So much for any Game No. 162 chaos in baseball: The San Francisco Giants, Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles grabbed the last three playoff spots Sunday, and the October matchups are set.
Neat and clean, no need for all sorts of tiebreakers. Too bad – that kind of final-day scramble might have been fun for fans.
Instead they could sit back and prepare for the postseason. It opens Tuesday night when the Orioles visit Toronto in the AL wild-card game.
“All we asked for is an opportunity and right now we have an opportunity,” Baltimore center fielder Adam Jones said after a 5-2 win over the New York Yankees. “So let’s celebrate and enjoy this, and get back to work.”
No official word on the starting pitchers at Toronto. Figures to be Chris Tillman for the Orioles against Marcus Stroman.
On Wednesday night, aces duel as Madison Bumgarner starts for the Giants vs. Noah Syndergaard and the New York Mets at Citi Field for the NL wild card.
“We found a way to get back to where we need to be,” Bumgarner said after a 7-1 win finished off a sweep at Dodger Stadium. “If we play like we have, we’ll be tough to beat.”
On Thursday, the best-of-five AL division series starts: Boston at Cleveland, and the wild-card winner at Texas.
“I guess I wish (David) Ortiz would consider retiring early,” said Indians Manager Terry Francona, who previously guided Big Papi with the Red Sox.
On Friday night, Clayton Kershaw starts Game 1 for the Los Angeles Dodgers at Washington, and the NL wild card plays the best-in-the-majors Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Going into Game 162, Detroit and St. Louis also had a chance to reach the postseason. That raised the possibility of multi-team, multi-city tiebreakers, but results didn’t go their way.
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