The 2018 National League Wild Card Game was a

play-in game A play-in game ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

's (MLB) 2018 postseason between the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

's two wild card teams, the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

and the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

. The Cubs earned home field advantage by virtue of having a better regular season record. The game occurred on October 2, 2018, with the Rockies victorious by a score of 2–1 in 13 innings—the longest winner-take-all game in MLB postseason history. The Rockies advanced to face the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

in the

National League Division Series In Major League Baseball, the National League Division Series (NLDS) determines which two teams from the National League will advance to the National League Championship Series. The Division Series consists of two best-of-five series, featuring e ...

Background

At the scheduled end of the regular season, the NL Central and NL West divisions each had two teams tied for the division lead; Cubs and Brewers in the Central, and

Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. Founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York, the ...

and Rockies in the West. This resulted in two tiebreaker games being played on October 1 to determine division winners, with the losers of the tiebreaker games—the Rockies and Cubs—relegated to this Wild Card Game. This was the first Wild Card Game to require tiebreakers to determine both teams, and the first NL Wild Card Game to require any tiebreaker game, as the only other Wild Card Game to require a tiebreaker was the 2013 AL Wild Card Game. The Cubs and Rockies became the first teams in MLB history to lose tiebreaker games at the end of the regular season yet still enter postseason play, as they played in the first divisional tie-breaker games needed since MLB's addition of a second Wild Card team in 2012. The Cubs entered the Wild Card Game with a record of 95–68, while the Rockies entered at 91–72. The Cubs and Rockies tied the six-game regular season series 3–3, with each team winning two of the three games in its opponent's ballpark. This was the first postseason meeting between the two teams.

Game results

Line score

Charlie Blackmon Charles Cobb Blackmon (born July 1, 1986), nicknamed "Chuck Nazty", is an American former professional baseball outfielder who spent his entire 14-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Colorado Rockies. He made his MLB debut in 2011. B ...

walked to lead off the game for the Rockies, and

DJ LeMahieu David John LeMahieu (; born July 13, 1988) is an American professional baseball infielder for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies. The Cubs selected LeMah ...

followed with a

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

. They recorded their first

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

in the first inning when

Nolan Arenado Nolan James Arenado (; born April 16, 1991) is an American professional baseball third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Arenado is widely recognized as one of the best defensive third basemen of all time. He is ...

hit a

sacrifice fly In baseball, a sacrifice fly (sometimes abbreviated to sac fly) is defined by Rule 9.08(d): "Score a sacrifice fly when, before two are out, the batter hits a ball in flight handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield in fair o ...

that scored Blackmon. In the eighth inning, Anthony Rizzo hit a single for the Cubs.

Pinch runner In baseball or softball, a pinch runner is a player substituted into a game for the purpose of base running. Description A pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been s ...

Terrance Gore Terrance Jamar Gore (born June 8, 1991) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played college baseball at Gulf Coast Community College. He made his MLB debut in 2014 with the Kansas City Royals and also played in Major League ...

stole second base, and scored on an RBI double by

Javier Báez Ednel Javier "Javy" Báez (born December 1, 1992), nicknamed "El Mago" (Spanish for "the Magician"), is a Puerto Rican professional baseball Utility player (baseball), utility player for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has ...

Tony Wolters Anthony John Wolters (born June 9, 1992) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies, Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Playing career Cleveland Indians Wolters was ...

, who entered the game in the 12th inning in a double switch, had an RBI single for Colorado in the 13th inning, scoring Trevor Story. Scott Oberg recorded the win, striking out Gore, Baez and

Albert Almora Reinaldo Albert Almora Jr. (born April 16, 1994) is an American professional baseball center fielder in the Miami Marlins organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, and Cincinnat ...

in the bottom of the 13th to secure a spot in the NLDS. Oberg became the first reliever to win a postseason game when facing at least four batters and striking out all of them.

References

External links

2018 Major League Baseball postseason schedule

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