The best-of-five division series, which began in 1995, had some indelible moments, but they happened too infrequently. Before the wild-card game, baseball had staged 17 consecutive postseasons that began with four best-of-five division series. When the very best teams lose at least 55 or 60 games per season, one game proves very little. wild-card game at 11:53 p.m. local time on Sept. 30. wild-card game.

Source: New York Times October 04, 2017 00:52 UTC