"Major League Baseball's one-game Wild Card existed for ten seasons from 2012 to 2021 (it was not used in the gross and disgusting 2020 season). In those nine seasons, the top two non-division winners in each league would face off in a one-game playoff to determine who goes on to face the number one seed in the divisional series. While not all of the eighteen Wild Card games were fantastic, many of them were."
"On that brisk October night, Yankees' ace Gerrit Cole faced off against one of the Red Sox' best big-game pitchers of the 21st century, Nathan Eovaldi. Sox fans didn't have to wait long for an iconic moment that night, as after a Rafael Devers walk in the bottom of the first, Xander Bogaerts stepped to the plate. Off a middle-middle 2-1 changeup from Cole, Bogaerts launched the ball 400-some odd feet over the center field wall."
"Bogaerts' home run, along with a solo shot from Kyle Schwarber, three RBIs from Alex Verdugo, and an Eovaldi masterclass, were enough to send the Sox to the ALDS with a 6-2 win. All of those, along with a now-iconic Stantonian home run and an incredible relay to gun down Aaron Judge at the plate, are iconic moments in Red Sox lore. And this was all in just nine innings."
Major League Baseball employed a one-game Wild Card playoff from 2012 through 2021, excluding the 2020 season. The format matched the top two non-division winners in each league in a single-elimination game to decide who advanced to face the top seed in the divisional series. The sudden-death nature produced numerous high-profile, memorable moments across its run. The Boston Red Sox appeared once under the format in 2021, defeating the New York Yankees in a 6-2 Wild Card game. Key contributions included Xander Bogaerts' early home run, Kyle Schwarber's solo shot, Alex Verdugo's three RBIs, and a dominant outing from Nathan Eovaldi.
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