There has been a lot of backlash over the new version of the Wild Card and the one game playoff.  I’m not a fan of it because I don’t like that two teams have to fight for their lives only to have their season determined by one game, but that’s a part of what makes it exciting.  Another thing that makes it exciting is that the two teams fighting for their lives are more often than not going to be the hottest teams playing because they’re fighting till the bitter end.

There are multiple divisions that could be a dogfight right till the end of the season.  The American League West is only separated by two games, in the National League Central that are three teams only separated by two and a half games and the American League Central is separated by one half of a game.  Even with these races being so tight, nothing is closer than the Wild Card in both leagues, in part because each of the teams chasing their division leader also are in the race for the one game playoff.

You could make an argument that the National League Central will be the most exciting divisional race the rest of the way because there are three teams with a chance at winning that division.  Right now, though, no matter who wins the division all three would make the playoffs as both of the teams chasing the Milwaukee Brewers sit in the two Wild Card spots.

That’s where it gets really exciting, because even though all of the top National League Central teams would make the playoffs right now, there are four teams within four games of the bottom spot in the Wild Card.  That makes six teams fighting for two spots, and when it all ends the National League Central could send three teams to the playoffs or just one if teams like the San Francisco Giants and the Atlanta Braves can make a strong run down the stretch.  That will be six teams scoreboard watching each other.  Some of them won’t be just be scoreboard watching at the Pittsburgh Pirates, Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds all play each other in the final week in games that could decide who makes the playoffs and who spends October on their couches.

How close the National League Wild Card is, the American League Wild Card might be even closer because it appears that there are six teams fighting for one spot as either the Oakland Athletics or Los Angeles Angels look like the clear winner of the top wild card spot with the best two records.  You heard that right, six teams fighting to be the team that faces the loser of the American League West.

Now it is possible that one of the two top teams in the West could fall off down the stretch, especially with the fact that they still face each other seven times, and if the Angels are still in the top spot they could be knocked off in the final week as the Seattle Mariners face them seven times in the final two weeks of the season.  The Angels aren’t the only team chasing the Wild Card the Mariners face in the final two weeks as they also face the Toronto Blue Jays, and those same Jays have a four game series with the New York Yankees in the final two weeks.  That’s not all as the Tampa Bay Rays, who have gone from huge disappointment to contenders, have 15 games in September against teams in contention for the Wild Card including the final three against the Cleveland Indians.

That’s a lot of information to handle, so let’s keep it simple, all six teams will have the opportunity to help themselves by beating someone else in the hunt in the final month of the season.  While the National League has a couple teams that could decide who makes the playoffs in the final weeks, the American League will be decided in the final week of the season.

You cannot go wrong either way, though, because no matter which division you watch it will be exciting down the stretch.  May the hottest team win, and as the 2010 Giants have taught us, all you need is to be hot at the right time and you can go all the way.  One of these teams could end up being your 2014 World Series Champions.