Reggie Miller
10-01-2008, 10:59 AM
http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2008/09/why_the_angels.php
Wild Card teams have been wildly successful since 1995.
"A wildcard team has made it to the World Series 9 times in the last 13 years, claiming 4 world championships including 3 of the last 6."
In the past, I had attributed this to the WC team being forced to play meaningful games well into September, while the team with the best record may not have played a meaningful game in almost a month (see 2008 Angels).
The truth is the WC teams are often just plain better.
As Vin noted in the comments to this article,
"Tie for best record: 1
2nd best: 9
3rd best: 10
4th best: 7
Though the difference is small, it's worth noting that more wild card teams have been the second-best team in the league than the fourth-best. At any rate, it's abundantly clear that the wild card is not necessarily the true "fourth seed" of the postseason - more often than not, it isn't. Of course, the better team has still lost a disproportionate number of postseason series, but the difference between the best team and the wild is typically quite small."
This explanation works for me.
Wild Card teams have been wildly successful since 1995.
"A wildcard team has made it to the World Series 9 times in the last 13 years, claiming 4 world championships including 3 of the last 6."
In the past, I had attributed this to the WC team being forced to play meaningful games well into September, while the team with the best record may not have played a meaningful game in almost a month (see 2008 Angels).
The truth is the WC teams are often just plain better.
As Vin noted in the comments to this article,
"Tie for best record: 1
2nd best: 9
3rd best: 10
4th best: 7
Though the difference is small, it's worth noting that more wild card teams have been the second-best team in the league than the fourth-best. At any rate, it's abundantly clear that the wild card is not necessarily the true "fourth seed" of the postseason - more often than not, it isn't. Of course, the better team has still lost a disproportionate number of postseason series, but the difference between the best team and the wild is typically quite small."
This explanation works for me.