Joe Girardi On WFAN: 1-Game Wild Card Format Is A Swing And A Miss
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Count Joe Girardi among those who aren't fans of baseball's one-game wild card format.
Two days after his team was eliminated in a 3-0 wild card loss to Houston, the Yankees manager was discussing his own ideas for the postseason.
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"Even before this wild card started and we got into it, I've never been a big fan of the format because it's so completely different than what you do during the course of the season," Girardi said in an interview with WFAN's Mike Francesa.
Joe Girardi
Girardi would like to see a best-of-three wild card format, with the winner proceeding onto the divisional round without a day off. Doing so would still reward the top seeds in each league and penalize the wild cards for not winning their divisions. The top seeds would be well rested entering the division series, and they would likely pitch their ace against the wild card winner's No. 4 starter, Girardi said.
"There's just so many things that can happen in one game," Girardi said. "And you play for so long, and to only have one-game chance, it's tough. I understand why they do it. It creates a lot of excitement for baseball."
He noted that the Yankees and Pirates, who lost the National League wild card game to the Cubs on Wednesday, both faced the favorites to win the Cy Young awards in each league -- Houston's Dallas Keuchel and Chicago's Jake Arrieta.
Girardi, however, wasn't solely blaming the format for cutting the Yankees' season short. He said he was well aware that his team was not playing its best ball down the stretch and had struggled against Keuchel this season.
"I was hoping that the fact he had thrown 232 innings, he's been hit a little bit in September, maybe he wasn't quite the same guy," Girardi said. "But he was, unfortunately. And we didn't do anything."
Girardi admitted he had concerns about the Yankees' roster entering the season. When Francesca asked him if he would have signed up in spring training for 87 wins and a wild card spot, he answered, "Absolutely."
