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How a player performs when the games matter most could have an affect on his overall value, which is of greater importance to those who are eligible for free agency at season's end. 

While a majority of these players will not stand out in a good or bad way, there are a handful of them who will. As a result, the price tag could rise or fall, at least slightly. A pair of 2012 postseason stars, Marco Scutaro and Anibal Sanchez, each cashed in after boosting their value greatly with strong playoff performances. 

The Boston Red Sox broke Game 1 open with a five-run fourth inning, and they have Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Wil Myers to thank for a large part of that. 

Jonny Gomes came through with the big hit—a two-run double off the top of the Green Monster to tie the game—but he never should have been up with two runners in scoring position in the first place.

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Johnny Cueto lasted only 3.1 innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Wild Card Round game Tuesday and gave up four runs, two of which were solo homers, including one to Russell Martin, which can be seen below.

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Johnny Cueto must've been thanking his lucky stars. He came close to finding himself watching the rest of the National League Wild Card Game from the bench in only the second inning Tuesday night.

Thanks to teammate Todd Frazier's amazing catch, however, Cueto got out of the inning alive against the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

Congratulations, Atlanta Braves! You just won 96 regular-season games, won the National League East by 10 games and are in the postseason for the third time in four years. 

As a reward for all that hard work from April through September, you get to face Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke in the first two games of the National League Division Series starting on Thursday night. 

Cincinnati Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton is only 23 years old and has just 13 games of MLB experience under his belt.

In spite of that, manager Dusty Baker should utilize the youngster as much as possible in Tuesday evening's National League Wild Card Game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

While this would normally sound like a rather reckless strategy considering Hamilton's lack of proven ability at pro baseball's highest level, the matchup and situation make a strong case for Hamilton to play a lot.

Thanks to this bit of clutch hitting, the Milwaukee Brewers reached a League Championship Series for the first time since 1982. With his up-the-middle single, Nyjer Morgan helped propel Milwaukee to a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks to earn a berth in the 2011 NLCS. 

Dustin Pedroia and the rest of the Boston Red Sox head into the MLB postseason as one of the hottest teams around. Win or lose, the star second baseman will have the support of wife Kelli and his wonderful family. 

Russell Martin hits two home runs and Francisco Liriano allows just four hits in seven innings as the Pirates win their first postseason game since 1992 by beating the Reds 6-2 in the NL Wild Card!

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Detroit Tigers have set their playoff rotation, and according to Mike Axisa of CBS Sports, Max Scherzer is going to get the ball in Game 1.