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Eye on the ball
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Wild card benefits baseball, Yankees**
Let's cool it with this constant flow of self-righteous blabber about the baseball wild card race: "Oh, no, don't tamper with the baseball playoff system. The playoff system is perfect--it is a piece of Americana. To change the format of the playoffs is to change the American pastime." Come on, give me a break.
Where were all of you baseball purists six months ago when the strike was raging--when baseball looked as though it would never again be played on the major league level? If you asked the average beer-chugging bleacher bum what he thought about baseball, he would say, "I don't give a rat's ass. The ballplayers are pigs, and the owners are pigs. As far as I'm concerned, I don't care if they ever play again."
But now, all of a sudden, everyone is looking at the holy institution of baseball, disgraced by its new playoff system. You "purists" claim that baseball's beauty was that it never sold out to commercial demands--having a drawn out playoff system lasting for months.
Come on, the beauty of baseball is not the format of its playoff system. Baseball's beauty--what makes baseball special--is seeing Cal Ripken stab a short hop in the hole, spin around 180 degrees and fire the ball to first, nailing the runner. Baseball's beauty is seeing Greg Maddux throw a two-hitter, making major league hitters look like little leaguers. Baseball's beauty is watching Tony Gwynn's sweet swing stroke a line drive into the gap in right-center or watching Ken Griffey, Jr.'s pendulum-like swing hit a monster of a shot into the upper deck. And most of all, baseball's beauty is October in The Bronx--postseason play in the House that Ruth Built.
The wild card race is giving the fans the opportunity to see these great players take their game to the next level. Yes, ideally, the Red Sox would be 10 games behind the Yanks right now, not the other way around. Then, we would all be able to watch Donny Baseball dig into the batter's box with runners at the corners in the postseason. Since the Yanks are 10 games out of first, though, baseball fans would be denied the chance to see Donny play in October.
But it doesn't have to be that way. Why should the fans be deprived of seeing some of the game's all-time greats in the postseason just because tradition says that only four teams make the playoffs? Ernie Banks was one of the greatest shortstops of all-time and never played in the postseason. Why? Two reasons: 1) Because the Cubs couldn't win the pennant even if they were the only team in the league and 2) Because baseball tradition wouldn't allow multiple teams from the same division to make the playoffs. I don't want to see Don Mattingly go his whole career without playing in the postseason. The wild card race gives more great players the chance to reach the World Series, and it gives the fans the chance to see more great baseball.
The wild card race does not marginalize baseball--it does nothing but enhance it. Without the wild card, this season would have been a disaster, except for Ripken's Ironman streak, since four of the six divisions don't have tight pennant races. Because of the wild card, baseball fans across the nation have had a reason to follow the game, and there has been something to give the games in late August and September meaning.
Yeah, I know, the baseball owners tampered with tradition in changing the playoffs. That was so very wrong of them. Because of their selfish motives to make more money through a longer playoff, the fans have been able to enjoy exciting, competitive races to make the playoffs. Because tradition has been broken, the fans may have the chance to see Griffey play in the postseason. Because of the owners' lack of respect for tradition, the fans may have the chance to watch Maddux throw a hanging curveball to Mattingly in the bottom of the ninth in game seven of the World Series.
Tradition? No thanks, I'd rather see the Yanks take the Series.
Andy Dillon is a Trinity senior.
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