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America's Game in the Wild-Card Era: From Strike to Pandemic
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 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.
292 pages, Hardcover
First published April 23, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 7, 2021
In the last 25 years, Major League Baseball has undergone many changes, both on the field and in the front office. This book by Bryan Soderholm-Difatte is a good summary of many of the changes and how they affected the game and all 30 franchises.
The book will not have memorable storylines, does not follow a true chronological order of the state of the game, nor will it offer a lot of insight into why some of the changes took place. What it does do is offer a look at the major issues and events in baseball during that time frame in a thorough manner. It also does something that many other baseball books about a specific year or timeframe don't do – this book has good information on all 30 teams in the game, not just the best ones.
So yes, the reader who wants to read about of three major championship droughts that ended in this era (Red Sox in 2004, White Sox in 2005, Cubs in 2016) will be able to do so, but that reader will also read about the Colorado Rockies rise to the postseason in only their third year, the Florida Marlins winning the World Series in their fifth year and the Arizona Diamonbacks doing the same in their fourth season of existence. The New York Mets get plenty of text for their collapses in 2007 and 2008 plus their pennant in 2015, but so do the Minnesota Twins for their run of division titles in the 2000's and their resurrection in 2019 when they set the major league record for home runs in a season. This balance of coverage for all teams was the most refreshing aspect of this book.
As mentioned earlier, no one topic is covered in great detail – readers who want to get a lot of information on major events like the 1994-95 strike, the use of performance enhancing drugs or the cheating scandal by the Houston Astros will get some information on them but will have to go elsewhere for a deep dive. However, the book accomplishes its goal to provide the reader information on every team and every important topic in the game since that strike, including information on how the players and owners eventually came together to be able to play a 60-game schedule in 2020 through a pandemic. It's a good quick read for a baseball fan to gain a little bit of additional insight into the recent history of the game.
I wish to thank Rowman and Littlefield Publishers for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
The book will not have memorable storylines, does not follow a true chronological order of the state of the game, nor will it offer a lot of insight into why some of the changes took place. What it does do is offer a look at the major issues and events in baseball during that time frame in a thorough manner. It also does something that many other baseball books about a specific year or timeframe don't do – this book has good information on all 30 teams in the game, not just the best ones.
So yes, the reader who wants to read about of three major championship droughts that ended in this era (Red Sox in 2004, White Sox in 2005, Cubs in 2016) will be able to do so, but that reader will also read about the Colorado Rockies rise to the postseason in only their third year, the Florida Marlins winning the World Series in their fifth year and the Arizona Diamonbacks doing the same in their fourth season of existence. The New York Mets get plenty of text for their collapses in 2007 and 2008 plus their pennant in 2015, but so do the Minnesota Twins for their run of division titles in the 2000's and their resurrection in 2019 when they set the major league record for home runs in a season. This balance of coverage for all teams was the most refreshing aspect of this book.
As mentioned earlier, no one topic is covered in great detail – readers who want to get a lot of information on major events like the 1994-95 strike, the use of performance enhancing drugs or the cheating scandal by the Houston Astros will get some information on them but will have to go elsewhere for a deep dive. However, the book accomplishes its goal to provide the reader information on every team and every important topic in the game since that strike, including information on how the players and owners eventually came together to be able to play a 60-game schedule in 2020 through a pandemic. It's a good quick read for a baseball fan to gain a little bit of additional insight into the recent history of the game.
I wish to thank Rowman and Littlefield Publishers for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
March 7, 2024
If you were to take a college course in baseball: 1995-2020 this would be perfect. And it might be interesting and a fun read. It certainly would be a cool class. As baseball fan, not so much. It’s got some decent sections but it’s repetitive and often just an endless recitation of stats and brief series recaps. And. What. The. Hell. Is with a all the uses of "'Twas". My goodness.
Another problem is that in chronicling seemingly every teams postseason history separately the author ends up constantly repeating himself. For instance, you'll learn about the Yankees climbing off the mat to win game 1 in the 2000 Series thanks to the legendary O'Neill at bat vs. Benitez in one chapter and then you'll learn a few chapters later about the Mets gagging in game 1 thanks to Benitez's inability to put away O'Neill and walking him in the 9th inning of game 1 of the 2000 Series which ultimately led to a tie game and an extra inning loss. You'll learn about the Phillies comeback in the section on the Mets collapses and then in the Phillies section.
Another problem is that in chronicling seemingly every teams postseason history separately the author ends up constantly repeating himself. For instance, you'll learn about the Yankees climbing off the mat to win game 1 in the 2000 Series thanks to the legendary O'Neill at bat vs. Benitez in one chapter and then you'll learn a few chapters later about the Mets gagging in game 1 thanks to Benitez's inability to put away O'Neill and walking him in the 9th inning of game 1 of the 2000 Series which ultimately led to a tie game and an extra inning loss. You'll learn about the Phillies comeback in the section on the Mets collapses and then in the Phillies section.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews