The 2015 National League Wild Card Game was a

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

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

's (MLB) 2015 postseason played between the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

's (NL) two wild card teams, the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

and the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

. In MLB, the two teams with the best record in each league who do not win a

division Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

play against each other in the

Wild Card Game The Wild Card Series (formerly known as Wild Card Game from 2012 to 2019 and in 2021) are games that serve as the opening round of the Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason. A single wild card game was first instituted in 2012; best-of-three ...

. The game was held at Pittsburgh's PNC Park on October 7, 2015. This was the third consecutive year that the NL Wild Card Game was played in Pittsburgh. This was the third consecutive postseason appearance for the Pirates, all of which came as a wild card qualifier, while the Cubs made the postseason for the first time since

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. This was the first postseason meeting between the Cubs and the Pirates. The Pirates and Cubs had finished with the second and third-best records in all of baseball during the 2015 season, with 98 and 97 wins respectively. However, since they were in the same division as the 100-win

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, they were slotted into the wild card game. The Cubs won the game 4–0, and advanced to play the Cardinals in the NL Division Series. This is the Pirates' last postseason appearance to date.

Game results

Line score

The starting pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates was

Gerrit Cole Gerrit Alan Cole (born September 8, 1990) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros. Cole played for the baseball team ...

and the starter for the Chicago Cubs was

Jake Arrieta Jacob Joseph Arrieta (born March 6, 1986) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and San Diego Padres. Arrieta played college ...

Kyle Schwarber Kyle Joseph Schwarber (born March 5, 1993) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played college baseball for the Indiana Hoosiers and was a first-round selection in the 20 ...

drove in the games' first run with an RBI single in the top of the 1st to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. In the top of the 3rd, Schwarber hit a two-run home run to right field that went into the

Allegheny River The Allegheny River ( ) is a long headwater stream of the Ohio River in western Pennsylvania and New York. The Allegheny River runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border northwesterly into New York then i ...

to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead. In the top of the 5th, Cole allowed another Home Run to

Dexter Fowler William Dexter Fowler (born March 22, 1986) is an American professional baseball outfielder who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinal ...

to make it 4-0. Cole was pulled after 5 innings giving up 4 runs and striking out only 4 batters. In the bottom of the 5th, Arrieta hit Pirates catcher

Francisco Cervelli Francisco Cervelli (born March 6, 1986) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball catcher and former catching coach for the San Diego Padres. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Atlanta B ...

on a 1-0 count. An inning later, Arrieta hit another Pirate that being

Josh Harrison Joshua Isaiah Harrison (born July 8, 1987) is an American professional baseball infielder who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics and ...

which caused a lot of anger from the Pirates dugout. In the bottom of the 7th, Arrieta was hit by Pirates pitcher

Tony Watson Anthony Michael Watson (born May 30, 1985) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels. Watson attend ...

on the first pitch which caused the benches to clear. Arrieta went the whole 9 innings giving up 5 hits and struck out 11 batters as the Cubs won the game 4-0 to advance to the NLDS.

References

External links

Box score
{{Pittsburgh Pirates National League Wild Card Game Major League Baseball Wild Card Game Chicago Cubs postseason Pittsburgh Pirates postseason 2015 in sports in Pennsylvania October 2015 sports events in the United States 2010s in Pittsburgh