It’s probably time for the Toronto Blue Jays to face facts: the AL East title looks to be out of reach. A shaky September leaves the Jays well off the pace; it’s increasingly looking like the path to a playoff run will make its first stop at the Wild Card game.
But perhaps that’s not a bad thing. For one, it would likely set up a winner-take-all game against the rival Baltimore Orioles, and a victory there could land the Jays an ALDS rematch with the Texas Rangers.
And for two, Wild Card teams have had their share of success since the addition of the extra playoff team in 1994.
Let’s take a look back at some of the history and significant moments in the wild-card era.
1995-2011: The First Expansion
Major League Baseball expanded the postseason to four teams per league beginning in the 1995 season. The team with the best record of all non-division winning clubs earned the spot.
It didn’t take long for the first Wild Card team to go all the way: the 1997 Florida Marlins won a thrilling 7-game series over the Cleveland Indians, thanks to Edgar Renteria’s walkoff single in the 11th inning. In fact, the Marlins parlayed two Wild Card berths into World Series paydirt, also defeating the Yankees in 6 games in 2003. The other National League team to win the World Series via the Wild Card was the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals, capping off an absolutely unreal postseason, where the Cards and Rays both squeaked into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season.
In the American League, the 2002 Anaheim Angels and the 2004 Boston Red Sox both captured World Series titles, both in very unique ways. The ‘02 Angels/Giants World Series was the first to feature both Wild Card teams. And the ‘04 Red Sox swept the Cards after a historic 3-to-0 comeback against rival New York in the ALCS (sorry, Yankees fans).
2012-Present: The Expanded Wild Card
While Wild Card games added more excitement, there was a fatal flaw in the system: a non-division winning team had just as likely of a chance to win it all, which de-emphasized the importance of earning a division title.
Therefore in 2012, the playoffs were tweaked to allow a 2nd Wild Card team per league, and those two teams played an elimination game in order to determine who faces the top-seeded division winner in each league.
In the four years of the new Wild Card playoff system, only two teams have gone from Wild Card game to Fall Classic, and it happened in the same year. The 2014 San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals took it to the limit, needing 7 games to determine a winner. On the strength of 5 scoreless relief innings from World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner in Game 7, San Fran bested KC 3-2. As Jays fans no doubt recall, the Royals responded by winning it all in 2015.
If the Blue Jays find themselves in a Wild Card position by the end of the season, they shouldn’t be discouraged about their chances to make a deep run – and neither should their fans.
Chris Suppa is a freelance writer and photographer based in Toronto. Follow him at @Suppa55 for somewhat-coherent ramblings about the Blue Jays and on Instagram at @chrissuppaphotography.
