As difficult a task as it is to finish an MLB season with a playoff spot, the wild-card format leaves all of those 162 games down to one crucial nine-inning stretch of baseball that decides teams' fates.
The MLB recently did away with its traditional eight-team format that included just one wild-card winner from both the National League and American League. Now, the top two wild-card finishers from each league get pegged against one another in a single winner-take-all game to decide who moves on to the NLDS or ALDS.
You can argue its merits, especially after the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates posted the second- and third-best records in baseball only to meet in the NL Wild Card Game. But it's almost impossible to deny the intrigue and draw that they bring.
Let's take a closer look at both wild-card matchups that are sure to start the postseason off with a bang.
American League Wild Card Game
Matchup: Houston Astros at New York Yankees
Date/Time: Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 8 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
The seasons of futility that made the Houston Astros one of the punchlines in baseball are not far from our memory, as they posted the MLB's worst record—by far—in 2013. But that feels like decades ago, with how these Astros are playing.
Many expected some improvement in Houston entering this season but nothing near what the Astros faithful got. Houston stood tall amid a season-long slugfest for the AL West between Texas and the Los Angeles Angels, doing just enough to hold off the Angels and squeak into the Wild Card Game.
Dallas Keuchel is a big reason why, and the Astros ace will try to pitch his club's way into the ALDS against the New York Yankees on Tuesday. He dominated them the two times they faced off in 2015, as John Buccigross of ESPN reported:
As tends to be the case in Wild Card Games, however, the Yankees get to roll out their own ace in Masahiro Tanaka. The 26-year-old has been dealing fire all season with a 12-7 record and 139 strikeouts to just 27 walks, but he faces a team that's had his number in 2015.
While the Yankees haven't had any luck against Keuchel this year, the same can't be said for the Astros and Tanaka. In fact, no team succeeded more in hitting off him, as Daren Willman of MLBFarm.com pointed out:
When it comes to recent success, the Astros also have the upper hand. The Yankees are actually under .500 since the beginning of August, while Houston ended the season winning 10 of its final 14 contests.
Houston needed just about every one of those to get to this point, and it's hard to imagine the Astros conceding their new opportunity. Then again, many Yankees players have had this very moment of a postseason game on their minds since their last AL East title in 2012.
With 27 world championships against zero AL pennants, there's no denying who the historical edge goes to. But this game is played in the here and now, which indicates the Astros have a bit of an advantage.
National League Wild Card Game
Matchup: Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates
Date/Time: Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 8 p.m. ET
TV: TBS
Live Stream: TBS.com
Let's just play a little imagination experiment real quick and pretend that the MLB scrapped its postseason format for the method the NBA uses.
As far as the NL goes, the St. Louis Cardinals would obviously have a stranglehold over the top seed and home-field advantage throughout (as they do). But virtually right behind them would be the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates, who beat every other record in all of baseball besides that of the Cardinals.
The Cubs won a whopping 97 games, just shy of the MLB's best record. But with the Pirates boasting one win more, neither team can really believe it's in this position, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported:
Alas, that's how the cookie crumbles in the current MLB playoff format, which is hard to argue against considering both the Cubs and Pirates had dozens of chances against the same Cardinals that beat them out. But as the Kansas City Royals showed last year, starting in the Wild Card Game doesn't mean a World Series bid is out of reach.
Ever since the Cubs' spot in the postseason was secured, Chicago fans have been dying to have this one at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. The Cubs travel to PNC Park instead, but that doesn't mean starting pitcher Jake Arrieta won't feed off the energy, as CSN's Cubs Talk reported:
Arrieta's masterful season on the mound has him garnering Cy Young consideration, but he's turned it on even more as the season has reached the final stretch. He's putting up insane numbers, going 4-0 with an 0.45 ERA in the month of September and allowing a .148 batting average, per ESPN's Jesse Rogers.
His affinity for allowing home runs had him topping the stat books, but another starter in Wednesday's game isn't far off, as Jon Morosi of Fox Sports noted:
Gerrit Cole has been the engine on the mound that the Pirates haven't had in seasons past, going an impressive 19-8 on the season with a 2.60 ERA. He's averaging just under a strikeout per inning pitched, which could doom the Cubs' potent but young bats.
There's no telling how things will shake out between division rivals that finished a mere game away in the standings, but it's pretty clear that whoever's season ends in the process will be wallowing at a big missed opportunity to make something of a special 2015 year.
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