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SteemSports Editor: Ricardo Goncalves - @thecryptodrive (witness)

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SteemSports Presenter: Nolan Jacobson - @theprophet0

The MLB Playoffs are finally among us with the wildcard matches today and tomorrow.

In the Wildcard matchup, the two wildcard teams in each league (American League and National League) simply face each other in a one-game playoff. The winner of this game advances to meet the top seed in the Division Series.

With this being said; if the Giants win they will play the number 1 seed, the Chicago Cubs, and if the Mets win this game, they will then play the Cubs.

Please Note: The number 5 seed, the San Francisco Giants, will be traveling to New York to take on the number 4 seed, the New York Mets, on ESPN on Wednesday night (October 5th, 2016) at:

8:00 Eastern Time
7:00 Central Time
5:00 West Coast Time

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Pitcher Report

The San Francisco Giants will be starting their ace, Madison Bumgarner, also referred to as ”Mad Bum”. ”Mad Bum” finished the regular season with a record of 15-9 and a 2.79 ERA (Earned Runs Average). Take this into perspective, Bumgarner, has a 0.92 ERA in his last 8 playoff games and a 0.61 ERA in Citi Field, the field they will be playing at.

Respectively, Bumgarner, finished 4th in the league for the best ERA. Finishing right in front of him is the pitcher he will be facing Wednesday night, Noah Syndergaard, who is also referred as, ”Thor”. ”Thor” finished the regular season with the record of 14-9 and a 2.60 ERA. Syndergaard is known for his rapidly fast pitches; he throws a ton of 100+ MPH pitches, which is crazy!

“It’s going to be a heavyweight fight,” center fielder Denard Span said: “We’re going to have to pack our lunch and they’re going to have to pack their lunch, because two of the best pitchers in the game are going to be squaring off that night for a chance to move on. It’s all or nothing. It’s going to be fun.”

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San Francisco Giants

The Giants made the playoffs by finishing the regular season in an extraordinary way. Throughout their final 7 games in the regular season, this is what lead them to bringing home a wild card spot:

1. The pitching game was at it’s best since the beginning of the year.

2. Conor Gillaspie, the 3rd Baseman, hit 7-14 balls while collecting 5 RBI’s. (Runs Batted In)

3. Angel Pagan, the Outfielder, batted .409 and had 1 home run to go with that fantastic batting average.

4. Brandon Belt, the 1st Baseman, hit a whopping 3 doubles, he cracked a triple, and slammed a home run to seal the deal.

5. Brandon Crawford, the Shortstop, hit 2 triples and batted .458.

6. Denard Span. the Outfield, hit a double and triple and batted .400.

While the Giants did have a rough second half of the season finishing 30-42 they brought their game to the table when it mattered, in the last 7 games. Only time will tell if this momentum will carry over to the next game versus the Mets.

Interesting fact about the Giants: The Giants reached the postseason for the fourth time under Bochy, all the even years since 2010, and the 12th time since moving west in 1958. Bochy, the manager, has not lost a postseason series with San Francisco.

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San Francisco Giants Injury Report

Name/Position	Game Status
Mac Williamson/OF	OUT
Ray Black/P	OUT
Chris Heston/P	OUT

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New York Mets

The former National League Champions, the New York Mets, are returning back to the playoffs Wednesday night.

With a great amount of star players injured, it’s going to be very rough for the Mets to survive in the playoffs if they do beat the Giants, that is. The odds for the Mets to win the World Series are very narrow at +1600. Who knows though? The Mets had the odds against them last year as the Cubs were a favorite to win the World Series and the Mets beat them last year leading to a spot into the World Series.

The Mets will be lead by the power-house outfielder, Yoenis Céspedes. Céspedes ended the regular season with team highs in the following categories: Home runs at 31, Runs Batted In at 86, and On Base Percentage at .354. These aren’t spectacular stats but they are not horrible either.

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New York Mets Injury Report

Name/Position	Game Status
Steven Matz/P	OUT
Neil Walker/2B	OUT
Matt Harvey/P	OUT
David Wright/3B	OUT
Jonathon Niese/P	OUT

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Conclusion

To close this up, it will definately be a hardcore pitching showdown! Whatever team can get more hits off of the opposing pitcher will most likely end up facing the Cubs on Friday. This will be an exciting matchup, without a doubt, and in all honesty, I don’t care which team come out with the ”Big W” in this game because I know my hometown Cubbies will take home the World Series! ;)

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Betting Odds

Team	Odds
San Francisco Giants	EVEN
New York Mets	EVEN

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Copyright © Ricardo Goncalves 2016

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