Jim Bowden's Idea to Fix Wild Card Series is Spot On

The Major League Baseball playoffs are in full swing with the Division Series matchups having begun on Saturday. Prior to that was the wild card round, which is now a best-of-three series, meaning the first team to win two games advances to the next round.

However, there have been several complaints from fans about the current playoff format, specifically the wild card series. Prior to the implementation of the best-of-three series, there were only two wild cards per league, who played each other in a sudden death game to determine who advanced to the Division Series.

Jim Bowden of The Athletic shared his opinion on how to potentially fix the current format.

"Whoever has won Game 1 of the best 3 Wild Card Series under this format has now won 19 of the 20 series," Bowden posted on X. "Therefore, it's time to eradicate this format and go back to the one game win or go home format and use game 163 once again as tie breakers. More exciting with similar results."

Whoever has won Game 1 of the best 3 Wild Card Series under this format has now won 19 of the 20 series. Therefore, it's time to eradicate this format and go back to the one game win or go home format and use game 163 once again as tie breakers. More exciting with similar results
— Jim Bowden⚾️ (@JimBowdenGM) October 2, 2026

How to fix wild card round

Sep 30, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; The Chicago White Sox pose for a photo after a win against the Houston Astros in game two of the Wildcard round for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Even if the postseason remains six teams per league, Bowden is correct that making the wild card round just one game would add a little more drama and excitement. Only once has a team that has won the wild card series gone on to lose the series.

Having tiebreaker games would also add to the excitement of the postseason and the end of the regular season. Perhaps then, there would be a little more parity in the sport, as some have hoped for.

There are other ways to fix the playoff format, such as not having division winners play a wild card series, but this would certainly be a good start. More drama and excitement is a good thing for the sport, and it would add a little more randomness to the playoffs.

If anything, the three wild card format has taken some of that away and made it a little less competitive. This way, it could truly come down to which team is the hottest at the right time.

While there have been some examples of that in the new format, it has been few and far between, so the need to fix the format is certainly there. Perhaps this is something that could be discussed during the CBA negotiations in the offseason and be in place for 2027 and beyond.

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