Like you and I, the Cardinals will be sitting at home Wednesday night as the Pirates and Cubs duel to the (playoff) death, with the victor coming to St. Louis on Friday.
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For the first time ever, baseball’s three best records come from the same division, but because of the way the Wild Card is formatted, two of the squads are doomed to short post season runs.
Who is the scariest team in the NL postseason?
– then we’re in for an interesting fight.
Chicago: So much for the rebuilding Cubs being on target to contend in 2016. In the last 70 years, even the good Cubs’ teams have managed to string together more than two consecutive winning seasons only twice.
Last season, the Royals made it to the World Series thanks in large part to their fielding prowess. “Yeah, we want to win, but we’re here and we’re not losing…well we did lose, but you know, we’re not a losing baseball team anymore”. Fellow rookie Randal Grichuk stepped up and hit. “It’s about the end of the season – the last game of the season – and getting to that particular moment”. They’re after their 12th title, which would be their third in a decade.
On the other side of the bracket, the Los Angeles Dodgers should take care of the very young, but inexperienced New York Mets.
A loss would mean that the team with the second-best record in baseball – yes, that’s the Pirates – would not have the chance to prove itself in a series. The Cubs were 5 and 4 at Wrigley against the Redbirds.
And yes, the NL pitching advantage still goes to Pittsburgh because the Mets’ bullpen is atrocious. Manager Terry Collins has had to navigate a rotation through injuries, innings limits and fatigue with inexperienced – but talented – starters. Harvey, who was fined by the team for not attending a mandatory workout Tuesday, has pitched 189 1/3 innings. But with that in mind, is there anything in the numbers or even in the ether that would make one opponent preferable to the other? 287 with 17 home runs as a Met. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard Cubs’ fans declare that their proverbial “next year” has finally arrived.
I used to feel like I would welcome and celebrate a Cubs World Series victory, and relish seeing such a historic milestone. Of the ten teams with a shot at the World Series, the Yankees and Cardinals stand out as the only perpetual contenders.
Major League Baseball did not announce starting times beyond Games 1 and 2. And for the Pirates, Gerrit Cole will be an excellent matchup for him. The lone exception is the AL West where the Rangers, Astros and Angels are still wrestling over the division title and wild card. The rest of the rotation includes A.J. Burnett, Jeff Locke and Charlie Morton….
Pitching for the major league minimum $507,500 salary due to a clause in contract, Lackey went 13-10 for a team that lost its ace early. He was hitting. 287 with 15 home runs, and they’ll miss his bat….
The Pirates are playing in their third straight wild-card game, all of which have been played in PNC Park, so the city of Pittsburgh has been through this before. Their closer, Mark Melancon, had a team-record 51 saves.
Mad Scientist Joe Maddon has no fewer than five players playing different positions than they played when they first started with the Cubs this year, either on Opening Day or when they joined the team.
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This is what I know for sure: Jack Buck had the temerity to throw his hat out the press box window, but Cardinals and Cubs fans better hold on to theirs.
