The NL wild-card game wasn’t quite the dramatic affair that its American League counterpart was, a sentence that falls in the category of massive understatements. The San Francisco Giants rolled past the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0. Madison Bumgarner looked unhittable, throwing a complete-game four-hitter and Brandon Crawford hit a grand slam in the fourth inning that took the air out of PNC Park early.
The MLB playoffs started in about as dramatic a fashion as you can get, with the Kansas City Royals rallying multiple times—from 2-0 down in the first, 7-3 down in the eighth and finally 8-7 down in the 12th when they scored twice and beat the Oakland A’s 9-8. In the short history of the wild-card game, this is easily the best one played and will likely hold the designation for a while.
The one-and-done battles of the baseball playoffs go the next two nights, with MLB wild-card games on tap for Tuesday and Wednesday. The Bay Area is going on the road, with the Oakland A’s traveling to Kansas City for Tuesday night, and the San Francisco Giants packing up for Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. Here’s some thoughts on each game…