People sometimes forget how close Dave Roberts came to getting thrown out in 2004. It was so close that a bad umpiring call could have ruined everything. It was a clutch call by that ump.
That's the one point in its favor. But I don't think it was really meant to make things fairer so much as to keep more teams in it longer. Just my opinion.
2004 ALCS Game 6 vs. the Yanks. 2 calls correctly changed in our favor, including the infamous A-Rod slap play. In Yankee Stadium, and without benefit of viewing any replays.
I think the new WC system is rinky-dink. At the end of August there may still be some sub-.500 AL teams with a chance at a WC spot. But it was a smart move commercially to keep more fans interested longer.
It's all technicalities. In this case the Wild Card games are technically playoff games. MLB recognizes them as such, Baseball-Reference recognizes them as such.
Calling a game a 'playin' game instead of a 'playoff' game is just semantics. The reality is the same in either case. You win, you move on, you lose, you go home.
I still remember Gregg Zaun (covers Jays games and postseason games on Canadian sports network) talking about Middlebrooks having 'alligator arms' on that play.
What I'm saying is you seem to want it both ways. You complain about DD setting us up for a cliff, then you complain about him not making a bigger effort to trade even more prospects and make the cliff even worse.