Professional baseball postseason series
The 2020 National League Wild Card Series were four best-of-three-games series in Major League Baseball (MLB) to determine participating teams in the 2020 National League Division Series. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, MLB expanded the postseason from 10 to 16 teams (8 for each league) with all teams starting in the wild card round instead of holding the regular Wild Card Game for each league. All games for each series were played at the higher seeded team's home ballpark and were a best of 3 series.
The matchups were:
Because of the expanded postseason format, the National League Central became the first division in MLB history with four teams in the postseason in the same year. However, none of the four teams played each other, and all four lost their Wild Card Series, with each team losing its elimination game via a shutout.
Background.
On September 15, 2020, MLB announced the playoff bracket for the 2020 season, which was shortened to 60 regular season games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The postseason will consist of eight teams from each league: The top two teams from each division, plus the teams from each league with the next two best records. The Wild Card Series will be a best-of-three series, as opposed to the play-in game format of the Wild Card Game from previous seasons, while the Division Series, League Championship Series, and World Series will be their normal lengths. The Wild Card Series games will be played at the home field of the higher seeded team.
Matchups.
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Brewers.
"Los Angeles won the series, 2–0."
Atlanta Braves vs. Cincinnati Reds.
"Atlanta won the series, 2–0."
Chicago Cubs vs. Miami Marlins.
"Miami won the series, 2–0."
San Diego Padres vs. St. Louis Cardinals.
"San Diego won the series, 2–1."
Los Angeles vs. Milwaukee.
This is the second postseason meeting between the Dodgers and Brewers. The previous meeting took place in the 2018 National League Championship Series, in which the Dodgers won in seven games.
Game 1.
Walker Buehler was matched for the Dodgers against Brent Suter of the Brewers. The Dodgers took no time to score runs on the Brewers. Mookie Betts hit a leadoff double. Corey Seager and Max Muncy each drew walks to set it up for Will Smith with one out. Four straight balls followed to draw a run in. Pollock later walked to score the second run. Betts hit a double in the next inning to make it 3-0. Orlando Arcia narrowed the lead to 3-2 with a home run in the fourth inning, but Seager closed the scoring with a home run in the seventh inning. Buehler was taken out after the inning for Julio Urias, who hurled three shutout innings as the first of three relievers and received the win while the Brewers toiled with five total pitchers.
Game 2.
Clayton Kershaw was matched for the Dodgers against Brandon Woodruff. An eventful fifth inning proved all the scoring needed, with Kershaw striking out 13 batters in eight innings of scoreless ball. The Dodgers had two runners on base with A. J. Pollock and Chris Taylor but at the cost of two outs. With Austin Barnes at the plate, he hit a single to center to drive in a run and set up Mookie Betts. He his a double to left to score two further runs and make it 3-0 that drove Woodruff out of the game. Brusdar Graterol collected his first career save as a Dodger to close out the series. Kershaw's strikeout total was the most for a Dodger in the postseason since Sandy Koufax struck out 15 batters in the 1963 World Series.
Composite line score.
2020 NLWC (2–0): Los Angeles Dodgers beat Milwaukee Brewers
Atlanta vs. Cincinnati.
This is the second postseason meeting between the Braves and Reds. The previous meeting took place in the 1995 National League Championship Series, in which the Braves won in a four-game sweep.
Game 1.
Game 1 matched Trevor Bauer and Max Fried. Bauer struck out 12 while allowing two Braves hits in ;templatestyles src="Fraction/styles.css" / ;7+2⁄3 innings, but Fried matched him with seven innings of six-hit ball as both teams relied on the bullpens to try and carry the way, with the Braves using seven reliever and the Reds using five. Both teams would hit once with runners on scoring position, but the Reds left 13 on the bases while the Braves left nine, with the Reds leaving the bases loaded twice. In the 11th, the Reds got on with a double and two walks after two strikeouts, but Tyler Matzek struck out Mike Moustakas to end the threat. In the 13th, the Reds garnered two singles and a walk, but A.J. Minter quelled threats to score. In the bottom half, the Braves reached on singles by Nick Markakis and Austin Riley off Archie Bradley to set up for Freddie Freeman versus Amir Garrett. Freeman lined a one-out single to score the winning run. It was the first time the Braves had won Game 1 of a postseason series since the 2001 NLDS, snapping an 0-for-10 streak.
This was the first time in MLB postseason history that a game was scoreless after 11 innings. There were also 37 strikeouts, a postseason record. This was also the first (and as it would end up, only) extra innings game of the 2020 season to not have the runner on second rule, which only applied to the regular season.
Game 2.
Ian Anderson faced Luis Castillo for Game 2. Anderson would allow two hits with no runs while striking out nine for six innings while Castillo went ;templatestyles src="Fraction/styles.css" / ;5+1⁄3 innings and struck out seven with one run allowed on six hits. The go-ahead run scored on a Ronald Acuña Jr. two-out double in the fifth inning. Home runs by Marcell Ozuna and Adam Duvall in the eight inning off Raisel Iglesias proved the final blow needed for the Braves to win their first postseason clincher in 19 years.
For the sixth time in MLB history, the Reds became the fifth team to end a postseason without scoring a run, after the Indians (2013), Pirates (2014 and 2015), Yankees (2015), and Mets (2016), and the first team in MLB history to fail to score a run in a postseason series with more than one game.
This would also be only the second time a postseason series consisted entirely of shutouts after the 1905 World Series 115 years before.
Composite line score.
2020 NLWC (2–0): Atlanta Braves beat Cincinnati Reds
Chicago vs. Miami.
This is the second postseason meeting between the Cubs and Marlins. The previous meeting took place in the 2003 National League Championship Series, in which the then-Florida Marlins won in seven games after trailing the series 3–1. Game 2, originally scheduled for October 1, was postponed due to rain. The game was moved to October 2 and Game 3 (if necessary) to October 3.
Game 1.
The Marlins were making their first postseason appearance since the 2003 World Series, and they sent out Sandy Alcántara to pitch against Kyle Hendricks. Ian Happ gave the Cubs the lead with a solo shot in the fifth inning, but it was one of only four hits allowed by the Marlins, Hendricks was going strong until the seventh inning, as he had held Miami to 0-for-9 with batters in scoring position. However, with one out, he allowed consecutive singles to set up Corey Dickerson at the plate. Hendricks, over 100 pitches at the moment, was allowed to pitch to Dickerson. He proceeded to hit a shot to left-center field that cleared the wall and turn the lead in favor of Miami. Hendricks was pulled afterwards, but two batters later, Miami ended the scoring with a two-run shot by Jesús Aguilar.
Game 2.
Sixto Sanchez was matched for the Marlins against Yu Darvish of the Cubs, with the latter making his first postseason start since the 2017 World Series. Already the first team to make the postseason after losing 100 games the previous season, the Marlins rode the arm of starter Sixto Sanchez for five innings before leaving it to the bullpen, which combined for a shutout. Brad Boxberger, who came in the sixth inning and pitched for one out in the seventh, received the win when the Marlins took the lead in the inning. Garrett Cooper hit a home run off Yu Darvish to break the tie. Miguel Rojas added in an insurance run not long after with a single after Matt Joyce reached with a double. Jason Heyward got a leadoff double in the 9th inning to give the Cubs hope, but Brandon Kintzler struck out the next three batters, which included Jason Kipnis, to end the game.
This was the last game for several members of the Cubs 2016 championship core, including Theo Epstein, who mutually parted ways with the team in November. In total from 2015 to 2020, they had made the postseason in all but one year and won a World Series, but since the close of the 2016 World Series, they lost nine of their next thirteen postseason games. For the Marlins, who had not made the postseason since the 2003 World Series, it was their first postseason series win in 17 years.
Composite line score.
2020 NLWC (2–0): Miami Marlins beat Chicago Cubs
San Diego vs. St. Louis.
This is the fourth postseason meeting between the Padres and Cardinals, with the Cardinals winning all three previous meetings in the Division Series. The Cardinals swept the Padres in 1996 and 2005, while they won in four games in 2006.
Game 1.
Kwang Hyun Kim was matched for the Cardinals against Chris Paddack. Paddack got the first batter in the game out and proceeded to allow the next five batters to reach (which included a home run by Paul Goldschmidt) to make it 4-0. The Padres got one run back in the first, but they were playing catch-up the rest of the day, as Paddack allowed a total of six runs before being taken out with one out in the third inning. The Cardinals saw their starter last into the fourth inning after giving up three runs, but a combination of five bullpen arms held the Padres to one run in six innings of work.
Game 2.
Wil Myers and Fernando Tatis Jr. were the first teammates each to hit two home runs in a postseason game since Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig did it in the 1932 World Series. This is the first postseason victory for the Padres at Petco Park and the first home postseason victory overall since Game 3 of the 1998 NLCS. It is also the first postseason loss for the Cardinals at Petco Park after winning the first four postseason games in the venue's history.
Game 3.
The Cardinals elected to use Jack Flaherty as their Game 3 starter while the Padres went with a "bullpen game" strategy, which would see them change pitchers at the end of nearly every inning, with Craig Stammen having been taken out with two out in the second inning. In the 5th inning, Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a double. With two out, Eric Hosmer hit a line-drive double to score Tatis. In the 7th, now with Flaherty out for Alex Reyes, the Padres took advantage on two errors. The first three batters all got on base, with a groundball by Trent Grisham leading to an error by second baseman Kolten Wong when he elected to try and throw out the runner at second base that went wide of the shortstop. After an intentional walk of Tatis, Manny Machado was up with the bases loaded. He hit a bouncing liner to Tommy Edman that he quickly fielded and tried to throw home to get the runner out, but the ball went out of the glove just as Jake Cronenworth made it in. Hosmer, with the bases loaded, was walked on five pitches to make it 3-0. Cronenworth then hit a home run in the 8th to close the scoring.
The Padres were the first team to win an elimination game using nine pitchers. It was also their first postseason series victory since 1998.
Composite line score.
2020 NLWC (2–0): San Diego Padres beat St. Louis Cardinals
Broadcasting.
The games were televised on the ESPN family of networks in the United States, with ABC showing the entire Cubs-Marlins series, with ESPN2 showing Game 1 of the Padres vs. Cardinals series and ESPN showing every other game.
References.
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