A 2022 Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Title "Baseball fans actively following the sport in the 1990s and 2000s will greatly appreciate this fantastic book and its detailed insight." -Library Journal Major League Baseball has had a long and storied history, but perhaps no era has been as competitive and unpredictable as the past 25 years, with an expanded postseason making for an unexpected and entertaining end to each season. In America's Game in the Wild-Card Era: From Strike to Pandemic, Bryan Soderholm-Difatte provides a compelling examination of Major League Baseball since the 1994 players' strike. He reveals how the last quarter century has been the most dynamic in MLB history and argues that bringing wild-card teams and the division-series round into the postseason mix have fundamentally changed how dynasties should be perceived. Following the major storylines for all 30 teams, along with the division races and state of dynasties over the past 25 years, America's Game in the Wild-Card Era is a captivating look into a new age of baseball. America's Game in the Wild-Card Era, together with Soderholm-Difatte's America's Game, Tumultuous Times in America's Game, and The Reshaping of America's Game, form the author's complete, definitive history of Major League Baseball.

Bryan Soderholm-Difatte is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and a regular contributor to The Baseball Research Journal. He is the author of The Golden Era of Major League Baseball: A Time of Transition and Integration, America's Game: A History of Major League Baseball through World War II, Tumultuous Times in America's Game: From Jackie Robinson's Breakthrough to the War over Free Agency, and The Reshaping of America's Game: Major League Baseball after the Players' Strike, all published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Major League Baseball has had a long and storied history, but perhaps no era has been as competitive and unpredictable as the past 25 years, with an expanded postseason making for an unexpected and entertaining end to each season.

In America's Game in the Wild-Card Era: From Strike to Pandemic, Bryan Soderholm-Difatte provides a compelling examination of Major League Baseball since the 1994 players' strike. He reveals how the last quarter century has been the most dynamic in MLB history and argues that bringing wild-card teams and the division-series round into the postseason mix have fundamentally changed how dynasties should be perceived. Following the major storylines for all 30 teams, along with the division races and state of dynasties over the past 25 years, America's Game in the Wild-Card Era is a captivating look into a new age of baseball.

America's Game in the Wild-Card Era, together with Soderholm-Difatte's America's Game, Tumultuous Times in America's Game, and The Reshaping of America's Game, form the author's complete, definitive history of Major League Baseball.

Author's Note

Introduction: Back to BaseballThe Wild-Card Paradigm Shift

Part I: Return to Action

1. Trio of Aces Front the Always-First Braves
2. Return of the Yankees' Forever Dynasty
3. Cleveland's Runaway Central Train
4. The End of the Dodgers' O'Malley Era
5. The Bottom 25 %

Part II: Wrestling With History

6. Wild Card World Series
7. Cubs Lose: Blame It On Bartman?
8. Yankees Apocalypse Now Becomes Red Sox Resurrection
9. Mets Meltdowns
10. Phillies Flip the '64 Script
11. Baseball Back in Washington

Part III: Navigating the Competitive Landscape

12. The Cardinals Longevity Reboot
13. Breaking Through in the AL East
14. Giants and Red Sox Rollercoaster Dynasties
15. Mets Meltdowns: The Superheroes Hubris Episodes

Part IV: Paradigm Shifts

16. Cubs Climate Change in Chicago; Droughts Continue Elsewhere
17. Houston's Cheatskates: A Dynasty's Self-Inflicted Wound
18. Wait 'Til Next Year Comes to L.A.
19. Not the Same Steinbrenner: The Yankees' Long Road Back to Forever

EPILOGUE: Baseball in the Year of Coronavirus

Quotes and Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author