The following year, the wild-card Marlins were back in the Series, where they dispatched the Yankees in six games, who had faced the wild-card Red Sox in the LCS. Last year, for the third straight time, the wild cards in both leagues — Boston and Houston, made the LCS and, also for the third straight year, a wild card won the Series — Boston.

Before 2002, wild cards were given little chance of getting to the Series, much less winning it. But the performance of recent years suggests that the wild card has as good a chance of winning it all as anyone — maybe more.

So on recent history alone, there’s reason to fear the wild card. Add in two terrific pitching staffs like those of Florida and Houston, and you have teams that are downright scary to meet with everything on the line.

The question yet to be answered is whether either of those teams can make it. The likelihood is that one will. Philly, after all, has to play the NL East down the stretch, and that division has been a meat grinder all year. The Marlins have to do the same, but they’re playing better than Philadelphia right now and, again, they have the pitching to carry it off.

But Houston, if it can escape its current four-game set with Florida with a split, has a better chance than either Florida or Philly, since it gets to play the Pirates and Brewers in addition to the Cubs and St. Louis. Only St. Louis among those teams has a winning record.

And regardless of who makes it, recent history suggests that the extra playoff team won’t be in the playoffs just to create an extra series. It will be in it to win.

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