Here we sit just hours before the first pitch of the 2015 NL Wild Card Game, a game that is supposed to host 2 teams on the bottom end of the playoff spectrum as they cling desperately to their playoff hopes. The only difference is that this year the teams are 2 of the best squads in the Major Leagues.
Never can I remember such an occasion.
Never can I remember a single game hold so much hype.
If you are a fan of either team, you have to feel a little irked. Considering you have been top of the class all season long, and for one side, your playoff dreams will end just as fast as they started.
However, as a baseball fan with no affiliations or ties to either side, I await this match-up with the utmost anticipation. It may be a long time (unless the same thing happens next year) before we get to see the 2 teams with the 2nd and 3rd highest win totals in baseball duke it out in a one game playoff for the right to play the team with the highest win total in baseball.
Cardinals: 100 Wins
Pirates: 98 Wins
Cubs: 97 Wins
The interest in these 3 teams, or the NL central as a hole may and will most likely never be this high again. With stars like Kris Bryant, Andrew McCutchen, Anthony Rizzo, Matt Carpenter, and Jason Heyward. Pitchers like Jake Arrieta, Gerrit Cole, Jon Lester, John Lackey, and Carlos Martinez, these upcoming match-ups are simply ‘must watch baseball.’
It is a shame that only one of these teams will be able to advance to the NLCS. But I will say it again and again; regardless of what happens after the NLDS, the story of the 2015 MLB season should be the incredible battle that was the NL Central.
So tonight it starts, by October 15th it finishes. The best 3 teams in baseball enter, but only one will come out. The battle for the NL Central Championship has begun.