The Braves and AL East  are running away with the Wild Card.  Literally.  Is this year just unusual?  Yes, says previous August 19th standings dating back to 2002. Very, very unusual

SCOTT JACOBS

In 1994 Major League Baseball instituted the Wild Card, making room for a non-division winner to make the playoffs, and giving baseball a whole new dose of drama that infused new life into a lagging regular season.  The 1994 playoffs didn’t happen, so the new system didn’t get to see the light of day until the 1995 season.  Ever since, purists aside, the Wild Card has been a big hit, and has given teams that can’t get to the top of their division another way to make the second season.

The Wild Card usually is a wild race, with some years featuring as many as four or five teams battling it out down the stretch to make the field of four (for each league).  But in 2011, there has been nothing wild about the lamest Wild Card race in recent memory.

Going into Saturday’s games these are your so called races in both the American League and National League:

AL                                   GB
Red Sox  76-48               —
Rays 67-56                     8.5

NL                                   GB
Braves 74-52                  —
Giants 67-59                  7.0

Now granted, it’s only August, but c’mon, this is pathetic.  The whole idea of the Wild Card was to open up the race to everyone, but this year, it seems like no one got the memo.  The AL East is a lock to claim the Wild Card, while the Braves are running away from the free-falling Giants in the NL race.  Of course, what’s crazy is that the Braves are still 8 games back of the Phillies in the East.  Gives you an idea of just how good Philadelphia is this year, and just how big of a discrepency exists between the good and the great.

But this year has to be a standings oddity, especially this late in the year, so we dug into the standings to see if two Wild Card races have been this lop-sided on this very day dating all the way back to 2002.

2010: The Rays were running away with the Wild Card (they went on to win the division), and had a 5.5 game lead on the Red Sox.  Meanwhile, the Phillies were leading by just 1 game over the Giants, and 2 games over the Cardinals.  So while the AL wasn’t exactly tight, the NL was a great race.

2009: In 2009 both races were separated by no more than 3 games.  The AL was a 3 horse race with Boston, Texas, and Tampa all within 3 of each other, while the NL was remarkably close, with 5 teams: Colorado, San Fran, Florida, Atlanta, and yes, even the Cubs all within 5 games of one another.  You had basically 8 teams in play for 2 spots at that time.  In 2011, you have no race.  Not right now at least.

2008: The Red Sox and Twins were battling it out for the Wild Card as Boston held onto a 1.5 game lead.  In the NL, 3 teams were within 4 games with the Brewers fending off the Cardinals by 2.5 games at the time.

2007: A trend: the AL is a 3 team race, as the Mariners led the Yankees by .5 game and Detroit by 3.5.  The NL once again is insanely tight as 6 teams struggle for one spot.  The Padres were the ring leaders, holding a 1 game lead on the Phillies, a 1.5 game lead on the Braves, a 2.5 game cushion on the Dodgers, a 3 game lead on the Rockies, and a 3.5 game edge on the Brewers. Even the Cards were 6.5 games out, which means that 7 teams were within under 7 games of each other.   That year in general was a free-for-all in the NL.

Side note:  This year the Braves have no one within 6.5 games of them.  Astonishing.

2006: Once again the AL is a 3 team battle with the White Sox leading the Twins by 2 and the Red Sox by 4.  In the NL chaos breaks out.  I feel confident in saying that you may never again see 10 teams within 6.5 games of each other in the Wild Card race this late in a season, but 2006 was such a mediocre year that the NL Wild Card leading Reds were just 3 games above .500 123 games into the year.

Worth repeating: This year the Braves have no one within 6.5 games of them.  In 2006, 10 teams were separated by that very margin. Then again, 8 of those teams were below .500 at the time. Is that parity?  Or sadness? You be the judge.

2005: Five teams are separated by 5 games in the unusually tight AL Wild Card race with the A’s leading the Yanks by 1.5, the Indians by 2.5, the Twins by 3.5, and the Blue Jays by 5.  Once again the NL is bedlam, with 7 teams all within 5.5 games of each other. The Astros led the Marlins and Phillies by .5 game, with the Nats, Mets, Cubs, and Brewers coming up the rear. The entire NL East was in contention for a playoff spot, which to this day is freaking spectacular and unlikely to happen again given the Phillies and Braves clench on that division nowadays.

2004: The Red Sox and Rangers are tied for the Wild Card lead with the Angels just 1 game back, and the Indians and White Sox 5.5 and 6.5 games back respectively. The NL race is once again a dogfight with the Giants edging the Cubs and Padres by .5 game and 1.5 games respectively. Also alive were the Marlins and Astros at 5 and 5.5 games back.

2003: The AL is a two team race with the A’s (yeah they used to be good) leading Boston by 1 game. Meanwhile in the NL 7 teams are separated by just 5 games, with the Phillies the leader of the pack.

2002: For a change it’s the AL which has the closer race as the entire AL West battles it out for 2 playoff spots. The Angels, Mariners, A’s, and Red Sox were all within 3.5 games. The Dodgers hold onto a healthy 3.5 game lead on the Giants, with the Astros 6 games back.

So there you have it.  This year really is an anomaly.  Now the schedule has changed over the last 10 years, so the number of games may be slightly different each season, but clearly this year is the ugly duckling of what normally is a spectacularly close race.  Somehow we have two races in 2011 and two runaways.  Since 2002, we didn’t even have one Wild Card race this forgettable, nevermind 2.

It happens. But that doesn’t change the fact that this year’s Wild Card race (if you can even call it that) stinks.

Photo: Getty

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