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Nine players who can decide the Wild Card race between the Giants, Mets and Cards

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MLB Power Rankings (9/21)

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One of the great things about baseball is the sense of meritocracy it delivers. Make the playoffs after the grind of a 162-game season, and you've proven your mettle.

In a way, the flip side of that idea also applies. While you might not get a true sense of a team's skill level over the span of five or 10 games, the randomness that comes with such a small sample size can also deliver also kinds of wild and unpredictable results.