California Angles

To a baseball purist, this is a nightmare come true. No scenario could be more horrifying, unless the Chicago Cubs knock down Wrigley Field and replace it with a domed stadium.

Six divisions? Too many, to the grumpy traditionalist. And, when the World Series starts tonight at Edison Field, none of the six division champions will be there.

The Angels will represent the American League. The San Francisco Giants will represent the National League. For the first time, two wild-card teams--that is, two second-place teams--will play in the World Series.

Are these the two best teams in the major leagues, or simply the two hottest teams? Commissioner Bud Selig, who counts the adoption of the wild-card playoff format as one of the highlights of his tenure, sounds a wee bit offended at the question.

“They’ve had extraordinary years,” Selig said. “They went through two levels of playoffs. And they’ve won.

“So apparently they are the best teams in their leagues.”

The concept of a second chance for teams that do not finish in first place is so popular, Selig said, that owners might well expand the playoffs to include more than one wild-card team in each league.

“It’s something we’ll consider in future years,” he said. “And it’s still harder to get into the playoffs in baseball than in any other sport.”

Eight teams out of 30 make the baseball playoffs, compared to 12 of 30 in the NFL, 16 of 30 in the NHL and 16 of 29 in the NBA.

In 1993, the year the Kings advanced to the Stanley Cup finals, they finished third in their division, four games over .500. The Lakers could finish third in their division this season, and Shaquille O’Neal could sit out a month to rehabilitate his aching toe and, frankly, who cares so long as O’Neal is ready come playoff time?

So is baseball headed down that slippery slope that cheapens the regular season and turns the playoffs into a hottest-team-takes-all tournament? Should we be calling the playoffs October Madness?

No and no, say this year’s World Series participants.

“We have the integrity of 162 games,” said Larry Baer, the Giants’ executive vice president. “You’ve got to reward 162-game performance. The wild card, I think, does that.”

The wild card was invented after a 1993 season in which the Giants won 103 games, second-most in the majors. They finished one game behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL West.

There is only one wild-card playoff invitation available in each league. The Angels won 99 games this year, more than the Minnesota Twins, champions of the AL Central. The Giants won 95.

“If you had a wild card with 80 wins, it would be one thing,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “These are two great teams, and you haven’t seen anything but great baseball from these two teams.”

The Angels dismissed the New York Yankees from the playoffs by winning three out of four games and the Twins by winning four out of five. The Giants took out the Braves and St. Louis Cardinals in five games apiece. In this sport, a team cannot advance to the next round with a one-game upset.

“In baseball, you can’t be hot that long,” Angel outfielder Garret Anderson said. “You have to be good too. You have to be both.”

With an unbalanced schedule, Angel shortstop David Eckstein said, the wild card is all but mandatory.

The Yankees won four more games than the Angels, but the Yankees fattened up on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Baltimore Orioles in the AL East while the Angels jousted with the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners in the AL West. The Braves won six more games than the Giants, but the Braves beat up on the weak NL East while the Giants fought off the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks.

“It’s hard to say who’s really the best,” Eckstein said. “If you have an even schedule, you could say the other teams are better. But you can’t really say who’s the best team. That’s why they need a wild card.”

Still, these are second-place teams. Best teams or hottest?

“The question of whether these are the best teams is a little unfair,” Baer said. “They got to the finish line successfully.”

Said Angel outfielder Tim Salmon: “You know what? It’s probably a combination of both. I think it’s real hard, when you start talking about the playoffs, to say one team is better than another.

“We might have been the hotter team, but that’s what it comes down to, who plays the best when it counts. That’s all that matters.”

That said, the notion of expanding the playoff field was universally derided. Three division winners and the best of the second-place teams compose a deserving playoff field, several players agreed.

And, besides, Anderson said, “The season is way too long already.”

Baer said owners would not accept a shortened schedule to accommodate an extra round of playoffs, leaving the unpleasant choice of starting the season in March or ending it in November.

“It’s pretty hard to play baseball in New York in mid-November,” San Francisco shortstop Rich Aurilia said. “I know, because I grew up there.”

The wild-card series starts tonight. The winner, Aurilia said, will not be remembered as a wild-card team.

“They’ll be remembered,” he said, “as the 2002 champions.”