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The Wild Card has almost always produced drama this late in the year, but rarely have the races been so tight in both leagues. Entering Tuesday, the top three Wild Card teams in both the American League and National League were within 4 1/2 games of each other. The last time that happened was 2005. It's an imperfect science to use a specific date to track Wild Card standings, because the regular football bowl games season ends at different points each year. This season closes before October starts, and two years ago, it ran as late as Oct. 6. But, with six teams holding a viable shot at the Wild Card -- even if it's a long shot for a couple -- the final week and a half of the season is shaping up like few others have. It's for this caliber of suspense, after all, that the Wild Card was installed in the first football bowl games place. "That was the whole thing when the basic agreement expired, we wanted to add another team," said Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who was a Major Leaguer before the Wild Card was instituted and whose team is trying to hang on to its Wild Card lead in the AL. "I think it's worked really, really well. Instead of just one race going for a division, you have literally four races instead of football bowl games three." The Wild Card standings have never finished with three teams within four games of each other in both leagues, and only a few seasons finished with spectacularly tight races in both leagues. Wild Card races are difficult to examine in a vacuum, because divisional races can alter which clubs are in the picture many times in a season. With that in mind, here's a look at some of the top Wild football bowl games Card races from years past: 1995: The Rockies reach their first postseason; Yankees stave off the Angels In the AL, the Yankees and the Angels -- still called the California Angels then -- were tied with 10 days left in the season. New York pulled ahead a day later. When the Dodgers took over the NL West, the Rockies maintained a one-game lead over the Astros in the Wild Card for the final six day football bowl games s of the season. That sent Colorado to the playoffs in just its third season. 1996: Four go to wire in AL; Expos just miss out in NLThe Orioles took the 1996 AL Wild Card with three teams nipping at their heels: the Mariners (2 1/2 games out), Red Sox (3) and White Sox (3). The Expos were tied with the Padres for the NL Wild Card lead on Sept. 19 -- but Montreal fell to two out by season's end. Th football bowl games e Dodgers and Padres made the race tight in the West that year, and it was Los Angeles which settled for the Wild Card. 1998: All tied upThe Cubs, Giants and Mets took a three-way race until the last day of the regular season, when San Francisco and Chicago both lost and New York -- needing a win to force a three-way tie -- also lost. That sent the Giants and Cubs into the first one-game tiebreake football bowl games r, which Chicago won at home, 5-3. 1999: It's becoming a habit now The Mets and Reds again sent the NL to a tiebreaker in 1999, and New York prevailed this time. Al Leiter threw a two-hit shutout at Cincinnati's Cinergy Field. 2004: Dodgers, Giants tangle again The Astros and Giants were the last two teams standing in a Wild Card race that also included the Padres and Cubs. Heading into the second football bowl games -to-last day of the season, the teams were tied at 90-70. The Giants' run was ended by the Dodgers, who scored seven runs in the ninth and walked off on a Steve Finley grand slam, 7-3. The Astros won their seventh straight game on the last day of the season to clinch. 2007: Mets' swoon changes standings at last minuteThe Mets' great collapse sent the Phillies to the NL East title, with New York le football bowl games ft 1 1/2 games out of the Wild Card spot and San Diego just one game out, behind the Rockies. 2010: Bobby Cox's last hurrah The leaders in the West for much of the season, a young Padres team fell one game shy of the Wild Card, bested by the Braves in manager Bobby Cox's final season. football bowl games
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