Major League Baseball Adds Addtional Wild-Card Team

We saw this coming for some time.  Major League Baseball (MLB) has talked about adding a wild-card team to the current playoff system.  Even the idea of a one game playoff between the now two wild-card teams is not new.  Me?  I detest it.  What does it really accomplish?  With only one game to play, teams who have proven their worth for 162 games must now put it all into one game.  Yes it will make for drama.  Of that I have no doubt.  But to what end?  Again these teams who made the playoffs did so because they were good over a long period of time.  It took five starters to get them where they are.  Yes some pulled their weight more than others but it wasn't one pitcher starting every game.  Now you ask these teams to put one guy out there in a winner takes all scenario.  It won't matter how they got to that point.  Maybe the staff ace had to pitch them into the playoffs and isn't available to start the one game.  Sure that happens to other teams now but that is going into a longer playoff series where no matter what that staff ace will get his shot at the opponent even if he pitched the last game of the season and now has to wait until game three. 

The NFL is built for a one game and advance scenario in their playoffs.  They only play 16 regular season games.  The quarterback who got them there will start every playoff game.  I don't get it.  MLB will tell you there isn't room in the schedule for more than a one game playoff and they don't want to play into mid-November.  Very valid points but it is nothing but excuses for shoving a one game wild-card round on us.  It seems like players and teams alike complained about the three game playoff rounds that have been in place at various times throughout baseball history.  Now they are happy with a one game playoff?  Where are those guys now?  Another argument is that more teams would be in play to make the playoffs.  That argument can be made no matter how many teams are let into the playoffs.  Whether 12 or 24 teams make the playoffs each year there would always be teams battling for the last playoff spot.

Maybe when I actually see it in action I'll like it.  As a Braves and Red Sox fan who watched my teams fall out of the playoffs on the last day of the 2011 season I should think this is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  I don't.  Don't have franchises setup their teams and rotations for the long haul and then let it come down to one game where maybe starer #3 has to be the guy?  It doesn't pass the sanity test to me. 

Below is a link to Jayson Stark's article that breaks down wild-card addition and the other changes that were made to the MLB playoffs.  There were many so please take a look as I can't even start to do them justice.  As always Stark does a great job of explaining a complex subject. 

New Postseason Plan by Jayson Stark

Ryan Braun Results Thrown Out

This was a situation that was already a no win situation for major league baseball and it only got worse.  First their National League MVP failed a drug test.  Not how you want to celebrate one of your best players.  He then challenged the test results and won, something that has never happened before.  MLB then came out and said the results were correct and Ryan Braun got off on a technicality.  So now MLB is slandering their own and has even mentioned taking this to court.  What a mess.

There are zero winners here.  Ryan Braun now has a failed drug test hanging over his head.  And while he won the arbitrator over his test results were not said to be wrong.  So while he may be happy to have this part over with he'll always have a failed drug test staining his reputation.  Baseball for it's part must now fix the testing system to avoid this particular issue happening again.  It is a black eye and you have to wonder how many other players who tested positive had a shot of getting their suspensions overturned.  Add to that the attack they leveled on Braun post overturned suspension and they need to take a step back.  National League Central teams not from Milwaukee not have to face Braun 50 more times than they had planned for.  Fans lose as we now have a great player with a failed drug test, a flawed testing system that we will always wonder about, and  more talk about a subject, performance enhancing drugs, that we would be just as happy to avoid. 

My take is it is what it is.  A failed drug test.  That fact has not changed and I'll always view Braun as someone who failed the test.  Baseball must move on.  Fix it and be ready to handle the next time this occurs.  These situations are bad no matter how they come out so baseball executives must handle them with more grace.  I'd rather not ever have to deal with the subject but it won't go away.  Much better players than Braun have already gone down in a cloud of suspicion or guilt.  And there will be more.  I just hope the testing gets better and the subsequent handling goes smoother.  Controversies like this one do nothing but hurt the sport.