By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL/Designated Writers

When Major League Baseball adopted the current wild card format of one-game-for-the-marbles, I hated it. Thought it was the worst idea they had come up with since Disco Demolition Night. Mainly because it seemed counter-intuitive to what the baseball schedule is all about, which is built around a series of games.

It also didn’t help that in the first year it was adopted (2012), my favorite team (Atlanta) got one-and-outed by the St. Louis Cardinals. (It was also the last game for Chipper Jones and there was a horrible infield fly call, but I digress.)

Now, I love it. A brilliant idea.

There’s no easing into the baseball postseason. Right out of the chute, it’s the equivalent of a Game 7. And then there’s another one the next night. Two teams play 162 games to get into the playoffs and then are done after game 163.

Don’t like it? Then win your division. It also brings lots of interesting strategies into play, especially if you are fighting to win the division and then get stuck in the wild card game without adequate pitching.

The Washington Nationals have two great pitchers and used BOTH of them Tuesday night against Milwaukee. They weren’t going down with any bullets left in the chamber.

In 2014, the underdog Kansas City Royals won a memorable Wild Card Game against Oakland and used that momentum to make it all the way to the World Series against San Francisco., They won it the next year. Do they do that without winning the Wild Card game the previous year? Maybe not.

It’s baseball and anything can happen in a one-game situation. Doesn’t matter who is pitching or where the game is played — there’s an element of luck that’s involved in the Wild Card Game that you don’t get at any other point in the season.

Tonight, it will be Tampa Bay vs. Oakland. Not exactly the marquee matchup that some would think you need. But the season will end for one of them tonight and that’s all the intrigue that you need.