MLB Wild Card Betting Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook

When a wild-card playoff format is used, the number of teams that may qualify per division is not fixed; the divisional champion will usually qualify automatically, but non-division finishers qualify based on record either in the league overall or within a conference.

Major League Baseball

In Major League Baseball, the wild card playoff spot is given to the team in each league with the best record among second-place teams.

Since the wild-card took effect in 1995 (was to have been in 1994 prior to a players' strike), the wild-card team must surrender the home field advantage in both the Division Series (ALDS and NLDS) and the League Championship Series (ALCS and NLCS). Home field advantage for the World Series, however, has always been determined beforehand, regardless of how a team reaches the Series. Prior to 2003, it was decided on an alternating schedule; as of 2003, it has been granted to the winner of the All-Star Game due to the results of the 2002 Major League Baseball All Star Game. Controversy erupted in 1997 when the Florida Marlins, who had won the NLCS and qualified for the playoffs as the wild card, were given home field advantage over the Cleveland Indians, who had won the ALCS title. The Marlins went on to beat the Indians in seven games, winning the last decisive game at home, allegedly the result of the advantage. Of the teams that reached the 2002 World Series, both were wild card teams: the Anaheim Angels and the San Francisco Giants. Indeed, wild card teams won three consecutive World Series from 2002-2004.

In the Division Series, the wild card team (which could be considered analogous to the fourth seed in other sports tournaments) usually plays the team with the best record within their league. However, an MLB rule states that teams from the same division are not allowed to face each other in the Division Series. Therefore, in the event that a wild-card team ends up sharing the same division as the team holding the best record, the former will play the second-best team in the league while the latter will face the third-best. This perfectly parallels the previous policy of the NFL after the NFL/AFL merger, when the league opted to include a wild-card team in each conference’s playoffs. (From 1970-1989, NFL teams from the same division couldn't meet in the divisional playoffs. This policy thus ensured that the two best teams in a given conference could face off in the conference championship, even if both of those teams were from the same division.)

This rule was applied in the 2005 NLDS, when the division winners in the NL were as follows (in order from best to worst according to regular season records): the St. Louis Cardinals, the Atlanta Braves, the San Diego Padres, and the Houston Astros (as the wild card). Typically, the Astros would have opened their Division Series against the Cardinals and the Padres would have faced the Braves; however, as the Astros and Cardinals were both within the NL Central Division, it was arranged so that the Astros played the Braves and the Padres played the Cardinals.

Wild Card World Series champions

* 1997 Florida Marlins
* 2002 Anaheim Angels
* 2003 Florida Marlins
* 2004 Boston Red Sox

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