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Major League Baseball
See also: Major League Baseball Wild Card, List of AL Wildcard winners, List of NL Wildcard winners, and Major League Baseball division winners (and wild-card winners)
In Major League Baseball, the wild-card playoff spot is given to the two teams in each league with the best record among the non-division winners. This was implemented after the league expanded to 28 teams and realigned its two leagues to have three divisions. Since a three team playoff would require one team to receive a bye, the wild card was created to field a fourth team. The wild card has been in effect since 1995, although it was first intended to be used in 1994, when the playoffs were canceled due to the players' strike. In 2012, a second wild card was added to each league. The two wild card teams in each league will face each other in a one game playoff, with the winner advancing to face the number one seed in the Division Series.
The advantages of the wild card format are that it gives non-first place teams a chance to make it to the post season, particularly when the division has a clearly dominant first place team. It can also provide excitement late in the season in such a situation, and keep fans of non-first place teams interested. Also, since the wild card is not confined to one division over another, fans are treated to a league-wide race for the fourth and fifth spots. Critics of the wild card, such as broadcaster Bob Costas in his book Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball, have argued that, of the four major North American sports, baseball, having the most games (154 or 162), places the largest importance on the regular season, and the wild card diminishes the importance of the regular season by permitting a non-first place team to make the playoffs, and that while it can create a league-wide wild card race, that race is for second place and takes away what would otherwise be a pennant race between the first and second place teams, and can lead to teams playing for the wild card rather than playing to win the division. The second wild card was added in 2012 to address the issue of teams being content to rest players and win the wild card instead of trying to win the division at the end of the season. Also, because of the importance of the one-game round, the wild card teams will likely use their best starting pitchers, leaving them unavailable for much of the Division Series.
A wild-card team must surrender home-field advantage the first two rounds of the playoffs. For the World Series, however, home-field advantage is determined beforehand, without reference to wild-card status. Prior to 2003, it was decided by alternating each year between the American and National Leagues. Since 2003, it has been granted to the winner of the All-Star Game. In the 2002 World Series, both the Anaheim Angels and the San Francisco Giants were wild-card teams. The World Series champions in 1997, 2003, 2004 and 2011 were also wild-card teams. 

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