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Perhaps, but all 3 NL Central qualifiers could end up many games better than the West Div. Dodgers, and one WC game to decide doesn’t seem right. And teams that clinch rest their top players.

Different schedules. I agree with BlackElk, and go with NO playoffs, just World Series. The flip side of divisions with wild cards enabling the deserving runners-up, are teams winning a weak division, who have no business going ANYwhere. In the NFL, the Seahawks went 7-9, won a bad divison, and got to host (and win) a playoff game. In baseball, the 1973 Mets won the Eastern division with a .509 record, and managed to win the five game playoff to get steamrollered by the A's in the World Series. These short series also exaggerate the importance of having a couple of top starting pitchers (this benefited the Dodgers greatly in their last WS appearance, as Orel Hershiser pretty much carried the whole team.)

Of course, even in the good ol' days you had the occasional tie and one game tie breaker (B'klyn Dodgers-NY Giants, and Yankees-Red Sox, Dodgers-Astros in the pre-wildcard division playoff days). I think after 156/162 games, it is safe to say that either team would deserve to represent the League/Division, but only one can.

I would put up with all of it if they didn't give us regular season interleague play as well.

Go back and look at the 1988 season with Orel Hershiser again. His statistics don't support what you've posted here.

He started three games in the NLCS against the Mets, and the Mets won two of them (Hershiser didn't get a decision in either game). His only victory in that series was a 6-0 shutout in Game 7. He enhanced his credentials for series MVP by coming out of the bullpen to save Game 4, though. He did win two games in the World Series, but that looked very dominant because the series only went five games. I'm not sure he would have been ready to start a Game 7 if the series went that long.

That team had a pretty good group of three starters (Hershiser, Tim Belcher and Tim Leary), all of whom had ERAs below 3.00 and won more than 60% of their decisions.

As a matter of principle I’m OK with wild-card teams in the playoffs, but not in any sport where unbalanced schedules make it completely unfair. The NFL is the worst offender here, since the season isn’t long enough to come close to a balanced schedule.