America's Game in the Wild-Card Era

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 JournalMajor 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.

Author's Note
Introduction: Back to Baseball-The Wild-Card Paradigm Shift
Part I: Return to Action
Trio of Aces Front the Always-First BravesReturn of the Yankees' Forever Dynasty Cleveland's Runaway Central Train The End of the Dodgers' O'Malley Era The Bottom 25 % Part II: Wrestling With History
Wild Card World Series Cubs Lose: Blame It On Bartman? Yankees "Apocalypse Now" Becomes Red Sox Resurrection Mets Meltdowns Phillies Flip the '64 Script Baseball Back in Washington Part III: Navigating the Competitive Landscape
The Cardinals Longevity Reboot Breaking Through in the AL East Giants and Red Sox Rollercoaster Dynasties Mets Meltdowns: The Superheroes Hubris Episodes Part IV: Paradigm Shifts
Cubs Climate Change in Chicago; Droughts Continue Elsewhere Houston's Cheatskates: A Dynasty's Self-Inflicted Wound "Wait 'Til Next Year" Comes to L.A. 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