The Hottest Team in Baseball

When Major League Baseball announced it would be adding a second wild card team, the move was met with derision from casual and diehard fans. A month before this season, when MLB decided to move up the scheduled change, going to five playoff teams in each league felt like a money grab. Furthermore, the added teams for October threatened to dull the drama associated with the end of the regular season, which was never more thrilling than in 2011.

Now, though, it appears that the additional teams may make the final two months of 2012's regular season just as memorable as 2011.

As of press time, in the American League, while only one division race has a margin of five games or less from first to second, the wild card race has a mind-boggling eight teams within three games of the two playoff spots. Such a logjam means that with the exception of games involving Seattle, Kansas City, and Minnesota, every single AL game currently has playoff implications.

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