This new wild card thing is bad for Major League Baseball. Just kidding.

With the exception of the Braves-Rockies match up, the baseball playoffs have been some of the most exciting, dramatic games in the history of the game. How about that 11th inning comeback by the Mariners on Sunday night?

Even though none of the area teams (Cubs, Cards, or White Sox) are in the playoffs, I think we’ve all found a team to root for. With this new playoff system, teams like Colorado have found a way to bring back the joy in the game. All the players everyone else wrote-off as has-beens have come back to wreak havoc upon the National League.

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Can you name the starting eight position players for the Rockies?

First base-Andres Galaraga. Second base-Eric Young. Shortstop-Walt Weiss. Third base-Vinny Castilla. Leftfield-Dante Bichette. Centerfield-Mike Kingery. Rightfield-Larry Walker. And Catching-Joe Girardi.

How in the world did this team ever make it above .500, much less the playoffs? I’ll tell you. It’s called teamwork. There is no Greg Maddox, no Chipper Jones, and definitely no Edgar Martinez or Ken Griffey Jr.

During the entire season, this potpourri of write-offs had a new hero every day. One day it would be Dante Bichette hitting the ninth inning homerun, and then next day it would be washed-up Walt Weiss showing why he was once the American League Rookie of the Year. Answers and solutions came from every member of the team.

Teamwork and the new wild card playoffs put the Rockies in the this position faster than any other expansion team in history. It only took three years for the expansion Rockies to become a prominent team in the National League. I can’t wait for the Marlins to catch playoff fever.

Then there were four. Unfortunately, the Rockies fell to the Braves, and the Yankees folded to the Mariners. Now we are just going to see talent and what money can buy at it best- Braves vs. Reds, Indians vs. Mariners.

I can only be exuberant for the future of baseball. It wasn’t too long ago that fans were saying the game itself needed a shot in the arm. Well, it looks like baseball got it’s booster shot.

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