Tonight is as exciting a night as any baseball fan, and yes even a Mets fan, could ask for. Today is the last day of the regular season but it is also the beginning of the playoffs as four teams are fighting for the two wild card spots. In the American League the Red Sox and the Rays and in the National League the Braves and the Cardinals. What more could we possibly ask for?
In the American League history will be made either way. We will have witnessed either the Rays pull off the greatest September comeback or the Red Sox commit the greatest September collapse in history. The Red Sox lead the Rays by 9 games in the wild card standings to begin the month. If the Red Sox do falter they will own a dubious distinction. They will own the worst collapse in regular season history and will have made the greatest comeback in postseason history having comeback from down 3-0 in a seven game series against the Yankees on their way to winning the 2004 World Series.
In the National League the Cardinals have come on down the stretch and showed the resilience of the veteran team that they are. The rumors of Albert Pujol's demise have been greatly exaggerated and it was his turn around this season that seemed to kick start the late surge by the Cardinals. Meanwhile the Braves lead by Chipper Jones, Dan Uggla (of bot4q.com fame), and an extremely talented but young bullpen have seemingly hit the wall. Although I am a Mets fan first I am a National League fan and it will be interesting to see which one of these storied franchises comes out on top.
I personally will be rooting that all four teams win their respective games forcing one game playoffs between the Rays/Red Sox and Braves/Cardinals. This is exactly why the 'wild card' was a great idea for baseball. It is also exactly why adding another wild card spot in each league is a terrible idea. It's very rare that game 162 matters for any one team. Even rarer that it matters for four. Another wild card spot will make it matter for no one. Except of course the rest of the American League east.
Even a non baseball fan such as myself can appreciate the season coming down to game #162 for 4 different teams.
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