At approximately 1:05 p.m. Saturday, the NL Wild Card scenario became a lot less convoluted .
By beating the 70-win Phillies at home, the New York Mets accomplished three major goals: clinch a spot in the National League Wild Card game, secure home field advantage for said Wild Card game, and ensure the outcome of their final game of the season will be meaningless.
Just a few minutes later, the Cardinals gave meaning to their final game of the season against the Pirates as they came back from a 3-0 deficit to top Pittsburgh 4-3. The win pulled them within half a game of the Giants who, at the time, were in the second inning of a contest that had Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw matched up against 25-year old Ty Blach, who consequently was making his second ever major league start.
Blach’s epic 8-inning, 3-hit shutout of the NL West-winning Dodgers not only caused manager Bruce Bochy to label it ‘one of the best pitching performances I’ve ever seen,’ it pushed the Giants back a full game ahead of the Cardinals.
It also guaranteed their season won’t end Sunday, regardless of the outcome of the game against the Dodgers.
A Giants’ victory on Sunday afternoon sets up a Wednesday night showdown in New York with the Mets, the winner of which will head to Chicago for the National League Division Series.
A loss makes things a little more complicated.
If the Giants fail to close their regular season with a win, they can still clinch the second Wild Card spot if the Cardinals lose to the Pirates. A Cardinals’ victory in the same scenario, however, sets up a one-game playoff in St Louis on Monday night as the Cardinals hold the tiebreaker by winning the season series 4-3.
Should the latter scenario prevail, attention will turn to Bruce Bochy and how the 3-time World Series-winning manager plans to rotate his starting pitching.
Monday night, Bochy will trot out Johnny Cueto and his roughly 220 innings of work this season. Should the Giants emerge victorious, Bochy will lean on either ace Madison Bumgarner on three days of rest or offseason splash signing Jeff Samardzija on six in New York on Wednesday night.
Still, Matt Moore has the power to make that whole conversation obsolete when he takes the hill Sunday. While it may only be his sixth start at AT&T Park in a Giants uniform, his 3.72 ERA and 30/10 K/BB ratio in five starts at home for the Giants this season should give them confidence heading into a matchup with rookie pitcher Kenta Maeda.
Winning not only avoids an extra sudden death playoff game on Monday night, it gives Bochy the leeway to start Cueto on Wednesday while freeing up Bumgarner to pitch Game 1 of the potential Cubs series.
It’s a freedom that Giants fans can be sure their team is taking very seriously.
Giants vs. Dodgers: 12:05 P.M.
Cardinals vs. Pirates: 12:15 P.M.