NL Wild Card Game 2018: Rockies vs. Cubs Date, Time, TV Info and Live Stream

After a thrilling Monday of bonus baseball to determine the NL Central and NL West champions, the playoff bracket is finally set.

The Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies both came up short in Game 163, and now they'll meet in the NL Wild Card Game for the right to move on to an NLDS matchup with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Ahead is everything you need to know about this year's NL Wild Card Game, with the pertinent viewing information and a full preview of the game.

NL Wild Card Game: Colorado Rockies vs. Chicago Cubs

Where: Wrigley Field, Chicago

Date: Tuesday, October 2

Time: 8 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: WatchESPN

Preview

Chris Coduto/Getty Images

The Cubs head into the wild-card game with the bitter taste of squandering a division title and home-field advantage on the National League side of the bracket still fresh in their mouths.

While they won 95 games, a 6-6 finish to the season ended up being all it took for the streaking Brewers to finish erasing what had been a five-game lead in the standings on Sept. 2.

The Rockies, on the other hand, were in third place in the NL West standings at the start of the day on Sept. 2, but a 19-9 final month that included a plus-59 run differential was enough for them to leapfrog the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West standings and the St. Louis Cardinals in the wild-card picture.

Now those two clubs face a win-or-go-home matchup at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs will turn to veteran ace Jon Lester and his wealth of postseason experience, while the Rockies will hand the ball to young standout Kyle Freeland.

• Lester: 32 GS, 18-6, 3.32 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 149 K, 181.2 IP, 3.4 WAR
• Freeland: 33 GS, 17-7, 2.85 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 173 K, 202.1 IP, 8.4 WAR

Lester last pitched on Thursday, when he threw six scoreless innings of three-hit ball against the Pittsburgh Pirates, so he'll be on normal rest.

However, Freeland pitched on Friday, when he gave up 11 hits but just two runs against the Washington Nationals for his 17th win of the season.

The 25-year-old has pitched on three days rest just once in his MLB career, and it did not go well. He lasted just three innings and allowed five hits and two earned runs.

That could be the difference.

That said, Freeland was solid against the Cubs at Wrigley Field back on April 30 in his lone start against them this year. He went seven innings and allowed six hits and three earned runs, taking the tough-luck loss.

Lester also pitched in that game, allowing five hits and two unearned runs over 5.2 innings for a no-decision. That was his lone start against the Rockies this year.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The two teams split the season series 3-3 and scored an identical 33 runs in the process, but their two meetings came at the end of April and start of May, so it's fair to say they are both different teams now.

As far as hitters to watch, Anthony Rizzo is swinging a hot bat for the Cubs.

He went 4-for-4 with two doubles on Sunday, then crushed a home run to deep right field on Monday.

For the Rockies, David Dahl has crushed six home runs in his past eight games, and he posted a 1.012 OPS with nine home runs and 27 RBI in September.

We've seen time and again that anything can happen in the wild-card game, so we won't bother making any predictions. But if the final month of the regular season is any indication of what we can expect from this year's postseason, buckle up.

All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference.