The commissioner says the format will not be changed no matter how this year plays out.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred won’t eliminate one-game sudden-death wild-card game - The Boston Globe
“Let me walk you through how I think about it,” Manfred said at a Baseball Writers of America Association luncheon a few hours ahead of Tuesday night’s All-Star Game. “When we went to a one-game wild card, we did it for two fundamental reasons. We wanted to make sure that we did everything possible that teams played hard through a 162-game season. We take great pride that our regular season is meaningful and we always want it to be meaningful. How does our current system stack up on that goal? It seems to me that if the standings finished as they are today under the old system, the Yankees and Red Sox wouldn’t care who won the American League East. In contrast, under the new system we are going to be treated to a pennant race that goes all the way through to the end of September and they’re going to do everything they can to avoid playing in that one-game wild card.
“The second thing that we wanted to do is we wanted to disadvantage the wild-card team. There’s sentiment out there that winning your division should get you some advantage. Seems to me we stack up pretty well on that one as well. If you have Mookie Betts and the Red Sox nose out the Yankees by a game as a result of playing hard all the way through 162, they should get an advantage over the Yankees. And that advantage would take the form of those Yankees having to play a one-game playoff. So I’m pretty good with how it looks. I would also point out, and let me say this loud and clear, nobody appreciates the Yankee/Red Sox rivalry more than I do in terms of how important it is to the game. But I would also suggest if it’s the Brewers and Reds and winning 100 games, the uproar would be less than the Red Sox-Yankees one. So I don’t think you should get into redesigning your system based on the outcome of a particular year. Particularly when you’re getting the fundamental dynamics you were looking for.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred won’t eliminate one-game sudden-death wild-card game - The Boston Globe
“Let me walk you through how I think about it,” Manfred said at a Baseball Writers of America Association luncheon a few hours ahead of Tuesday night’s All-Star Game. “When we went to a one-game wild card, we did it for two fundamental reasons. We wanted to make sure that we did everything possible that teams played hard through a 162-game season. We take great pride that our regular season is meaningful and we always want it to be meaningful. How does our current system stack up on that goal? It seems to me that if the standings finished as they are today under the old system, the Yankees and Red Sox wouldn’t care who won the American League East. In contrast, under the new system we are going to be treated to a pennant race that goes all the way through to the end of September and they’re going to do everything they can to avoid playing in that one-game wild card.
“The second thing that we wanted to do is we wanted to disadvantage the wild-card team. There’s sentiment out there that winning your division should get you some advantage. Seems to me we stack up pretty well on that one as well. If you have Mookie Betts and the Red Sox nose out the Yankees by a game as a result of playing hard all the way through 162, they should get an advantage over the Yankees. And that advantage would take the form of those Yankees having to play a one-game playoff. So I’m pretty good with how it looks. I would also point out, and let me say this loud and clear, nobody appreciates the Yankee/Red Sox rivalry more than I do in terms of how important it is to the game. But I would also suggest if it’s the Brewers and Reds and winning 100 games, the uproar would be less than the Red Sox-Yankees one. So I don’t think you should get into redesigning your system based on the outcome of a particular year. Particularly when you’re getting the fundamental dynamics you were looking for.”
