The Wild Card of Love
This might sound odd coming from a guy whose favorite team just went down in two in the NL Wild Card playoffs, but I like the WC format. There are two ways to get a slot in the WC in MLB. You earn it by coming on strong at the end of the long-ass season like the San Diego Padres did, or you default to it like my Chicago Cubs did by floundering at the end, defaulting to wins and losses. All through September it was a given that the Cubs had the WC in the NL Central Division. Their mission was to play for the best record and attain homefield advantage against their opponent. That's big. That's what the Padres fought for and that's what they got. The team with the better record gets all three games in front of the home folks. In any sport that's gold. Home cookin'! Everybody wants it. It helps. I didn't expect a lot from the Cubs back in Spring Training. Two of our star pitchers were hurt and out for the season. That's tough on any team. You don't make pl...