2014 NL Wild Card: San Francisco Giants vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

voting Giants but pretty sure the Pirates will win.

PIRATES DUH JFC but mostly cause i hate the giants rn

i am admittedly into hunter pence's daniel bryan fandom

Go Pirates

Don't be greedy, San Francisco.

cant vote against ed volquez

Go Pirates

― Andy K, Sunday, September 28, 2014 6:35 PM

^^^

Both wild card games are designed to break my heart. I'll be going all the way for the team that wins this one.

But go Giants, Hunter Pence has never been to Falling Waters.

when your season comes down to one game and you hand the ball to edinson volquez

what u get for trying to take our division :<
volquez been pretty damn good recently.
1 game to decide anything in baseball is terrible. drown bud selig.

I take it you did not approve of starting Cole yeterday then, mook?

1 game to decide anything in baseball is terrible

You mean like the 7th game of the WS?

Like a tiebreaker to decide the division winner?

i'm totally cool with deciding the what wild-card team advances through a dumb one-game playoff.

bnw, you don't think this is all to decide the best team in each league do ya? we know that, it's the Angels and Nats.

I'm totally cool with it too, it's not perfect but better than the previous setup, where winning your division didn't mean anything.

xpost

i'll give you that, it is better that the wild card team gets less of a free ride.

no, actually i'm happy that they went for it and started liriano/cole over the weekend. less happy that they went 7-12 against the reds this year and were outscored by 25 runs. (losing records against stl and mil too, despite outscoring them both)

and volquez *has* pitched very well lately (though his fip is a full run higher than his era, so there are mirrors involved). i simply find the prospect of him in a high-pressure situation alarming

btw fallingwater is one word and singular

1 game to decide anything in baseball is terrible. drown bud selig.

― bnw, Monday, September 29, 2014 10:12 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

Since they were going to add two more ("undeserving") teams, do you want these to be 3-of-5 so every year there can be a Mr November?

man why does everyone give a fuck about a few days into november thing, just start the season a week earlier i hate waiting for baseball to start

and i'd be cool with 2 out of 3

Voted Pier Rats.

why does everyone give a fuck about a few days into november thing

have you ever shivered through a mid-October playoff game in NYC? I have.

(last row of Shea Stadium, coldest 4 hours of my life)

Maybe we should move all the teams to California.

have you ever shivered through a mid-October playoff game in NYC? I have.

― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Monday, September 29, 2014 2:04 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i would be glad to but unfortunately i'm an orioles fan who wasn't alive in 1983

if they can play super bowls in snow we can deal with some autumn chills

also i had this whole great idea about starting the season earlier and i'm feeling kind of unappreciated right now

if they can play super bowls in snow

u know, i don't FP but

ok all WS games will be played in football stadiums in the south and the ASG will go back to not mattering

next year the season shifts forward -- opening night is sunday april 5, last day of the regular season is sunday october 4 -- so there might be some serious november action

they should do Turn Back the Clock Year and go back to 4 divisions.

And have Atlanta and SF in the NL West again?

and have 26 teams?

24 pref

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WbMY23sDmDE/Thu1kp287fI/AAAAAAAAIA8/Bwbu7mR0u-0/s400/1971%2BAll%2BStar%2BGame%2BAnnouncers.png

If they bring back Joe Schultz, I'm all for it.

I'd like to see Pittsburgh win the game, but Eddie is not the guy I would want to have start. Volquez had a pretty good season off the scrap heap for the Bucs, but I hope it goes better than his first playoff start where he didn't make it through the 2nd and the Reds got no hit.

This play in game would have more intrigue if the Pirates could face the Cards or Giants face LA if they won.

LA vs. SF isn't interesting, they just trot out Ker$haw and Greinke and the Giants maybe take the one game neither of them pitches in, we've already heard that story a bunch of times this season.

The real battle is between the LA and SF fans. There seems to be some crazy thing goes down when they play each other.

If they play each other, it will be better to see the Dodgers and Giants play in the NL championship anyway.

Cards and Pirates is just a divisional bitch fest, although St. Louis under Matheny is way less bitchy than with the queen. Pittsburgh pitchers hit about a batter a game, so there is always that.

http://a.espncdn.com/i/mlb/fh/beat_em_bucs_fh_title.png

yeah, 71, 79 -- whatever it takes

You got a shot for a 71 & 79 rematch out there with the O's around too.

"Step to pick off, Morton!"

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

will be getting home a bit late, didn't adjust schedule for this day. hope i will be able to adjust in the future as this goes on with my team in it.

Go Giants!

ok, i took my dose of steroids this morning, so i should be awake for this

Don't know how I'm going to manage it; yesterday's game finished at 6am here, so no sleep for me. I'm even having to stay sober, because I think a drink will send me to sleep very quickly.

currently having a newborn – i have no fear when it comes to irregular baseball hours. a laugh in the face of your 12 inning marathon game!

Travis Snider btw is a large, pink person

the pinkest major leaguer i've seen since Glendon Rusch

don't you just want to pinch his cheeks?!

awesome

yesyesyes

welp

oh my

in need of Insane Comeback #2

Going to be hard against Bumgarner and the Giants bullpen but it's definitively possible.

Ugh

This strike zone

agreed.

barf

Crawford's GS was the first by a shortstop in postseason history!

Did Hurdle really just bring in his 5th best reliever in the 6th inning of a must win game in a situation when the last thing you want to do is give up any more runs?

managers with bullpens = gen dumbass

Yeah usually that's one of Bochy's forte, he does a lot other stupid things but Dave Righetti and him are pretty good at managing the bullpen. which is key in october.

Now it's Hughes. Hurdle is managing like he's leading 5-0 instead of down 5-0.

Seems like this game has us much quieter vs yesterday's!

This game is over. MadBum too good tonight.

Pence is going to commit a major fielding blunder in this post season.

Bobby LaFromboise is part of my all time french name team. Along with Francoeur and Clem Labine.

haha what they didn't pull Hughes after he loaded the bases with no outs??

#Hurdled

That pitch to Belt was awful.

starting to check the restaurants in LA*

so Bee, what would you recommend?

Only good thing about this game is the possibility that it will be over by midnight EST.

Bobby the Raspberry?!

le seul, l'unique

you really have to pull Bumgarner way earlier than this so he can pitch ASAP in the next series! dumb dumb dumb

i guess CG shutouts are now nearly as venerated as no-hitters

both equally superfluous in the PS if not actively counterproductive

109 pitches is very sustainable.

does bochy keep licking the champagne out of his mustache

omg that was dallas braden???

happy happy

joy joy

Madison Bumgarner is the second best pitcher in the MLB.

you're still buying me lunch next time i'm out there, right?

YES

the Pirates didn't have a chance tonight.

Washington should be able to beat them but the Giants just have a way.

Madison Bumgarner is not the second best pitcher in the MLB.

i agree with Dr Morbius, they should have taken Madison out.

i don't think that is too much of an overstatement. yeah, i bit overzealous about tonight's victory.

xpost

i a

also, even though last nights games was one of the best i have seen. NL ball is still the better game.

NL ball is not the better game.

Bee Ok is wrong about Madison - right about the NL.

Bumgarner's not getting more than one start in the next series without going on short rest, so it didn't matter whether he finished the game or not.

So what did I miss?

Good effort Giants, maybe next year.

I'd argue Bumgarner is the second best pitcher 25 and under. Sale being the best.

Jose Fernandez and Masahiro Tanaka should probably be in that mix.

Matt Harvey, Quintana and Strasburg too. Still, I prefer Bumgarner and Sale.

Ah wait, Strasburg is 26 now.

it was a very good year.

Bumgarner's not getting more than one start in the next series without going on short rest, so it didn't matter whether he finished

^right on this