Injustice remains throughout the system, which is why it is so refreshing to see the Pirates and Royals reinvest their revenue-sharing money into signing players above Bud Selig's hallowed (and irrelevant) slots. But the reality is that for all the revenue sharing, for the seeming world championship parity for the last 31 years, less than a third of the season remains, and (except for the St. Louis Cardinals) the highest payroll in four of the other five divisions sits in first place.There were rational, well-thought-out arguments against the concept of the wild card, but without cheapening the regular season to the levels of the NBA and NHL, the wild card has -- in a diminished economy that is increasingly affecting revenues and attendance and financial planning for the 2010 season -- allowed hope.Take what may have been this weekend's two most important series. The first, Boston at Texas, began with the Rangers fighting within a half-game of the Red Sox despite injuries and the crumbling of Tom Hicks' financial empire, which is so bad that the Arlington grounds crew can't afford to water the playing field in equator weather.The other is NL wild-card leader Colorado going into South Florida to try to hold back the Marlins. In case you hadn't noticed, the Rockies went in with a run differential bettered only by the Yankees and Dodgers, and the Marlins could get the deficit down to two games by opening the series with one of the game's true aces, Josh Johnson, who is 19-3 since he came back from elbow surgery in 2008.Colorado. Florida. Texas. Boston. With Tampa Bay, San Francisco, Atlanta, the Cubs and Milwaukee on the horizon. Seven of the wild-card contenders need every ounce of hope to keep up their revenues and keep themselves solvent. Further expanding the wild card to include a play-in series and four tiers of postseason series may be too much, too complex, too reliant on the roll of the dice in a sport that is built around the long run.But 15 years after the implementation of the wild card, it is evident that it has done what Bud Selig intended. Can Colorado build a team on its payroll that can beat the Dodgers over 162 games? No. Nor can the Marlins when faced with the Phillies' payroll. Tampa's run may someday be seen as an anomaly, although they showed that anything can happen in October, like the Angels in 2002, the Marlins in 2003, the Red Sox in 2004 and the Rockies in 2007. Ubaldo Jimenez or Johnson could be this year's Josh Beckett. Hey, the Red Sox don't have to worry about the Yankees; they just have to think about getting into the playoffs and having Beckett, Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon and the rest of the bullpen lined up.The Giants know that their pitching can beat anyone in October (and, this year, November), especially after adding to their offense with Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Garko and knowing Madison Bumgarner is lurking out on the horizon. Even if the Cubs cannot catch Albert Pujols, Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, if they can somehow patch together their lineup (memo to Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto) and cobble their rotation into order, they can go far in the postseason. Remember, their regular rotation of Ted Lilly, Ryan Dempster, Rich Harden and Carlos Zambrano has been together for only two stretches all season: April 6 to May 7 and June 9 to July 3. Lilly and Zambrano could be back in the rotation Monday in San Francisco and next weekend, respectively, with Aramis Ramirez back in the lineup.The season is more than two-thirds over this weekend, and half the teams have a chance. That we're watching every moment of a Rockies-Marlins series on the Ides of August and that the 33rd pitch Victor Martinez saw Friday night would be one of those moments that could last into snow is something we'd never have fathomed five months ago, so the idea worked. And works.

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Boston has to improve its defense. Jon Lester's in-play average is .345, the GIDPs behind him down from 27 to 9, and the team defense that ranks 29th (ahead of only the Royals) has to improve for Lester, Junichi Tazawa and Clay Buchholz. The Red Sox, by the way, did not go after Khalil Greene when he cleared waivers.It may pain the Rangers to face Tazawa on Sunday -- Texas' international scouting director, Jim Colborn, tried to sign him for $7 million. "That they got Tazawa at their number [$3.3 million] is testament to the relationship they built up [particularly with Craig Shipley]," says Rangers GM Jon Daniels. "It also is part of the side value of the $100 million they invested in Daisuke Matsuzaka."

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• San Diego put Heath Bell on waivers Friday, and the Angels reportedly are interested, but several GMs expressed doubt that the Padres would be able trade him. "They should take Francisco Cordero," one GM says. "The Reds will move him."• As of Saturday, most baseball people think the Nats will sign Stephen Strasburg if negotiations with Scott Boras do not get contentious. Guesstimates? Perhaps $22 million for three years, then Boras can go to arbitration for three years and make a deal for $60 million to $70 million for six years.• Fans and media love firings, and they sure have been coming after Trey Hillman, J.P. Ricciardi, Eric Wedge and Cecil Cooper. • The Mets' thinking on Billy Wagner right now is that they'll offer him arbitration and get draft choices, since Wagner isn't going to want to come back and set up for Francisco Rodriguez.