With Major League Baseball looking to expand the postseason, Rockies fans should support this because the team has proven itself to be a competitor for a spot in October over the last four seasons. Troy Renck of the Denver Post offers one suggestion on how to accomplish this expansion:
That leaves one realistic option. Have the new, second wild-card team play the other wild-card team in a three-game series. To accommodate this, the regular-season would need to start three days earlier. This accomplishes two goals: It widens the field and makes winning a division mean something again. The wild-card derby winner's pitching staff would be slightly compromised — as it should be.
As it stands, eight teams make the playoffs now and adding one more wild-card team from each league would put one-third of the league in the postseason. Looking at this season under Renck's proposal, the Boston Red Sox would have played the Yankees in the three-game series. That definitely sounds like a ratings winner for Major League Baseball. The Rockies would still have fallen short of making the playoffs, but the San Diego Padres would have been rewarded for their unexpected turnaround in 2010.
However, I wonder if Major League Baseball should also consider re-seeding the teams under this proposed scenario. Again, look at this past year's teams. The Yankees won the Wild Card with a 95-67 record, which was one off AL East Champion Tampa Bay's record. The Yankees' record, though, was better than the other two division winners in the AL Central and the AL West. Why shouldn't the two bottom teams play each other for the right to advance? This scenario won't always be the case, so having the two Wild Card teams play each other would likely be the best solution.
One thing is fore sure, MLB will not want to turn the postseason into the NBA's and NHL's structure. Those leagues reward mediocrity. And if we've learned anything about the Rockies over the last four years, it's that they have moved beyond the edge of mediocrity.