Ten years later, I stand corrected.

And unlike Bob Costas and other self-described “purists” (what a silly word for a game as bloated and diluted as the big leagues), I’ll even own up to it.

The wild card has been great for baseball.

Go ahead. Be a cynic. Think out loud, if you want, that I’ve drawn this conclusion after turning to Page C5 in Saturday morning’s Sun Journal and finding the Red Sox six games behind the Yankees in the American League East.

Not true at all. I’m still sincerely convinced that the Sox will rediscover their pre-trading deadline chemistry and win their division.

If not, well, yeah, walking into the playoff penthouse through the back door beats the alternative, which is jockeying with the Tigers and Padres for choice tee times on Sept. 29.

‘Twas a time when it struck me as sexy to spit upon anything baseball did to market itself differently. Until the work stoppage in August 1994, nothing was an easier target than the realignment of each league from two to three divisions.

Never mind that a division title was easier to win than ever, with as few as three other teams providing the competition instead of the traditional five or six. Now a fourth team was being invited to the postseason party as reward for being Best of the Rest in both leagues.

By doubling the number of franchises playing baseball in October, baseball seemed to kiss away the one advantage it enjoyed over every other major professional sport in America. Everyone but the dregs of hockey and basketball humanity earns a postseason berth, and baseball seemed to take a giant step in that sorry direction.

Then I watched the system work.

Back in the two-division days, being a scoreboard watcher meant that if you were a Red Sox fan, you typically had to keep an eye on one team the Yankees, Orioles, Blue Jays, or whoever else was the chaser or chas-ee in the AL East.

Today, while it pays to keep one eye on the Evil Empire losing at home to Baltimore (hey, it happens to the best of us), you’ve got to keep the other one on the Mariners and Athletics. Plus, you’d better save at least an eyelash for the White Sox, Royals and Twins, just in case more than one of those teams catches fire in September and emerges as a threat.

Over in the National League, two of the three divisions are virtually locked up, yet no fewer than 11 of 16 teams remain in playoff contention. Suddenly, it’s baseball nirvana. A true fan must devour every box score, the same way he or she does in April, because each game matters.

It’s almost as if Major League Baseball smartened up and borrowed a clue from the National Football League. Only a dozen of its 32 teams make the playoffs, and somehow you still can count the number of meaningless games in NFL Week 17 on your thumbs.

That is a commissioner’s dream. Given the nightmares Bud Selig has endured during his years in the hot seat, he deserves at least a fleeting pat on the back.

It hasn’t watered down the playoffs one iota. You still have to play tremendous baseball for 162 games to make the cut (93 wins weren’t even close to enough for the Sox last year).

In fact, the road to a ring is rougher than ever. You have to stay sharp enough to win 11 playoff games, which means it’s no longer safe for the team that clinches early to bench its weary veterans and set an alarm clock to go off in two weeks (are you listening, Atlanta Braves?)

Without fail, a deserving champion the team playing its best ball at season’s end now emerges. Last year’s World Series between the two wild cards, Anaheim and San Francisco, was one of the best of recent vintage.

And consider this: In the other system, it was impossible to see a Red Sox-Yankees American League Championship Series. We may be treated to that scenario for the second time in the wild card’s brief history this autumn.

For all the talk about radical realignment, contraction and collective bargaining agreements that made us radically sick to our collective stomach, we should be thankful that baseball hit this notable home run.

Let’s enjoy it before they mess around and screw it up, OK?

Kalle Oakes is sports editor. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].