Whether they like it or not, if the Red Sox make the playoffs this year (a prospect that looks less certain than it did prior to this past weekend’s nightmare series against the Yankees and last night’s loss to the Orioles), they will have to play in the wildcard game, a one-night affair where the winner gets the chance to keep playing and the loser gets a nice participation trophy.
It’s an interesting wrinkle for a sport that is built so thoroughly on longevity and depth. Baseball teams play multi-game series all season and the bulk of the playoffs is determined by best-of-five and best-of-seven-game series.