The one-game Wild Card game playoff, introduced in 2012, has been met with mixed reactions. Some like it because of the winner-take-all format adds intrigue. Others dislike it because one game can be decided by so many factors that don’t necessarily have anything to do with either team’s performance.

Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen is one who dislikes it, and it’s easy to see why. His Pirates were ousted from postseason contention in each of the past two seasons, getting shut out by the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner in 2014 and the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta last year. John Perrotto of the Beaver County Times reports:

“You run into a hot pitcher who has his best stuff and your season is over in one night,” McCutchen said. “It really stings. You play all season to get to the playoffs and it doesn’t seem quite fair that you have no margin for error. It was hard to watch the rest of the playoffs (last year). We had big dreams.”

Perrotto notes that McCutchen will have a chance to speak to MLBPA executive director Tony Clark on Friday when he visits the Pirates. “I’m not going to necessarily lobby the union for it, but I think it would be much more fair,” McCutchen said of making the Wild Card playoff into an actual series.

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