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Which illustrates perfectly why the wild card makes these games so less meaningful.
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It makes these particular games less meaningful but it also makes a whole lot of other games, for many other teams, very meaningful.
Look at the NL wild card race. There are a lot more teams in contention for a playoff spot than there would be under the old playoff system. The wild card also helps equalize the geographical disparity in talent.
Let's say that the Red Sox and Yankees finished with the two best records in all of baseball. Why should one of them be punished on account of its geography?
The wild card resolves this problem by allowing for both geographic representation (automatic bids for each division champion) and pure talent (the next best team, regardless of geography.)
Historically, wild card winners have had more regular season wins than many of the division champions. It's not as though we're getting bad teams in the wild card spot (although we've had plenty of weak division champions.)
I'd much rather see the best teams in the playoffs, even if it comes at the expense of certain late September division chases. Wild card chases are just as fun, and you can't say that the Red Sox-Yankees American League Championship Series' haven't been exciting.
I'll take an arguably less exhilarating September when it gives me a memorable October.