I've said it before about what's wrong with the college football system. This is sports, and as counter intuitive as it may sound, sports are not about which team is best. Sports are about putting a competition forth, and letting the teams compete until a winner is crowned, whether that team is the best or not. That's the beauty of it, there shouldn't be subjectivity, only results. I don't love the 1-game play-in and think this could be a bit more fair (like a 3-game series), but that's the competition set forth, and every team has known it since day one. The Cubs and Pirates both knew they had to win the division in order to avoid the wild card game, and they didn't. Tough. Should the Pirates be a #1 seed on the opposite side of the bracket than the Cardinals because they have the 2nd best record in baseball? Who's to say the Pirates would have a better record playing an AL schedule? Or than the Dodgers if they had played their schedule? Not all schedules are created equal - even if you think one is clearly tougher than another, it's still to some degree subjective. And before you say the NL Central was better than the West, remember the Pirates were 9-10 against the Brewers and 8-11 against the Reds this year... Yes, the Pirates and Cubs are probably better than a number of teams that got a better draw for the playoffs, but those are the breaks. It's not about who's better, it's about what's earned, and they earned wild card berths, nothing more and nothing less.