The term wild card refers broadly to a tournament or playoff berth awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal play. In North American professional sports leagues, wild card refers to a team that qualifies for the championship playoffs without winning their specific subdivision (usually called a conference or division) outright. The number of wild card teams varies. In most cases, the rules of the league call for the wild card team to survive an extra round and/or to play the majority of their postseason games away from home.

The term should not be confused with playoff formats that call for a set number of teams to qualify per division. The American Football League's 1969 playoffs (qualifying the top two finishers from each division), the National Basketball Association's 1967-1970 playoffs (qualifying the top four finishers from each division) and 1970-1972 playoffs (qualifying the top two finishers in each division), and the National Hockey League's 1968-1974 and 1982-1994 playoffs (qualifying the top four finishers from each division) should not be confused with wild-card playoff formats. When a wild-card playoff format is used, the number of teams that may qualify per division is not fixed; the divisional champion will usually qualify automatically, but non-division finishers qualify based on record either in the league overall or within a conference.

Major League Baseball

In Major League Baseball, the wild-card playoff spot is given to the team in each league with the best record among divisional second-place teams. This was implemented after the league expanded to 28 teams, increasing the chances for teams to make it into the post-season. 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.

A wild-card team must surrender home-field advantage in its Division Series (ALDS and NLDS) and, if it wins through, in the League Championship Series (ALCS and NLCS). 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, and since 2003 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 2003 and 2004 were also wild-card teams.

In the Division Series, the wild-card team (which could be considered analogous to the fourth seed in other sports tournaments) plays the team with the best record in the league as long as the two teams are in different divisions. An MLB rule prohibits teams in the same division from facing each other in the Division Series. In the event that a wild-card team is in the same division as the team with the best record, the former will play the second-best team in the league while the latter will face the third-best. This parallels the policy of the NFL after the NFL/AFL merger, when the league opted to include a wild-card team in each conference’s playoffs. (From 1970 to 1989, NFL teams in the same division couldn't meet in the divisional playoffs. This policy ensured that the two best teams in a given conference could face off in the conference championship, even if both were from the same division.)

Wild card World Series champions

• 1997 Florida Marlins
• 2002 Anaheim Angels
• 2003 Florida Marlins
• 2004 Boston Red Sox

See also: List of AL Wildcard winners and List of NL Wildcard winners

National Football League

Main article: NFL playoffs

In the NFL, each of the two conferences send two wild-card teams along with four division champions to its postseason. The first round of the playoffs is called the "Wild Card Round". In this round, each conference's two best (by regular-season record) division champions are exempted from play and granted automatic berths in the "Divisional Round". The four division champions are seeded from #1 through #4, while the two wild card teams are seeded #5 and #6; within these separations, seeding is by regular-season record. In the "Wild Card Round", the #6 team (a wild card team) plays against the #3 team (a division champion) and the #5 team (a wild card team) plays against the #4 team (a division champion). The division champions have automatic home-field advantage in these games. In the "Divisional Round", the worst seeded remaining team plays the #1 seeded team, while the best seeded remaining team that played in the wildcard round play the #2 seed. Both the #1 seed and #2 seed have home-field advantage in the divisional round. See NFL playoffs.

The NFL was the first league to ever use the wild-card format. When the league realigned into two conferences of three divisions each in 1970, it wanted an even four-team playoff field in each conference. This was established by having the three division champions in each conference joined by the best second-place finisher in the conference. At first, this team was referred as the "Best Second-Place Team" (or sometimes simply as the "Fourth Qualifier"). The media, however, began referring to the qualifying teams as "wild cards." Eventually, the NFL officially adopted the term. From 1970-1977, the divisional playoffs featured the #1 seed hosting the wild card team and the #2 seed hosting the #3 seed unless the #1 seed and wild card team were divisional rivals. In that case, the #1 seed hosted the #3 seed and the #2 seed hosted the wild card team. (This policy is currently used by Major League Baseball in its Division Series).

The number of wild-card qualifiers was expanded to two per conference in 1978 - the divisional winners were granted a bye week whilst the wild card teams played (hence the origin of the phrase "Wild-Card Round"). Like wild card teams before, the wild card game winner played the #1 seed, or the #2 seed if they and the #1 seed were divisional rivals. The playoffs were expanded again to three wild cards per conference in 1990 with the lowest ranked divisional winner losing its bye (and divisional rivals could now meet in the divisional playoffs). Following the addition of the Houston Texans in 2002 the league added a fourth division to each conference. The league decided not to change the number of playoff teams and thus the number of wild card qualifiers was reduced to two per conference.

Wild card Super Bowl champions

• 1980 Oakland Raiders-Super Bowl XV (played in 1981)
• 1997 Denver Broncos-Super Bowl XXXII (played in 1998)
• 2000 Baltimore Ravens-Super Bowl XXXV (played in 2001)
• 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers-Super Bowl XL (played in 2006)

Professional Tennis

In professional tennis tournaments, a wild card refers to a tournament entry awarded to a player at the discretion of the organizers. All ATP and WTA tournaments have a few spots set aside for wild cards in both the main draw, and the qualifying draw, for players who otherwise would not have made either of these draws with their professional ranking. They are usually awarded to players from the home country, promising young players, players that are likely to draw a large crowd, or players who were once ranked higher and are attempting a comeback (e.g. Alicia Molik at the 2006 US Open). In 2001, Goran Ivanisevic won the Wimbledon Mens Singles Championships having been handed a wildcard entry by the organising All England Tennis and Croquet Club.

Motorsport

In several forms of motor racing, the term 'wild card' is used for competitors only involved in individual rounds of a championship, usually their local round. The 125cc and 250cc world championships, as well as the World Superbike series up to 2003, have often ran to identical regulations to many regional championships, allowing regulars from those to enter the world series races at their own track. As they have local knowledge (often having raced that circuit on that bike before) and can afford to take risks without planning for a championship, they often upset established runners. Makoto Tamada and Shaky Byrne have both taken double victories in WSBK rounds in their home countries.

They are not unknown in car racing either, although modern-day Formula One makes it prohibitively expensive and manpower-heavy for teams to enter a single F1 race. John Love came close to winning the 1967 South African Grand Prix in a wild card type situation, long before the term had been coined. Although the term is rarely used in NASCAR, the concept of a road course ringer is similar. Before the late-1990s, NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series races in the West and Northeast respectively would have several drivers from the Winston West and Busch North series, as the series regulations were very similar, and until the mid-2000s, ARCA drivers would usually attempt Cup races in the Midwest and at restrictor-plate races.

NBA and NHL

Although the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League include wild-card teams in their playoff structures, the term "wild card" is seldom used in the NBA or NHL; instead, each playoff team is most commonly denoted by its seeding position within the conference.

In the NHL, division champions within each conference are given the #1 through #3 seeds based on their regular-season records. The five wild-card teams are awarded the #4 through #8 seeds, also based on their regular-season records. The division champions (first, second, and third seeds) and the best wild-card team (fourth seed) are given home ice advantage in the opening playoff series, in which they face the eighth-, seventh-, sixth- and fifth-seeded wild card teams, respectively.

The initial bracketing of the NBA playoffs by seed is identical to that of the NHL. However, the NBA playoffs have one feature unique in North American professional sports—home court advantage is determined strictly by regular-season record, without regard to seeding.

Before the 2006-07 NBA season, the NBA seeded its teams in the same manner as the NHL. Now, the NBA seeds the three division winners and the wild-card team with the best record by regular-season record. This means that the wild-card with the best record can now get a seed as high as #2 (if that team is in the same division as the team with the best record in the conference); however, the next four wild-card teams will still be limited to the #5 through #8 seeds. This change was made to ensure that the two best teams in each conference could not meet until the conference, and also (allegedly) to try and eliminate incentives for a playoff-bound team to deliberately lose games at the end of the regular season in order to "choose" a higher-seeded team that has won fewer games (and, due to the unique home-court rules of the NBA, possibly gain home-court advantage for that series).

In the NBA, the winner of the #1 vs. #8 series goes on to face the winner of the #5 vs. #4 series, while the winner of the #2 vs. #7 series faces the winner of the #6 vs. #3 series. Notice that the winner of the #1 vs. #8 series will usually play against a wild-card team in the second round of the playoffs; this is arranged deliberately to "reward" the #1 seeded team by giving it the most winnable matchups in the first and second rounds.

In the NHL, however, the play-off format differs slightly from that of the NBA. In the NHL, the highest winning seed of the first round plays the lowest winning seed of the first round in the next round of the play-offs. For example, if the #1, #4, #6, and #7 seeds win their respective first round series then the second round of the play-offs will match the #1 seed (highest) versus the #7 seed (lowest) and the #4 seed (2nd highest) versus the #6 seed (second lowest). Home ice advantage in each NHL playoff series prior to the Stanley Cup Finals is granted by superior seed, even if the "wild card" team had a better regular season record. For the Finals, the team with the better record will receive home ice advantage.

Use outside North America

Although the term "wild card" is not generally used in this context outside North America, a few competitions effectively employ such a system to determine one or more places in a future phase of a competition.

Euroleague

The Euroleague, a Europe-wide competition for elite basketball clubs, has one "wild card" advancing from its first phase, officially the Regular Season, to its second, called the Top 16.

The competition begins each year with 24 clubs, divided into three groups. After the groups play a double round-robin for the Regular Season, eight clubs are eliminated, and the remaining clubs advance to the Top 16. The top five clubs in each group automatically advance. The final "wild card" spot in the Top 16 goes to the sixth-place club with the best overall record, with three potential tiebreaking steps. A coin toss is not indicated as a possible step.

Heineken Cup

The Heineken Cup, rugby union's analogue to the Euroleague, also has "wild card" teams advancing to its knockout stages.

Like the Euroleague, it starts each season with 24 clubs and divides them into pools, with each team playing a double round-robin within its pool. However, Heineken Cup pools consist of four clubs instead of the Euroleague's eight, resulting in six pools. Eight clubs advance to the knockout stages. The top club in each pool advances; the two "wild card" places are filled by the two second-place clubs with the best overall records. The tiebreaking procedure, used to determine overall seeding, is almost as elaborate as that of the NFL, with a total of seven steps (a coin flip is the last).

Philippine Basketball Association

In the Philippine Basketball Association, the playoffs are done after an elimination (in 2005-06, a classification) round where the top two teams with the best records are given semi-final byes, the next 3 are given quarterfinal byes, the next 4 are given entry to the wildcard phase, and the tenth team is eliminated.

The winner of the wild card playoffs, varying in format from a round-robin, a single-elimination or sudden death, usually meets the weakest quarterfinalist (usually the 5th seed). The wild card winner's next opponent for the quarterfinals rested while the wild card phase was ongoing so the chance of advancing to the semi-finals (in which a team rested longer) is slim.

The only wild card champions are the 7th-seeded Barangay Ginebra Kings in the 2004 PBA Fiesta Conference, in which the top 2 teams were given semifinal byes while the bottom eight went through a knock-out wild card tournament. Since the addition of the quarterfinal bye, no wild card has entered the Finals, although the Air21 Express won the third-place trophy at the 2005-06 PBA Fiesta Conference.

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