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1995-2003: a new impact player: the wild card

Sporting News, The, Oct 25, 2004

OVERVIEW

* The majors, having adopted a three-division setup in each league in 1994, introduce wild-card playoff teams in 1995--and another tier (the Division Series) to postseason play. The Yankees, without a Series crown since 1978, return to their glorious days of yesteryear.

ECSTASY

* Beginning in 1996, the Yankees win four Series championships in five years.

* In only their fifth season of existence, the wild-card Marlins take the Series in 1997.

* The Diamondbacks go Florida one better in 2001, becoming Series kingpins in their fourth year.

* In 2002, the Angels defeat the Giants in seven games in a matchup of wild-card clubs.

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* Florida, again a wild card, rules in 2003, giving the 11 -season-old franchise its second Series title.

AGONY

* Arizona's Byung-Hyun Kim allows 2-out, game-tying home runs in the ninth inning on consecutive nights of the 2001 Series.

LORE

* The homers off Kim--by the Yankees' Tino Martinez in Game 4 and Scott Brosius in Game 5--give credence to New Yorkers' belief that postseason magic exists at Yankee Stadium. The Yanks win both games in extra innings.

SCOREBOARD

Titles: A.L. 5, N.L. 4.

1995-2003: a new impact player: the wild card

Sporting News, The, Oct 25, 2004

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