Wild cards give September meaning
There can no longer be debate that Bud Selig’s wild-card system, and now the two wild-card format, has been good for the competitive nature of Major League Baseball through the full 162 games.
Even with the expanded playoff format, MLB still has only 10 of its 30 clubs that qualify for the postseason and earn a spot on the October dance floor, while the NBA and NHL reward 16 of 30. The NFL is in between, with 12 of 32 that survive the regular season given a chance to win the Super Bowl.
Even as recently as 2011, the year before the second wild card and the one-game playoff were introduced, the final month was mostly meaningless to the majority of teams. Even for those that were guaranteed playoff spots, it became more about trying to manipulate the seedings than to be able to choose your opponent.
When it was just one wild card, the rule was that if the team with the best-overall record was in the same division as the best second-place team, they would never be allowed to play in the first round. It made no sense.
That meant that there were years in which the wild-card team could avoid the best record if it was in the same division and have an easier first-round matchup than an actual winner.
In fact, before the first round became a dramatic sudden-death game between the two wild cards in each league, the wild-card qualifier in a full series posted a division series record of 17-15, going on to win five World Series and lose four.
Even heading towards this final 2017 weekend, with the names of playoff teams already determined, save for the second NL wild card, the Astros can still catch the Indians for home field throughout the AL playoffs and the Indians can catch the Dodgers for the best overall record. In addition, the Yankees had an outside chance of tying the Red Sox for the AL East title to force a playoff.
The more that is on the line, the more compelling the baseball.
That being said, it used to be a given in scouting that the three worst places from which to make a judgment on major-league talent were spring training, the winter leagues and the month of September with expanded 40-man rosters.
Winter ball? Hardly any American players go to the Caribbean for a full season anymore. And spring training is still the ultimate fool’s gold because many young players are entered into games only in the final four of five innings of Grapefruit and Cactus League play. By that time, they are facing the other team’s prospects, many times the same guys they had matched up with during the previous minorleague summer. Good spring statistics are rendered meaningless.
The reason September was always included as a bad time to evaluate talent was because, before the wildcard systems, the veteran majorleaguers on most teams were eliminated and no longer engaged. Plus with the 40-man expanded rosters, it allowed managers and organizations to play youngsters and see what they had. But that is no longer the case.
Take, for example, Blue Jays outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, who was recalled to the majors on Sept. 2 and has played 23 games. In the justcompleted series, he faced Drew Pomeranz, Chris Sale and Rick Porcello. The Red Sox had something to play for even though they were guaranteed a playoff spot. It’s been a similar quality of starters throughout the month, yet Hernandez has responded with a franchise record eight September home runs by a rookie and a .980 OPS.
“Every team we’ve played, other than Detroit when they came up to our place, really almost all month, have been contenders,” manager John Gibbons said. “Teoscar has hit some home runs, but he’s hitting them off regulars. It’s all relative. I think you have to figure all that information in when it comes to evaluating.
“You get the reports from (coaches) that have them in the minor leagues, but still you want to see them in this atmosphere. And everybody wants to form their own opinions. Now you’re up here and it’s not just the game of baseball. There’s all the distractions and more pressure.”
Even Jays hitting coach Brook Jacoby has been impressed with not only the approach by the rookie Hernandez, but by the environment in which he’s doing it.
“The American League East has tough pitching and great bullpens, so as much experience that we can get him in those situations it’s going to be a better read on him,” Jacoby said prior to the series finale at Fenway.
It seemed somewhat symbolic on Wednesday when the game opened in the first inning with a two-run homer by Jose Bautista in the first and closed with a two-run blast by Hernandez in the ninth.
The Jays’ past was possibly handing off the baton to its future. Bautista, as he usually does, downplayed any significance to the symmetry, despite the fact that Teoscar idolizes his elder Dominican star and credits him with much of his success and his ability to deal with new issues away from the diamond.
“That’s the type of teammate I am with everybody,” Bautista shrugged. “I don’t go out of my way but, when people are around, we always try to communicate and feed off each other. That’s the environment here with everyone, young or old. Everyone starts doing it once they step into the room. It’s not something that I’m the only one that does that. Everybody helps each other out here.”