I have zero interest in the upcoming World Series. I will not watch it. Like Loveland, I have come to despise the Wild Card structure. I hate the fact that a 90-win team has gotten into the World Series. The Cardinals don't deserve to be there. They were only the best NL team for the final month or so of the season, NOT the best NL team for the whole season. And the Rangers... well, how could I root for Texas and that overrated ass, Nolan Ryan?
There are too many teams allowed to make the playoffs. For that matter, there are too many franchises in major league baseball, period. But that's another discussion.
Reportedly, your friend and mine, Bud Selig, wants to add yet another tier to the playoffs, allowing more teams in, and drawing out the playoffs over a longer period. I say, NO. Go the other way. Abolish divisions entirely, play balanced schedules, and have the top two teams from each league at the end of the regular season go to the playoffs. If there's a tie in the number of wins among the top league leaders, have one-game playoffs involving those teams that are tied.
Under this structure, your NL playoff teams this year would have been the Phillies (102 wins) and the Brewers (96 wins); in the AL, the Yankees (97 wins) and the Rangers (96 wins). No, not every region in the country needs to be represented in the playoffs. MLB doesn't need multi-tier playoffs that resemble the nightmare of the NHL. Simply, whoever wins the most games should go to the playoffs and the whole process should be streamlined.
I know that the 2011 Cardinals are not the worst example of a team with a relatively low number of wins making it to the World Series; if I remember correctly, that dubious honor goes to the 1987 Twins. Still, the Cards shouldn't be there. Baseball's playoff structure is a travesty and it unfairly rewards teams that get hot at the very end of the year.