QUITE A WILD RIDE CHANGE IN PLAYOFF FORMAT HAS HELPED INVIGORATE PENNANT RACES.Byline: Story by Vincent Bonsignore Staff Writer Baseball commissioner Bud Selig Allan Huber "Bud" Selig, Jr. (born July 30, 1934 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is the Commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was previously the team owner and administrator of the Milwaukee Brewers. can laugh now about the resistance he faced 10 years ago when he proposed realigning the American and National leagues by creating three divisions in each league and adding two wild-card teams to the postseason. At the time, baseball was reeling from the effects of the 1994 player lockout lockout, intentional closing up of a company, factory, or shop by an employer to prevent employees from working during a strike or labor dispute. The term lockout , and Selig hoped to generate more fan interest by doubling postseason participation from four teams to eight. A decade after Selig persuaded the owners to adopt his radical idea, it's clear he was right on the money. The last three World Series winners, the Angels, Florida Marlins The Florida Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami Gardens, Florida. The Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From to the present, the Marlins have played in Dolphin Stadium. and Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Red Sox are a member and currently champions of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball’s American League. From to the present, the Red Sox have played in Fenway Park. , all built momentum by working their way though the wild-card maze. Without the wild card, the Red Sox still would be looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. their first World Series title. Their critics still would be shouting ``1918'' and ``Curse of the Bambino The Curse of the Bambino was a superstition cited, often jokingly, as a reason for the failure of the Boston Red Sox baseball team to win the World Series in the 86 year period from 1918 until 2004. .'' ``Just look around at what's happening in so many cities across baseball,'' Selig said recently. ``I think it's fair to say it's worked out better than anyone ever imagined.'' In the National League this year, seven non-division-leading teams will rumble into September with a legitimate chance of reaching the postseason. Five are within at least two games of the wild-card lead. In the American League American League (AL) One of the two associations of professional baseball teams in the U.S. and Canada designated as major leagues; the other is the National League (NL). , the Athletics, Indians, Yankees and Twins and are waging a four-team battle for one playoff spot. Two of these teams - the A's and Yankees - can still win their division titles, too. In all, 17 teams still have a shot at the postseason, and in each team's city, fans are clamoring to go to the ballpark to watch the races unfold. ``Think about the matchups between clubs this time of year,'' Dodgers manager Jim Tracy
Looking back, it's almost laughable that traditionalists screamed so loudly against the idea. The way some columnists and managers and fans reacted, you would have thought Selig was adding a fourth out to each inning or inserting a fifth outfielder to roam the grass. ``I sit here and think about the criticism I got 10 years ago and yet here we are watching these two great wild-card races unfold and it's fascinating,'' Selig said. ``It changes every day.'' There used to be two leagues and four division champions. Now there are two leagues, six division winners - the East, Central, and West - and a wild-card representative from each league. That means in any given season, a handful of teams that had nothing to play for in Septembers past now play with a purpose over the final month of the season. Under the previous format, it was easy to pick the buyers from the sellers at the July 31 trade deadline. Now, the lines are far more blurred. With so many more teams in the playoff chase, player movement has slowed to a trickle. ``I think you saw the effects of the wild card more significantly this year than ever,'' said Philadelphia general manager Ed Wade Ed Wade (b. January 31, 1956) is the current General Manager of the Houston Astros. Early career in baseball Wade began his baseball career in 1977 as an intern in the Phillies public relations department. , whose team is currently leading the NL wild-card race. ``Teams were still deciding if they were buyers or sellers and they felt they had an opportunity to be in the postseason. Our feeling at the deadline was that there were 23 or 24 teams that legitimately had a chance, so it had a dramatic effect in that respect.'' Teams are better matched geographically with the addition of Central divisions, and the wild card - essentially a race among second-place teams - means smaller-market teams don't always have to go toe-to-toe with the Yankees, Dodgers or Braves to reach the playoffs, even when they're in the same divisions. ``For some of the small-market teams there's no longer the feeling that you have to go chasing the highest payroll,'' said Mets assistant general manager Jim Duquette James "Jim" Duquette is the former vice president of baseball operations for the Baltimore Orioles, where he worked under Mike Flanagan, the team's general manager. He was a general manager of the New York Mets before the team replaced him with Omar Minaya. . ``It gives those teams more hope, more of an opportunity.'' One reason the wild-card winner has done so well in the World Series is the playoff intensity created by tough races and meaningful games in the final month of the season. Wild card teams have won 22 of 38 playoff series since 1995 and overcome five 2-0 deficits to win playoff series. The Red Sox were down 3-0 against the Yankees last October and won the ALCS ALCS American League Championship Series (baseball) ALCS Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (UK) ALCS Airborne Launch Control System in seven games. Meanwhile, some division-winning teams have broken out to such big leads early they coasted over the final stretch of the season and lost their edge. ``I think sometimes it can be an advantage (to be the wild card) because typically you're going into the playoffs with so much momentum,'' Mets catcher Mike Piazza Michael Joseph Piazza (born September 4, 1968 in Norristown, Pennsylvania) is an American Major League Baseball player who currently plays for the Oakland Athletics. He began his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and played for the Florida Marlins, New York Mets, San Diego Padres said. ``I know we had a lot of momentum when we went to the World Series (as the wild card) in 2000. We went through a little bit of a struggle in the middle of September but we caught fire just at the right time and rode that wave all the way to the World Series.'' Last year the Red Sox finished with the third-best record in baseball, trailing only the Cardinals and Yankees. They lost out to the Yankees for the AL East title but wrapped up the wild card early enough to rest players and get their pitching staff in order. ``We knew we couldn't catch the Yankees but we also knew nobody could catch us,'' Red Sox manager Terry Francona Some baseball purists argued the wild card would ruin traditional pennant races and water down the playoffs with the addition of four more teams to the postseason. ``I guess I'm more of a traditionalist, more old school,'' Mets first-year manager Willie Randolph said. ``I wasn't crazy about it at all. ... ``I think you should be rewarded for being the best in your division. You shouldn't be rewarded for being second-best.'' Surprisingly, Randolph's Mets are in the middle of the NL wild-card race and have little chance of catching the Braves and winning the NL East. But Randolph, a former second baseman for the Yankees, is a veteran of many Red Sox-Yankees showdowns as a player and coach. A turning point in the debate came in 1993 when the San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California that currently play in the National League West Division. New York Giants history Early days and the John McGraw era won 103 games but didn't make the playoffs, finishing second in the NL West to the Atlanta Braves, who won 104. The Giants had the second-best record in baseball that season, eight games better than the eventual World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays "Blue Jays" redirects here. For other uses, see Blue Jay (disambiguation).. The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. , and nine better than the NL champion Phillies. That would never happen with the wild card. Selig smiles once again. ``You know, the more I think about it,'' he said, ``the more I wonder how we lived so long without it.'' Vincent Bonsignore, (818) 713-3612 vincent.bonsignore(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 4 photos, 4 boxes Photo: (1 -- 3) The wild-card format, which was enacted in 1995, has allowed Angels manager Mike Scioscia, left, to hoist the World Series trophy The Commissioner's Trophy is awarded each year by Major League Baseball to the team winning the World Series. Recent trophy designs consist of 30 flags representing the 30 teams in North America's two top leagues, the National League and the American League. in 2002 after defeating the San Francisco Giants, while the Florida Marlins, have won two championships (1997 and 2003) as a wild-card team. Manny Manny may refer to: In nobility:
Photos by Getty Images (4 -- color) 2004 WORLD SERIES CHAMPION BOSTON RED SOX Box: (1) WILD CARD TO WORLD SERIES (2) AL WILD CARD (3) NL WILD CARD (4) VICTORY TOTALS |
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