An interesting idea: it is absolutely necessary to consider the quality of the teams

Translated by Marco Gámez

We will never have the old MLB era again. What’s more, for some of us, old era isn’t even really old: depending on who you ask, the statement could refer to the pre-Wild Card era or the one that started in 1994 and lasted until the introduction of what we’ll call the Wild Card-style game. Thunder in baseball Since 1994, three first-round formats have existed in the MLB postseason, and maybe someone is reading this who remembers when the League Championship Series didn’t exist for the American and National Leagues; Simply put, the best teams from both leagues faced off against each other in the World Series. After all, the Championship Series didn’t appear until 1969.

This introductory paragraph has one purpose: to prepare the ground for arguing for the need for further changes. Hey, at least in this case you can argue that it’s a necessity, and not simply a reason to increase revenue through television contracts.

MLB has steadily expanded the roster starting in 2022, the first year of the now-expiring collective bargaining agreement, and the system is chaotic enough in many ways. Basically, there is room for improvement to make this format work for three Wild Cards per League; You simply need to make drastic changes and break the mold. In my opinion, the most serious question is this: two of the three best teams in the American League will not only play in the Wild Card Series, but will also face each other, which will make the next one of them eliminated.

The Yankees are second in the American League with 93 wins, making them the league’s best Wild Card team and giving them home field advantage in the Wild Card Series. For his part, the Red Sox are third in victories in the American League with 87 wins and the Yankees in the series. The Yankees are better than their record reflects, having spent a lot of time without their star; Aaron the judgewho, it should be noted, could have been absent in the calf strain; the severity of which is still unknown. Also, the Red Sox are undoubtedly better than their record indicates, considering the unusual injuries they’ve suffered: on June 22nd there were 14 games under 500, and after the loss on July 1st, their record was 37-48. Since then, Boston has had an impressive run, climbing from last place in the East to third place in the American League, also ranking as the third winningest team in the American League.

The redlegs do not receive, nor do they receive the treatment of preponing, which at last they obtained to the right of the ship when it came to berth; and while the Yankees and Red Sox lead the American League in run differential, that doesn’t equate to real wins. All this is said only to show that it is highly possible that the two best teams in the American League will meet each other in the first round of the postseason; This means that the champion division, when it is worse, will be rewarded lower, being careful against them.

The Rays are in first place in the American East Division and also have the best record in the league; If anyone is better than New York and Boston, it’s Tampa Bay, and its team is comfortably rewarded by avoiding the Wild Card Series. The same will happen with the winner of the American League Central Division, as both the Guardian Sox and the White Sox have been assured of a certain season, regardless of who won the division title and who obtained the third Wild Card, since the best teams in the West Division finished with cards of 81-81 and 80-82, respectively. The winning team will meet the Astros, who became the first division leader in history with a winning percentage below .500, in the Wild Card round; Afterward, the Guardians and the Rays will await the winners of said series.

This doesn’t happen every year, but it’s always been a concern since the expansion of the season and the three Wild Card formats; Not something new, but an extreme example of how absurd it can be. The 2025 Red Sox earned the Wild Card and had a better record than that year’s Central Division champions, Cleveland. The 2024 Orioles had a better record than the Western Division champions and were one game behind the Central Division winners, third in the league, but fourth in goals scored. In 2023, the third wild card in the American League was the Blue Jays; With 89 wins, the Twins, who were the champions of the Central Division, have two wins, but were forced to play two games on the road in the Wild Card Series against Minnesota and lost due to the inherent advantage of the division winner.

Finally, there is always a problem, and the solution to the problem is simply to withdraw the winners of the division. They have the advantage of a wide house goal and automatically get a better position in the stations than the team with a better risk of profit and losses; This happens if, for example, the winner of the division has a negative run differential and a winning percentage below .500, a situation that usually happens in the American West this season. The division of champions continues; if the fourth-place team in the AL East has a better record than the best team in the West, it will be saved, which happened again this year, as the Orioles were a game and a half behind the Astros. But giving the Astros some kind of bonus simply isn’t the right time to pay.

After a period of time, marriages are simply established according to the balance of assets and losses, and the situation is resolved. The top two teams in each league would still advance directly to the Division Series, but the champions did not necessarily have to make the division; If the second best record in the league belongs to the team designated by the Wild Card, you will enjoy the rest. If that team had the division champion advance in the Division Series through the Wild Card round, the team with the highest seed position would still have home field advantage in that series. Don’t you like it? You will play more games in the regular season. This is where the discussion begins and ends.

In fact, he claims that all of this is happening with great interest in 2026, as Major League Baseball and the Players Union work on a new collective bargaining agreement; This problem needs to be both present and recent so that both parties understand that it needs to be addressed. Time is not reduced; In fact, it can be increased again if the league grows again, since this does not give the appearance that almost half of the teams will play decisively in October. Therefore, the best thing that can be done now is to give us the form so that the allocation of positions is properly managed.