Major League Baseball’s one-game Wild Card existed for ten seasons from 2012 to 2021 (it was not used in the gross and disgusting 2020 season). In those nine seasons, the top two non-division winners in each league would face off in a one-game playoff to determine who goes on to face the number one seed in the divisional series.
While not all of the eighteen Wild Card games were fantastic, many of them were. From the 12-inning 2014 game between the Athletics and the Cinderella story Royals, to the 2019
blown lead by the Brewers to the eventual champion Nationals, the game gave us its fair share of iconic moments in its decade-long existence.
Our Boston Red Sox, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point-of-view, only got the chance to play in one of these Wild Card Games. In the magical 2021 season, the Red Sox faced off against their arch-rival Bronx Bombers for the right to travel to St. Petersburg and take on the Rays in the ALDS.
On that brisk October night, Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole faced off against one of the Red Sox’ best big-game pitchers of the 21st century, Nathan Eovaldi. Sox fans didn’t have to wait long for an iconic moment that night, as after a Rafael Devers walk in the bottom of the first, Xander Bogaerts stepped to the plate. Off a middle-middle 2-1 changeup from Cole, Bogaerts launched the ball 400-some odd feet over the center field wall.
Bogaerts’ home run, along with a solo shot from Kyle Schwarber, three RBIs from Alex Verdugo, and an Eovaldi masterclass, were enough to send the Sox to the ALDS with a 6-2 win. All of those, along with a now-iconic Stantonian home run and an incredible relay to gun down Aaron Judge at the plate, are iconic moments in Red Sox lore. And this was all in just nine innings.
The Wild Card Game turned everything up to eleven. It was Game 7 with no Games 1 through 6. It was two teams that didn’t know if tomorrow would come. Sure, a Game 3 in the current Wild Card format brings you a similar energy. But it’s not the same.
The Wild Card game was also, at least to me, the perfect compromise between an expanded playoff and the old eight-team slate. It gave an extra team a shot, but didn’t require that extra team to be on their third or possibly fourth starter by the time the divisional series rolls around. Your ace took the Wild Card Game, and your #2 had Game 1 of the DS. It was as simple as that. Now, it’s all a little too much.
Take this year’s Red Sox in the Wild Card Series, for example. Crochet went Game 1. Bello Game 2. And now Connelly Early for Game 3. Then let’s just say they advance. Who the hell is pitching Game 1 of the ALDS?! If we still had our beloved Wild Card Game, then Bello would start us off. Nice and easy.
Do we really need a sixth team in each league to make the playoffs? Probably not. Though if the Sox were the sixth seed this year and not the fifth, I’m sure I’d be singing a different tune. Either way, I miss you, Wild Card Game. And I’m glad we had that one beautiful October night together.
