Baseball Shows Its Wild Side : Playoffs: Purists are unhappy, but new format has livened divisional races.

Let’s see. With three weeks left in the 1995 season, there’s still the possibility of a World Series pitting the wild card Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs.

The ideal, in that bleakest of scenarios, would be a sweep, providing a quick and merciful conclusion and enabling the winner perhaps to finish at .500 for the season.

Possible? Yes. Probable? No.

In the first year that wild-card baseball will be played to a conclusion--the player strike took it down last August--the aberration potential may be slightly greater than in previous years, but fan interest and player incentive seems to have been significantly enhanced.

Consider: With four of six division races virtually decided, the Monday standings showed 13 of 28 teams, excluding division leaders, grouped within six games and boasting a realistic shot at the two wild-card berths.

Scoreboard watching has never been crazier.

“We go onto the field every day pumped up,” Cub center fielder Brian McRae said. “Most of us have never had a chance to play after Oct. 3. We’re tired to going home to watch the fun on TV. We want to be part of the fun. We’re getting that chance because of the wild card.”

If the process has failed to produce a dramatic turnaround at the gate--attendance is still down 18%--there is definitely interest where it would otherwise be absent.

The wild-card races are showing up as new and separate divisions in many newspapers, and talk shows have found new fodder.

“We have to get over the stigma of the work stoppage before we can get a real handle on it,” Philadelphia Phillie General Manager Lee Thomas said of wild-card impact.

“If it wasn’t for the stoppage, I think it would have had a real impact already. As it is, I think it will take a couple years to catch on, but I think it will. I mean, I was one of those guys who felt that you had to win to make the playoffs, but I now think one wild card in each league is just enough to make it interesting. If it wasn’t for the wild card, you’d be looking at another 12 or more teams with nothing to play for, no real incentive. How has it hurt?”

Purists will argue that baseball has gone the way of other professional sports, diluting the championship season by opening the playoff door to also-rans and forcing a division champion to play a dangerous short series with a team it has beat up on during the regular season.

This ignores the fact that baseball is opening the door to far fewer wild-card teams than other sports and that the 162-game season--144 this year--generally separates the strong from the weak. Even the team with the fourth-best record in its league should be a respectable addition to the playoffs.

At this point, the probable wild card in the National League appears to be either the Dodgers or Colorado Rockies, whichever finishes second in the West. The American League wild card probably will be the Seattle Mariners or New York Yankees. All are in the process of fashioning respectable records on the plus side of .500, a claim other sports can’t make of their wild-card selections.

What would purists say about the 1984 Kansas City Royals, who captured a division title with 84 victories, or the 1987 Minnesota Twins, who won a World Series after only 85 regular-season victories?

Maybe the purists would have preferred that the 1995 season be played under the old two-division alignment in each league, in which case the Cleveland Indians would be routing the Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the AL East; the Atlanta Braves would be routing the Cincinnati Reds, Dodgers and Rockies in the NL West, the AL West would be essentially what it is, and the Cubs and Phillies would be waging a battle for supremacy at .500 in the NL East.

The point is that the wild-card format seems to have given much more than it has taken away.

Said acting Commissioner Bud Selig: “I’m as much a purist as the next person, but there was no way we could continue in the old alignment. It was one thing with 16 teams or 20 or 24. Once we were at 28 it made absolute logic to change. We had to keep more teams involved, and I still say eight of 28 is a modest percentage compared to other sports.

“It’s important we don’t overdo that number, but there’s no reason to be embarrassed by it. I’m convinced that in another year everyone will accept the wild card as a way of life.”

The wild-card procedure seems to have enhanced the way of life for small-market teams, expanding their playoff possibilities, but Selig said increased revenue sharing and a new economic system are still imperative.

“All this proves is that in a given year a small-market team can compete,” he said. “No way it can be done consistently.

Nothing’s perfect, of course, and wild-card amendments are already on the drawing board.

The regional telecasts of first- round and other playoff games was a planning mistake the owners are committed to this year, Selig said, but will probably be dumped in the future. Likewise, predetermining playoff sites and home-field advantage with no reward for regular-season records is certain to change.

In addition, the first time a dominant pitcher such as Randy Johnson gets two starts and pitches a wild-card team to an opening-round victory, there is bound to be call for expanding from a best-of-five series to best-of-seven.

There is also no predicting what happens when baseball goes to 30 teams in 1998 and 32 in 2000. The three divisions in each league may become four. There may not be a need then for the wild card, or officials may opt for two from each league. In the meantime, keep that purist blood under control and a wild-card eye on the Cubs and Brewers.

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TIME TUNNEL

A look at how the pennant races would shape up under the old divisional format:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

West

*--*

Team W L PCT GB Angels 71 56 .559 -- Seattle 65 62 .512 6 Texas 63 63 .500 7 1/2 Kansas City 62 62 .500 7 1/2 Oakland 60 66 .476 10 1/2 Chicago 58 67 .464 12 Minnesota 48 76 .387 21 1/2

*--*

East

*--*

Team W L PCT GB Cleveland 88 38 .698 -- Boston 76 49 .608 11 1/2 New York 65 61 .516 23 Milwaukee 60 65 .480 27 1/2 Baltimore 58 68 .460 30 Detroit 53 72 .424 34 1/2 Toronto 52 74 .413 36

*--*

NATIONAL LEAGUE

West

*--*

Team W L PCT GB Atlanta 80 47 .630 -- Cincinnati 76 49 .608 3 Colorado 67 58 .536 12 Dodgers 67 60 .528 13 Houston 64 61 .512 15 S.F. 61 65 .484 18 1/2 San Diego 60 65 .480 19

*--*

East

*--*

Team W L Pct. GB Philadelphia 63 63 .500 -- Chicago 62 63 .496 1/2 Montreal 60 66 .476 3 Florida 57 68 .456 5 1/2 New York 56 69 .448 6 1/2 St. Louis 54 72 .429 9 Pittsburgh 52 73 .415 10 1/2

*--*

Wild-Card Races

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Division Leaders

*--*

Team Division W L Cleveland* Central 88 38 Boston East 76 49 Angels West 71 56

*--*

Wild Card

*--*

Team W L Pct. GB New York 65 61 .516 -- Seattle 65 62 .511 1/2 Kansas City 62 62 .500 2 Texas 63 63 .500 2 Milwaukee 60 65 .480 4 1/2 Oakland 60 66 .476 5 Chicago 58 67 .464 6 1/2 Baltimore 58 68 .460 7

*--*

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Division Leaders

*--*

Team Division W L Atlanta East 80 47 Cincinnati Central 76 49 Colorado West 67 58

*--*

Wild Card

*--*

Team W L Pct. GB Dodgers 67 60 .528 -- Houston 64 61 .512 2 Philadelphia 63 63 .500 3 1/2 Chicago 62 63 .496 4 San Francisco 61 65 .484 5 1/2 San Diego 60 65 .480 6 Montreal 60 66 .476 6 1/2

*--*

* Clinched division title