MLB Playoffs 2019: Live Stream, TV Schedule for AL, NL Wild Card Bracket
It took 162 games to get there, but four MLB teams guaranteed themselves at least one extra night of baseball.
The American League and National League Wild Card Games are here, with the winners advancing to the divisional rounds and the losers getting dispatched from the postseason in short order. In the AL, the Oakland Athletics (97-65) will host the Tampa Bay Rays (96-66). Over in the NL, it's the Washington Nationals (93-69) at home against the Milwaukee Brewers (89-73).
The winners will be elated to extend their postseason journeys, but they will be earning the right to run into a couple of buzzsaws. The Brewers-Nationals winner will take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS, a team that just set a franchise record with 106 wins. The A's and Rays are playing for the right to take on the Houston Astros, who led the league with 107 wins this year and feature many of the same players who won the 2017 World Series.
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But those concerns will have to wait. Right now, it's a one-game season for four teams. Here's how to watch.
Wild Card Round Schedule
Tuesday, Oct. 1: Brewers at Nationals, 8:08 p.m. ET on TBS (live stream: TBS.com)
Wednesday, Oct. 2: Rays at Athletics, 8:09 p.m. ET on ESPN (live stream: Watch ESPN)
According to Caesars (as of Tuesday at 4 a.m. ET), the moneyline favors the Nationals on Tuesday at -186 (bet $100 to win $186). They are the home team, of course, and will be sending out ace pitcher Max Scherzer to take the mound against a Brewers lineup that is missing its best hitter in MVP candidate Christian Yelich. The 27-year-old right fielder saw his season end in early September when he fractured his kneecap.
Scherzer is a formidable pitcher who went 11-7 this year with a 2.92 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP, per Baseball-Reference.com. However, he faltered toward the end of the season, giving up three or more earned runs in four of his last five starts. If he struggles to get through the Brewers lineup, MLB.com's Jamal Collier says fellow top-shelf starters Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg are available out of the bullpen.
The Brewers' injury woes extend beyond Yelich. Lorenzo Cain and Ryan Braun are both dealing with lingering injuries. According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt and JR Radcliffe, Braun is expected to play, but Cain is likely a game-day decision.
"I plan on playing but it depends on how I feel," Cain said, per Haudricourt and Radcliffe. "I plan on being out there."
If those two are ineffective or become unavailable, the Brewers will be hoping Mike Moustakas or Yasmani Grandal can help the team drive in the runs they need.
Injuries will also define the Brewers' pitching decisions. According to the Washington Post's Sam Fortier, the Brewers will send Brandon Woodruff (11-3, 3.63 ERA) out to start but will likely pull him after about 40 pitches and let the bullpen try to confound the Nationals hitters.
"It's basically like we're starting in the sixth inning with their pitching staff," Nationals right fielder Adam Eaton said, per Fortier. "There's nothing we can do to prepare for that."
Not much appears to be going the Brewers' way, but they came together and went 12-5 down the stretch after Yelich's injury, nearly stealing the NL Central crown from the St. Louis Cardinals along the way. They are underdogs on Tuesday, but they've shown they can overcome adversity and scratch out wins when they need to.
In the AL Wild Card Game, it's unclear what the pitching matchup will be on Wednesday night. Tampa Bay will trot out Charlie Morton, who went 16-6 with a 3.05 ERA this season. He was excellent in his most recent start on Sep. 25. Facing a brutal New York Yankees lineup, Morton threw six shutout innings while allowing just one hit and striking out nine. Morton also knows what it takes to win in the postseason, having earned a World Series ring with the Astros in 2017.
The Athletics, meanwhile, are taking their time announcing their wild-card starter. The San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser said "vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane hinted" "that Sean Manaea might have the inside track" while talking on a Chronicle podcast, but Mike Fiers is in consideration as well.
Manaea was out for nearly the entire year because of shoulder surgery, but he came back to cobble together a 1.21 ERA in five September starts. Fiers was dependable all season, notching 15 wins and compiling a 3.90 ERA. However, Fiers got roughed up a couple of times in September, while Manaea was lights-out in his return.
Either way, the signs are pointing to a matchup of starters, instead of the committee approach the Brewers will use against the Nationals on Tuesday. Every decision is magnified when there is no tomorrow for the loser. There is no do-over if a strategy or tactic doesn't work out. Two teams will learn that the hard way this week.
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