The Chicago Cubs will play the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night in the NL Wild Card 2015 game. Tonight's game of course will be a one game winner-takes all, with only one team progressing in the Playoffs and the loser having their season brought to an abrupt end. The game has a scheduled start time of 8 p.m. ET and takes place PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The game can be watched on TV on the TBS network or online through MLB live stream via the link below.
Today's game is the third National League Wild Card game in a row to be played at PNC Park, as the Pirates continue to make their impact on the postseason.
Back in 2013, Pittsburgh made the Playoffs for the first time in more than two decades, and defeated the Cincinnati Reds 6-2 to progress.
Last season, the Pirates had no such luck as they came out against an on-fire Madison Bumgarner, who completely shut down the Pittsburgh batters, giving up just four hits as the Pirates went down 0-8.
This season the Pirates won an astonishing 98 games, which was the second most in the entire league, however, they still find themselves in the Wild Card game as the NL Central was simply amazingly competitive. St Louis won 100 games, and of course the Chicago Cubs were just a single game back from the Pirates with 97 wins, meaning even third place in the division was enough for a Wild Card spot.
After winning more games in a single regular season than any Pittsburgh team since 1909, the team's players may be thinking what more they need to do. Well, it's simple - they need one more win to send them though to a 5 game series against the Cardinals.
Gone are the days where simply making the Playoffs was enough for the Pirates, a series of successful seasons means they have higher ambitions and will want to win here today and hope to progress deep into the postseason.
The Cubs are the team hoping to stop them, and they themselves are making their first postseason appearance since 2008. Chicago also will be looking at how the regular season went and be surprised that 97 wins - the third most in the MLB this season - only got them third place in the NL Central. Indeed, no Cubs team has won that many games in a single regular season since the 1935 team, which went all the way to the World Series before losing to the Tigers.
Tonight's game will be evenly poised, and things could be decided on how a few moments through the game go. The pressure will be immense on the two starting pitchers with so much at stake. Jake Arrieta will be starting for the Cubs after going 22-6 this season, and posting an impressive 1.77 ERA. Opposite him, and going out to the mound for the Pirates will be Gerrit Cole, who went 19-8 this season with a 2.60 ERA.
Tonight's massive NL Wild Card game 2015 between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs has a scheduled start time of 8 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the TBS network or online through MLB live stream by clicking here.
