blown an opportunity if the extra spot opens up this season. It's early on that this extra playoff spot will matter, when no one plans for it. But in another year or two there will just be more competition for that extra spot, more dollars spent by richer teams. The Jays will get left behind again.

This post doesn't make any sense.

It's a J-Roc post, so that isn't surprising.

[Randle McMurphy]

Im totally against this one game playoff wildcard business. Thats damaging to the playoff system and REALLY hinders the wildcard team who has the better record, or whichever team ends up winning the game. Because this one game playoff forces you to use your pitching staff ace, while the team who faces the winner gets to rest theirs.

Its garbage. Very stupid idea. You play a season of 162 games, end up with a better record....but then are forced to be in a one game playoff? What the **** are they thinking?

The MLB playoffs are already a complete crapshoot that diminish regular season success (see mediocre Cardinals and Giants teams winning in back to back years), so I have no real problem with adding a bit more randomness on top of that (especially if it could help the Jays). It's not like they're ever going to scrap the entire playoff system, anyway.

[HangTime]

The only problems is that a team may have to play 2 extra games to make it. Game 163 + Wildcard game.
Also, not being able to face a divisional opponent in the DIVISION SERIES, seems ridiculous. Last year should have been the Yankees vs Rays in the first round.

A Division winner should not be given a free pass to the Division Series. Each playoff team should be placed 1-5 (regardless of Division winners). Teams 4/5 should have to play the Wild Card game. Since the Wild Card game is considered the "Playoffs" it shouldn't matter if a Division winner is bumped after 1 game.
-----------------
2009 standings should have been (with 2 wild cards)
American League
1 E) Yankees
2 W) Angels
3 WC1) Red Sox
4 WC2) Rangers
5 C) Twins

The Twins had to play game 163 to win the division. They also have the worst W% of the 5 teams, so they should have to play the WC game (even though they aren't a WC team) to make it to the ALDS.

National League
1 W) Dodgers
2 E) Phillies
3 WC1) Rockies
4 C) Cardinals
5 WC2) Giants

Similar to the Twins, the Cardinals won their Division, but fell outside the Top 3, so they should be forced to play the Wild Card game, instead of the Rockies, who have a better W%.

[reck0n3r]

Im totally against this one game playoff wildcard business. Thats damaging to the playoff system and REALLY hinders the wildcard team who has the better record, or whichever team ends up winning the game. Because this one game playoff forces you to use your pitching staff ace, while the team who faces the winner gets to rest theirs.

Its garbage. Very stupid idea. You play a season of 162 games, end up with a better record....but then are forced to be in a one game playoff? What the **** are they thinking?

The MLB playoffs are already a complete crapshoot that diminish regular season success (see mediocre Cardinals and Giants teams winning in back to back years), so I have no real problem with adding a bit more randomness on top of that (especially if it could help the Jays). It's not like they're ever going to scrap the entire playoff system, anyway.

But there's always a chance that a lower seeded team will take it all, that's sort of the point. But as you said, it just adds more randomness and I think it really does a disservice to the winning wildcard team.

Even a 3 game series would have been better than 1 game, effectively needing to use your Ace for this game, but then him not being available for game 1 of the following series so you're in an immediate disadvantage to win the series. It's utterly ridiculous.

[Randle McMurphy]

But there's always a chance that a lower seeded team will take it all, that's sort of the point. But as you said, it just adds more randomness and I think it really does a disservice to the winning wildcard team.

There's already an enormous chance that an inferior team will win it all, anyway. It's already very random. Adding this really doesn't change much in that regard.

Even a 3 game series would have been better than 1 game, effectively needing to use your Ace for this game, but then him not being available for game 1 of the following series so you're in an immediate disadvantage to win the series. It's utterly ridiculous.

That element puts more emphasis on winning the division to gain the advantage, which makes it a positive benefit in my mind.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Even a 3 game series would have been better than 1 game, effectively needing to use your Ace for this game, but then him not being available for game 1 of the following series so you're in an immediate disadvantage to win the series. It's utterly ridiculous.

That element puts more emphasis on winning the division to gain the advantage, which makes it a positive benefit in my mind.

Exactly. For all the talk about how the extra wild-card will help teams like the Jays, the real reason that Selig wants it is to make winning the division actually mean something.

[s e n s i]

Im totally against this one game playoff wildcard business. Thats damaging to the playoff system and REALLY hinders the wildcard team who has the better record, or whichever team ends up winning the game. Because this one game playoff forces you to use your pitching staff ace, while the team who faces the winner gets to rest theirs.

Its garbage. Very stupid idea. You play a season of 162 games, end up with a better record....but then are forced to be in a one game playoff? What the **** are they thinking?

And it took a special committee of 14 people TWO YEARS to come up with this trash.

The seniors have been forgetting to take their ginkgo supplements.

if i'm not mistaken, the exact format of the play-in between the two WC teams has not been finalized, and heard yesterday that they're still unsure whether it will be a one-game do-or-die or best-of-3 series (heard it on TV somewhere).

but even if it is one game...how does it "force" a team to use their staff ace? what if the ace had already pitched 3 or less days prior, presumably in one of the last regular season games with pretty much the same playoff implications?

and like randle said...it's already a crapshoot to begin with so a playoff expansion such as this only bodes well for the jays, so not quite sure what you're complaining about. and we shouldn't and definitely are not trying to merely sneak into the dance...this change puts more emphasis on winning the division outright. not winning the division but being good enough to land a WC spot and still having a shot to win it all is a pretty solid consolation prize.

[J-Roc]

The Jays will have blown an opportunity if the extra spot opens up this season. It's early on that this extra playoff spot will matter, when no one plans for it. But in another year or two there will just be more competition for that extra spot, more dollars spent by richer teams. The Jays will get left behind again.

This post doesn't make any sense.

There will be a richer team out there competing for the 5th spot. Although the bar to get into the playoffs will have lowered, there are more than enough teams out there who can spend more than the Jays to get that last spot. Teams that in previous years may have given up on a season earlier because they were too far from a spot.

It's not a bad thing for the Jays for another spot to open, but it's not enough of a changes to baseball's flawed system to make a substantial difference.

[flatjacket1]

The Jays will have blown an opportunity if the extra spot opens up this season. It's early on that this extra playoff spot will matter, when no one plans for it. But in another year or two there will just be more competition for that extra spot, more dollars spent by richer teams. The Jays will get left behind again.

This post doesn't make any sense.

There will be a richer team out there competing for the 5th spot. Although the bar to get into the playoffs will have lowered, there are more than enough teams out there who can spend more than the Jays to get that last spot. Teams that in previous years may have given up on a season earlier because they were too far from a spot.

It's not a bad thing for the Jays for another spot to open, but it's not enough of a changes to baseball's flawed system to make a substantial difference.

There is a luxury tax so bad right now that teams can barely afford to go over. It acts almost like a cap, even the Yankees stated that they wanted to get below it. It makes things business as usual, the Yankees and Red Sox's get weaker and the Baltimore's and the Ray's get stronger.

[SharoneWright]

The Jays will have blown an opportunity if the extra spot opens up this season. It's early on that this extra playoff spot will matter, when no one plans for it. But in another year or two there will just be more competition for that extra spot, more dollars spent by richer teams. The Jays will get left behind again.

This post doesn't make any sense.

There will be a richer team out there competing for the 5th spot. Although the bar to get into the playoffs will have lowered, there are more than enough teams out there who can spend more than the Jays to get that last spot. Teams that in previous years may have given up on a season earlier because they were too far from a spot.

It's not a bad thing for the Jays for another spot to open, but it's not enough of a changes to baseball's flawed system to make a substantial difference.

Eventually the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th spot catches up with this argument.

Unless there's something expressly distinct about 5??