This is the first year that the Major League Baseball playoff race expanded to four wild card teams reaching the postseason—two from each league set to play a single game against each other. The announcement in 2011 by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig was met with a wide range of emotions from fans—some angry that their beloved sport was being robbed of its traditional roots and others elated that their team had a better shot at competing in the playoffs.
Wild card blues
This is the first year that the Major League Baseball playoff race expanded to four wild card teams reaching the postseason—two from each league set to play a single game against each other. The announcement in 2011 by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig was met with a wide range of emotions from fans—some angry that their beloved sport was being robbed of its traditional roots and others elated that their team had a better shot at competing in the playoffs.
Personally, I felt neither ecstatic nor bitter but apprehensive—I believed that if one game is the deciding factor for a team to reach the Division Series, the result would force the game’s bad calls and errors to instantly become historic among the fans of the losing side, and overshadow the tremendous season they had to get to the wild card. Unfortunately, my intuition was right.
Oct. 5, 2012, is a day that Rangers and Braves fans would like to forget. For one, they lost their respective wild card games and took a backseat in the postseason showdown this year. Each felt the pang of defeat in completely different ways, however. The Rangers and the entire state of Texas (save for Houston—well, most parts of Houston, after a presumed Astros fanbase exodus) succumbed to the chilling effects of disappointment after being number one in the American League West division for the majority of the regular season and then being booted to the wild card by the A’s, only to lose to the Orioles despite a home-field advantage.
Throughout the season, the Rangers were favored to ride off into that sweet World Series sunset with power hitter Josh Hamilton and pitching ace Yu Darvish blazing a trail of talent and intimidation. It was a surprise, then, that the Rangers—a team of considerable skill and experience—would fall to teams with rookies (the A’s) and a history of collectively hitting with a low on-base percentage (the Orioles).
Such a loss is not only disappointing, it’s disillusioning; Rangers fans will most likely disregard Hamilton’s four-home-run game in favor of lamenting his errors and strikeouts during the crucial games with the A’s and the Orioles, and they have the wild card game to thank for that.
Then, we have the Braves-Cardinals wild card game, or as it will most likely be remembered by Braves fans, “The Reason the Living Room Table Was Flipped.” During the eighth inning, with the Braves down by four, left field umpire Sam Holbrook called Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons out under the infield fly rule, even though the ball landed a considerable distance away from the dirt. Without the call, the Braves would have had the opportunity to score a run or two and close in on the Cardinals’ lead.
Instead, the players ran into the dugout for cover as Braves fans rained beer cans onto the field in a fit of communal anguish. Truthfully, the Braves did play an extremely poor defensive game, but undoubtedly the fans will retrospectively bemoan the terrible call. Additionally, and more significantly, the call will take precedence over the last game of 19-year Braves veteran Chipper Jones’ career. No matter how you look at it, his legacy will end in a sea of debris, all thanks to the wild card blues.
