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For all their successes in recent seasons, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals enter their National League Division Series matchup as relative strangers. They have not met in the postseason despite combining for seven division championships in the past five seasons.

The Dodgers’ two NLDS battles against NL East champions came during the two campaigns (2013 and 2015) where Washington was sitting at home.

Both rosters enter the playoffs with their regular seasons defined by pitching excellence and injuries.

The Nationals rank in the top five in nearly every major pitching category, boasting perhaps baseball’s best and one of its most expensive pitching rotations. Per Odds Shark, Max Scherzer is the odds-on favorite to take home the NL Cy Young Award after posting a 20-7 record and striking out a career-high 284 batters. He’s the rare free-agent pitching acquisition who has actually gotten better since getting the money.

Washington has also gotten an excellent season from Tanner Roark, who has taken on Jordan Zimmermann’s old role of being the awesome guy no one talks about. Joe Ross has also been solid for most of the season and would have a legit claim to the third starter role likely occupied by Gio Gonzalez.

Missing? Stephen Strasburg, who has already been ruled out for the NLDS.

“Well, you won’t see [Strasburg] in the first series, and I don’t even know if you’ll see him, you know, maybe in the second series,” manager Dusty Baker said on McNabb & Custer on ESPN Radio (via ESPN.com). “You might see him in the World Series.”

Strasburg, himself heading toward a potential 20-win season, has not pitched since Sept. 7. He’s been dealing with a strained flexor mass in his right arm and has thrown just 2.1 innings since mid-August. His effectiveness had taken a steep decline over his final four starts, with Strasburg losing his last three decisions and upping his ERA by nearly a full run after beginning 15-1.

The Dodgers spent a chunk of their regular season dealing with injuries to ace Clayton Kershaw. The former Cy Young winner sat out more than two months with a back injury before returning in September. He’s been his typically brilliant self in working back into shape since, giving up four total runs in five appearances.

“It looked bleak there for a little bit. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it to this point,” Kershaw said, per Matthew Moreno of Dodger Blue. “Now that it’s here it’s exciting. But it’s only exciting if we win, so I’ll try to win Friday.”

Kershaw faced Washington once in the regular season, giving up one run and striking out eight in a June 20 win. He finished 2016 with an ERA of 1.69, the third time in four years he’s been under 2.00.

Co-anchoring the staff will be midseason acquisition Rich Hill, who has basically been put in playoff bubble wrap since coming over from the Oakland Athletics. He’s made just six starts since the trade, none of the last three going for longer than 5.1 innings. Hill has been dealing with finger blister issues for months, and the Dodgers have taken every precaution to ensure he’ll be available in October.

But L.A.’s real strength comes after the starters leave the mound. No team in baseball posted a better bullpen ERA, atoning for the Dodgers ranking 29th in quality starts.

Kenley Jansen is poised for a huge payday this offseason after setting a career high with 47 saves and striking out 104 batters in 68.2 innings. Joe Blanton has enjoyed a sudden return to form at age 35 as a setup man, fanning 80 batters in as many innings to lead the team in holds.

The Nationals are nonetheless sitting right behind the Dodgers in bullpen ERA. Mark Melancon was one of the sport’s best midseason acquisitions and might wind up a top-10 Cy Young finisher despite splitting his season with two teams. Blake Treinen and Shawn Kelley have been good in the back end despite not making many headlines.

The series will likely come down to which of these two questionable lineups can catch a little fire. The Dodgers won the season series 5-1. 

“We played fairly well against the Nationals in the regular season, and playoff baseball is a whole different animal,” Chase Utley said, per Doug Padilla of ESPN.com. “We’re going to do what we can to prepare for them and put a game plan together and we’ll see what happens.”

That success hasn’t carried over of late, with the Dodgers losing five of their last six regular-season games. The rival San Francisco Giants can thank their three-game sweep of L.A. over the weekend for their Wild Card berth. The Dodgers scored three runs or fewer in four of their last six games and ranked 14th in runs scored overall.

“We as hitters…I think everybody else is the ones that are talking about it,” said Howie Kendrick, per Padilla. “As far as us as players, you just do your best every day, whether it’s a lefty or a righty. I don’t think we go up and try to [think] any differently against a lefty or a righty, we just haven’t hit them this year for whatever reason. Whether that’s good or bad, we can’t really focus on that going into the postseason.”

The Nationals were a much more consistent eighth in runs scored, but they were 17th in batting average and struggled for extended stretches against good pitching. Their staff being better from a righty standpoint also fares well for the Dodgers, who have struggled all season against left-handed pitching.

Essentially, this series is as close to a push as you can get. 

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After a brilliant 11-game winning streak in September allowed them to move into first place and clinch the American League East title, the Boston Red Sox (93-69) played indifferent baseball in the final week of the season and lost five of their final six games.

That allowed the American League Central champion Cleveland Indians (94-67) to take advantage and finish with a better season-long record than the Red Sox and earn home-field advantage in their American League Division Series.

The best-of-five series begins Thursday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The Red Sox and Indians will play two games in Cleveland (Game Two is Friday), followed by two games at Fenway Park (Sunday and Monday), while a fifth game would be played Wednesday in Cleveland, if necessary.

Even though the Indians have the advantage of playing a potentially decisive game on their own turf, they could have a difficult time surviving this series. Injuries have hurt the Cleveland pitching staff, while the Red Sox starting pitching has improved throughout the season.

Earlier in the year, the Indians appeared to have the starting pitching advantage with Trevor Bauer, Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco. However, Salazar and Carrasco are both on the shelf with injuries.

The Red Sox have Cy Young candidates Rick Porcello and David Price at the top of their rotation followed by the resurgent Clay Buchholz and Eduardo Rodriguez.

The Indians are likely to go with veteran right-hander Josh Tomlin as their Game 3 starter, before returning to Bauer and Kluber for the final two games, if necessary.

Porcello had a brilliant season, compiling a 22-4 record along with a 3.15 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP, according to CBSSports.com. Price was inconsistent for more than half the season, but he found his stride after the All-Star Game and finished with a 17-9 record and a 3.99 ERA.

Bauer was 12-8 with a 4.26 ERA this season, but he was not effective when facing the Red Sox. Bauer gave up six runs on 10 hits in two games against Boston, and his ERA was 9.00 against them, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.

The Red Sox have a powerful lineup that includes Dustin Pedroia (.318 batting average, 201 hits), Mookie Betts (.318, 31 home runs, 113 RBI, 26 stolen bases), David Ortiz (.315, 38 HR) and Hanley Ramirez (30 HR, 111 RBI), and they may be licking their chops for a chance to get at Bauer.

The Indians have a couple of strong power bats in Mike Napoli (a former Red Sox star) and Carlos Santana. Both players slugged 34 home runs this season and they will be difficult to shut down.

Porcello had just one start vs. the Indians and pitched well in 5.2 innings, while Price was 1-0 with a 3.15 ERA against Cleveland.

Red Sox manager John Farrell said his team is still in good shape even though it had a tough final week. “We’re still very confident,” Farrell told Cafardo. “We’re very confident in how we’ve played on the road. That’s what we’re dealt with and we’ll deal with it.”

The Red Sox would seem to have an advantage in this series because of their powerful offense. They scored a league-high 878 runs, 101 more than the Indians who finished second in that category. Combine that with the health of the starting pitching and the Red Sox are likely to be moving on to the American League Championship Series.

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After an exciting September that featured tightly contested postseason races in both leagues, the 2016 MLB playoffs are finally upon us with the field already set despite the regular season ending on Monday.

The quest for the World Series begins Tuesday with the American League Wild Card Game, while the National League Wild Card Game begins a day later. Although these contests are winner-take-all showdowns, they could have had serious implications on the rest of the postseason. In 2014, the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants used wild-card wins as springboards to meet in the Fall Classic.

With that in mind, let us take a look at the schedule for the 2016 playoffs, including dates and start times for each round, television coverage and live-stream information.

The playoffs begin with a contest that pits two powerful teams against each other in he Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays. The Orioles led the league in home runs during the regular season by a landslide with 255, while Toronto finished fourth with 221 dingers. Both teams also allowed 183 home runs each, so both are equally susceptible to the long ball.

Yet the difference in this game could be whether Baltimore can earn a late lead, as Orioles closer Zach Britton led the league with 47 saves while posting a microscopic 0.54 ERA.

On the NL side, a pair of aces are set to take the hill, per MLB Network’s Heidi Watney:

The San Francisco Giants’ Madison Bumgarner (15-9 with a 2.74 ERA) and the New York Mets’ Noah Syndergaard (14-9 with a 2.60 ERA) finished with near identical numbers this season. Thus, playoff experience looks to be a crucial factor this Wednesday.

Syndergaard was solid in his postseason debut last year, going 2-1 with 3.32 ERA in 19 innings. However, Bumgarner is an established baller in October. In 88.1 innings pitched, he is 7-3 with a 2.14 ERA and a save. The 27-year-old is dominant when the stakes are at their highest, so it is tough to believe he will not pitch a gem Thursday.

When looking ahead in the NL, the Chicago Cubs undoubtedly stand out as the top storyline. The Cubs were clearly the best team in baseball throughout the season, as they led the league in team ERA while finishing third in MLB in runs scored. Still, the Cubs have not won the World Series since 1908, but another piece of history is on their side, per ESPN Stats and Info:

Chicago boasts an unbelievable lineup led by Kris Bryant (39 homers and 102 RBI), Anthony Rizzo (32 homers and 109 RBI) and Addison Russell (21 homers and 95 RBI). The batting order boasts tremendous depth as well, with Javier Baez, Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist also posing palpable threats. 

If that’s not enough, Kyle Hendricks—who finished with the lowest ERA in baseball with a 2.13 mark—Jake Arrieta, John Lackey and Jon Lester give the Cubs a solid four-man rotation for this postseason. The team also has a sensational closer in Aroldis Chapman, who finished with 16 saves and a 1.01 ERA since coming over from the New York Yankees at the trade deadline.

The American League looks to be wide open, but look out for the Boston Red Sox.

This team can flat-out score with Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and a resurgent David Ortiz leading the charge. Boston comfortably led the majors with 878 runs and a .282 batting average, and its .246 opposing batting average was good for seventh-best in baseball.

The Red Sox have the luxury of trotting out experienced players in Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia, but the team’s hopes could lie with pitcher David Price. 

The ace brushed off an abysmal 2016 start to finish with a 17-9 record, but his postseason history leaves much to be desired. Price is 2-7 in 14 appearances with a 5.12 ERA. If he can even marginally improve on these numbers in 2016, Boston should have enough offense to be successful. Still, these playoffs will be huge for Price’s standing among the game’s top arms.

Statistics are courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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Two American League East clubs will vie for their postseason lives when the Toronto Blue Jays host the Baltimore Orioles in Tuesday’s AL Wild Card Game.

MLB nearly faced a scheduling nightmare when a four-team tie remained plausible as late as Saturday. If the Detroit Tigers were required to make up a rained-out game Monday, they could have forced another tiebreaker game before playing the actual elimination game.

Toronto and Baltimore, however, made things easy by taking care of business. Behind power-fueled offenses, both squads finished at 89-73 after winning Sunday.

Last year, Toronto ousted the Texas Rangers in a feisty American League Division Series matchup most remembered by Jose Bautista‘s game-winning home run. (OK, probably more the ensuing bat flip). A win Tuesday night would set up a rematch.

Let’s take an early look at the AL’s play-in game.

AL Wild Card Game: Baltimore Orioles vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto

Date: Tuesday, October 4

Time: 8:08 p.m. ET

TV: TBS

Live Stream: MLB on TBS

Preview

With both teams needing to clinch a spot Sunday, each side used its most exciting young starter. As a result, Baltimore’s Kevin Gausman and Toronto All-Star Aaron Sanchez are unavailable for the Wild Card Game.

So who will take the mound at Rogers Centre? Neither team confirmed its starter as of Sunday night. J.A. Happ pitched Saturday, so the Blue Jays will turn to Marco Estrada (on three days’ rest), Francisco Liriano or Marcus Stroman. Unless they prefer Yovani Gallardo on short rest, the Orioles can employ Chris Tillman or Ubaldo Jimenez, who is highly erratic despite surging to the finish line.

Regardless of the two choices, it’s not a pitchers’ duel like the National League’s clash between Noah Syndergaard and Madison Bumgarner. This game boils down to offense and relief pitching. The starters will do their job by navigating five solid innings.

Buoyed by Mark Trumbo’s MLB-high 47 home runs, Baltimore rounded the bases more than any other MLB team this season. Although Bautista missed some time, only the Orioles, Seattle Mariners and St. Louis Cardinals went deep more than the Blue Jays.

It’s imperative for the Blue Jays to avoid a deficit entering the final inning. They shouldn’t want to take their chances against closer Zach Britton, who allowed four earned runs all season. Stats guru Ryan M. Spaeder noted the reliever’s historic season:

The path to Britton, however, is not as stable as earlier in the season. Brad Brach, who earned an All-Star nod with a 0.91 ERA, inflated his second-half mark to 3.94 after relinquishing four runs Saturday. Darren O’Day is no longer an automatic late-inning option after an ineffective (3.77 ERA) and injury-plagued campaign.

Baltimore could instead peg Dylan Bundy as a high-leverage bullpen option. Although the worn-down rookie yielded five runs in four of his last eight starts, he submitted seven strikeouts in 2.1 relief innings to earn a rotation spot in July. That culminated a string of 14.1 scoreless frames over which he tallied 22 strikeouts.

Meanwhile, foolish baseball shenanigans cost Toronto its hottest reliever. Since arriving from Seattle, Joaquin Benoit allowed one run over 25 appearances. On Sept. 26, he tore a calf muscle while running from a bullpen to join an on-field altercation against the New York Yankees.

“It felt like something hit me,” Benoit said, per an Associated Press report, via USA Today. “I won’t be able to get on the mound anytime soon, so personally this is really disappointing.”

Days later, Jason Grilli and Roberto Osuna blew a lead to Baltimore by allowing three runs over the final two frames.

“It was big,” Tillman said after Wednesday’s rally, per Reuters. “I think that could push a team a long way, those kind of wins. It was a big team win, and everybody played a part in it.”

Devon Travis also jammed his recently surgically repaired left thumb in the ruckus, but he looked fine when homering on Sunday. After debuting in late May, the 25-year-old second baseman hit .300/.332/.454 with 11 long balls in 432 plate appearances.

The Blue Jays were assembled to out-hit everyone, but Bautista, Troy Tulowitzki and Russell Martin have fallen shy of expectations. Not Edwin Encarnacion, who remains one of the game’s sturdiest sluggers. In perhaps his final season with the club, the pending free agent belted 19 of his 42 homers after the All-Star break.

Home-field advantage could give Toronto a major boost, as Baltimore is the only AL playoff team with a losing record (39-42) on the road. Toronto also gained a narrow season edge in head-to-head meetings (10-9), but Baltimore stayed alive by winning two of three at Rogers Centre last week.

No stat or trend in the world will unearth the answer to who claims a winner-take-all baseball game. Especially not when the similarly constructed participants exited 162 of them with identical records.

Anything can happen in the Wild Card Game, but viewers should expect plenty of offense during a close contest. Orioles backup catcher Caleb Joseph went the entire season without recording an RBI, so he’ll probably come off the bench to drive in the winning run.

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Sometimes sports can be cruel, and the American and National League Wild Card Games are perfect examples. 

Major League Baseball’s 162-game regular-season schedule is a serious commitment for players and fans alike. The players must grind through the dog days of summer and all the peaks and valleys that come with them, while the fans must devote significant chunks of their time to watching, attending and following such a large number of games.

However, that investment and journey will come to a sudden end for two teams and their fanbases in the single-elimination, do-or-die Wild Card Games. The Toronto Blue Jays will host the Baltimore Orioles in the American League contest on Tuesday, and the New York Mets will host the San Francisco Giants in the National League’s on Wednesday.

With that in mind, here is a deeper explanation of the format as well as an unfortunate prediction for the eventual National League winner.

Format Explanation

The MLB playoffs previously included just four teams for each league (three division winners and a wild card), but a fifth team was added in the form of a second wild-card squad in 2012.

Since then, the two teams with the best records in the National League that didn’t win a division have faced off in the Wild Card Game for the right to advance to the Divisional Series. The same format is used in the American League, and the team with the better record hosts the game.

The winners of the two Wild Card Games will battle the No. 1 seed in each respective league in the Divisional Series.

This year’s winner-takes-all American League Wild Card Game pits the Orioles against the Blue Jays on Tuesday. The National League Wild Card Game takes place on Wednesday and features a showdown between the Giants and Mets.

The American League Divisional Series starts Thursday, and the National League Divisional Series begins Friday. While the Wild Card Games are each one-game battles, the Divisional Series is a best-of-five affair, with the better seed enjoying home-field advantage in Games 1, 2 and 5.

The No. 1 seed faces the Wild Card Game winners, while the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds in each league play in the other Divisional Series.

Prediction: National League Wild Card Winner Will Lose the Divisional Series

Despite the fact the wild-card teams will face the No. 1 seeds in the Divisional Series, it is actually going out on more of a historical limb to say the winner of the NL Wild Card Game will lose the best-of-five showdown. 

The Chicago Cubs advanced all the way to the National League Championship Series last year after starting in the Wild Card Game. The 2014 World Series featured two teams that began their postseason journeys as wild cards, when the Kansas City Royals faced the San Francisco Giants, and the St. Louis Cardinals reached the NLCS in 2012 after winning the Wild Card Game.

However, this year’s wild-card winner will have a short postseason, largely because of the team it will face in the Divisional Series. It will already be fighting an uphill battle in the pitching matchups after using Madison Bumgarner (if it’s San Francisco) or Noah Syndergaard (if it’s New York) on Wednesday, and the Cubs will make quick work of it at the next stage.

The 103-58 Cubs sport the best record in baseball under the direction of three-time Manager of the Year Joe Maddon. While they haven’t won a World Series since 1908, they are perfectly positioned to change that this year with a dominant starting pitching staff, formidable offense and shutdown bullpen trio.

Jake Arrieta won the National League Cy Young last year, and he is likely the third-best starter on the Cubs in 2016 thanks to the presence of Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks. Lester and Hendricks were both forces in this year’s Cy Young race and will give Chicago a potent one-two punch before shifting to Arrieta.

As for the offense, Kris Bryant is a National League MVP candidate, and Anthony Rizzo provides plenty of lefty pop. Complementary pieces to that powerful heart of the order include Addison Russell, Dexter Fowler, Ben Zobrist and Javier Baez. Even Jason Heyward is capable of driving any given pitch despite his struggles this year.

If the offense gets the lead and the combination of Lester, Hendricks and Arrieta maintains it, Maddon will hand the ball to a bullpen that features Pedro Strop, Hector Rondon and Aroldis Chapman.

Tom Fornelli of CBSSports.com pointed out just how difficult a task beating the Cubs in October will be for the Wild Card Game winner:

That formula could lead the Cubs to a drought-busting triumph, and they will start their postseason with a relatively straightforward Divisional Series victory.

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The 2016 regular season is over, and the field is set for the MLB playoffs, which begin Tuesday.

The postseason field was largely set heading into Sunday, with a handful of games determining the last few wild-card spots.

The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, 2-1, denying Boston a chance to host Game 1 of the American League Division Series against the Cleveland Indians. Toronto earned a wild-card spot earlier in the day following the Detroit Tigers’ 1-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

The Blue Jays will host the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday to determine who faces the Texas Rangers in the ALDS.

In the National League, the New York Mets will host the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, with the winner advancing to the NL Division Series against the Chicago Cubs.

Below is a look at the 2016 playoff schedule and two lingering questions surrounding a World Series contender from each league.

2016 MLB Playoff Schedule

Postseason Storylines

Can the Indians Overcome Injuries to Key Players?

Nobody was happier than the Indians to see the regular season end, since it means they can go a few days without another important player getting hurt.

Cleveland has played the entire season without one of its best hitters, Michael Brantley, while Yan Gomes has been limited to 73 games. Just when the veteran catcher was nearing his return, he fractured his wrist on his rehab assignment in September.

As if that’s not bad enough, Carlos Carrasco is out for the postseason, while Danny Salazar’s availability is still up in the air. Oh, and Cy Young Award contender Corey Kluber suffered a quad strain as the regular season drew to a close.

Relief pitcher Andrew Miller talked about how a total team effort helped compensate for all of the injuries, per Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes: “It’s not the bullpen, it’s not the defense, it’s not the offense, it’s not the starting pitchers. This team just finds a way. I don’t remember what [manager Terry Francona’s] quote was exactly, but he made an awesome quote about a week ago when he said, ‘We’ll figure it out.'”

Miller and his fellow relievers will be a big factor in whether the Indians advance to the American League Championship Series and beyond. Cleveland paid a steep price to acquire the dominant lefty, and this is when he’ll be expected to deliver.

A great bullpen can take a team a long way in the postseason. Just ask the Kansas City Royals, who rode their late-inning relievers to a World Series title in 2015.

As a whole, the Indians bullpen is among the best in baseball:

Cleveland isn’t devoid of offense. Mike Napoli hit a career-high 34 home runs this year, while Francisco Lindor is one of MLB’s top shortstops. Jose Ramirez continues to exceed expectations and deliver in the clutch.

The starting rotation has been a big reason for Cleveland’s success, though, and it’s impossible to win in the playoffs without good pitching. With Carrasco out and questions over Salazar’s and Kluber’s health, Francona will need to rely on his bullpen.

Hoynes already penned an obituary for the Indians’ World Series title hopes, illustrating the level of despair in Cleveland.

Francona has done a great job of working around the team’s injuries, and a number of players have stepped up to fill the void.

The Indians shouldn’t be written off, but their outlook doesn’t look promising.

Do the Cubs Live Up to the Hype?

Few teams in recent years have had higher expectations than the 2016 Chicago Cubs, and they’ve performed as expected.

They won 103 games and were the first team to clinch a division title (Sept. 15) this season. On an individual basis, Kris Bryant is the favorite to win the National League MVP Award, while the Cubs have two pitchers—Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks—in the top five of ESPN.com’s NL Cy Young predictor.

When the Cubs hired president of baseball operations Theo Epstein in 2011, it was perfect. After helping the Red Sox end their title drought, Epstein was taking over the most historically snakebitten franchise in baseball. The Cubs couldn’t have found anybody better to break their supposed curse.

When he joined the club in 2015, manager Joe Maddon explained how the work of Epstein and the front office was starting to bear fruit. He added Chicago found the perfect combination between the two schools of player development, per the Chicago Tribune‘s Mark Gonzales:

It doesn’t happen everywhere. It’s not like this everywhere. The way it has been built, the attention to detail, the human side. It’s not just numbers. There’s a very human side to all this. It’s a great balance. You have to strike a balance.

Any form of extremism is a bad moment, whether it’s liberal or conservative. Extremism is not good. There’s really a balance to be struck, especially in the business world and in our industry. Sometimes it tends to want to gravitate to either side and not understanding that both sides do matter right now.

Last year’s National League Championship Series sweep at the hands of the New York Mets was a disappointing outcome. But most fans kept the result in perspective.

The Cubs won only their second playoff series since their 1908 World Series triumph. In addition, last year’s trip to the playoffs was a look at what’s to come.

All of the stars are aligning for Chicago. Epstein has assembled a World Series-caliber roster, and in Maddon, the Cubs have one of the most tactically astute managers in the big leagues.

The team showed its desperation when it acquired Aroldis Chapman at the trade deadline. Presumably, the Cubs’ window for success extends beyond this season. With that said, failing to collect a World Series ring would be a terrible way to end an otherwise great campaign.

Note: Stats are courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted, and the full playoff schedule is available on MLB.com.

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After battling for the East Division title throughout the summer, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles won the two wild-card spots in the American League playoffs on the final day of the regular season.

The two teams clinched their playoff spots as the Orioles beat the New York Yankees and the Blue Jays defeated the A.L. East champion Boston Red Sox.

The Jays actually won their playoff spot about 45 minutes prior to finishing off their victory. The clinching moment took place when the Atlanta Braves beat the Detroit Tigers and eliminated them from playoff contention.

The Blue Jays will host the Orioles in the Wild Card Game Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre. TBS will televise the game at 8 p.m. ET.

Both teams finished with 89-73 records, but the the Blue Jays earned home field in this matchup since they won the season series by a razor-thin 10-9 margin.

The winner of the Wild Card Game will meet the Texas Rangers in the AL Division Series, since Texas finished as the top seed in the American League.

The Orioles and the Blue Jays had designs on winning the division title as both teams had the lead at various points throughout the summer. However, when the Red Sox won 11 games in a row in September, both teams had to scramble to make the playoffs.

The Orioles have played solid baseball throughout the final month of the season, with the exception of getting swept in a four-game series at home by the Red Sox. Baltimore finished the season by going 17-12 in September and October.

The Orioles went 10-5 in their last 15 road games.

Manager Buck Showalter was not ready to say who would start against the Blue Jays, but it appears that he will most likely hand the ball to Chris Tillman or Ubaldo Jimenez.

The Blue Jays started the month of September with the lead in the American League East, but their powerful hitting attack struggled with its consistency, and their bullpen had issues.

Their 13-16 record in their last 29 games indicates that the Jays are not in top form, but they won two pressure-packed games in Boston to potentially right their ship.

It seems likely that Marcus Stroman or Francisco Liriano will get the start Tuesday night for the Jays, but manager John Gibbons has not announced his starting pitcher.

The Blue Jays and Orioles are powerful, slugging teams capable of hitting the long ball with regularity. The Blue Jays will depend on Josh Donaldson (37 HR, 99 RBI), Edwin Encarnacion (42 HR, 127 RBI), Jose Bautista (22 HR) and Troy Tulowitzki (24 HR) for the bulk of their production.

The Orioles are built in a similar manner, and they need Manny Machado (37 HR, 96 RBI), American League home run leader Mark Trumbo (47 HR), Chris Davis (38 HR) and Adam Jones (29 HR and 83 RBI) to produce.

Prediction

While neither team has announced its starting pitching, this game figures to come down to how well both teams handle the final innings.

Having a lead late in the game would be a good thing for the Blue Jays with the talented and powerful arm of Roberto Osuna (36 saves in 41 opportunities, 2.68 earned-run average), but it would be a near-lock for the Orioles with Zach Britton (47 saves in 47 opportunities, 0.54 ERA). Britton is a legitimate Cy Young contender, and his remarkable sinker is almost impossible to hit.

Playing at home should be an advantage for the Blue Jays, but the Orioles played better baseball during September-October, and they played particularly well on the road.

Look for Machado to drive in the go-ahead run in the late innings and Britton to preserve the lead with a shutdown ninth inning.

Baltimore advances to the American League Division Series with a 6-5 win over the Blue Jays and their raucous fans.

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October baseball doesn’t get much better than Wednesday’s National League Wild Card Game.

Two iconic franchises will square off with their aces on the mound in a pressure-packed, do-or-die contest. The winner of the showdown between the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants will then have a chance to spoil the Chicago Cubs’ quest to end their World Series drought in the National League Division Series.

Anthony DiComo of MLB.com noted Noah Syndergaard will take the mound for the Mets, while Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News noted the Giants will counter with Madison Bumgarner.

Here is a look at the schedule information for the enticing duel, a preview for the game and a prediction.

Schedule

Matchup: San Francisco Giants at New York Mets

Date: Wednesday, Oct. 5

TV: ESPN

Time: 8 p.m. ET

Preview and Prediction

New York clinched a spot in the postseason with a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday, while San Francisco earned its wild-card berth with a 7-1 victory over the archrival Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the Mets reached the postseason, considering they were in the World Series last year. However, that would be ignoring the arduous journey New York took to the 2016 playoffs.

A loaded starting rotation lost Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz to season-ending injuries. Veteran third baseman David Wright is also out for the year, and the team as a whole had to overcome a slow start to the campaign.

According to DiComo, the Mets entered Saturday’s game with the best record in MLB since Aug. 20, when they were two games under .500.

Despite all of those challenges, the Mets’ World Series dreams are still alive. 

Manager Terry Collins discussed his team’s outlook, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com): “When you’re in, you’re capable of anything. Anything can happen. We’ve got our ace going on Wednesday. If he can spin one up and you get a couple of breaks, you never know.”

The Mets are 4-3 against the Giants this season, but don’t put much stock in regular-season results with this franchise. They were an abysmal 0-7 against the Chicago Cubs last year before sweeping them out of the National League Championship Series.

It will be up to Syndergaard to push that record to 5-3 against the Giants in 2016. The 2016 All-Star sports a 2.60 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP and 218 strikeouts in 183.2 innings.

He pitched twice against the Giants this season but ended up with vastly different results:

Although the first start wasn’t great, the Mets ace should have plenty of confidence after his most recent outing against the Giants. Daren Willman of MLB.com pointed out what made him effective:

Syndergaard won’t be the only lights-out starter toeing the rubber Wednesday.

Bumgarner, a four-time All-Star, is loaded with postseason experience. The 2014 World Series and NLCS MVP boasts a 7-3 record with a 2.14 ERA, a 0.883 WHIP and 77 strikeouts in 14 playoff games.

The Wild Card Game will be nothing new for him, either, considering he pitched nine shutout innings in that environment against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2014, striking out 10 along the way.

Like Syndergaard, Bumgarner made two starts against his next opponent this year, with mixed results:

Bumgarner and Syndergaard give their respective teams the best chance to win the Wild Card Game, but the victor will be behind schedule with its starting rotation when it faces a well-rested Cubs team and a lineup that features potential National League MVP Kris Bryant and the powerful Anthony Rizzo in the NLDS.

Still, that is a problem the Giants and Mets would gladly take with their seasons on the line.

While Bumgarner’s postseason history is daunting for New York, the home team will prevail Wednesday. The Mets, who are playing red-hot baseball, hit Bumgarner around the last time they faced him. They will get some early run support for Syndergaard, who will put things on cruise control and keep his team’s improbable run rolling.

Get ready for a 2015 NLCS rematch, because the Mets will advance in front of a raucous Citi Field crowd.

Prediction: Mets 3, Giants 1

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All six MLB divisions are settled. 

That doesn’t diminish the chaos in store for the season’s final four days, though.

Every division is wrapped up, but all four wild-card spots have yet to be determined. Don’t be surprised if bonus baseball is needed to settle a tiebreaker on Monday.

Excluding the Chicago Cubs, who have clinched home-field advantage throughout the National League stage, the other division champions can all alter their positions to secure more home cooking.

As examined below, a grueling season has left some teams hobbling into October. They might not have anything left in the tank when it matters most.

Playoff Brackets

World Series Odds

Injury Bug Spreading

The Washington Nationals finally lived up to their promise this season. A year after the World Series favorites missed the playoffs, they stormed past the New York Mets to reclaim the NL East. Their 92 wins and plus-148 run differential both trail only the Cubs in the NL.

There’s one problem, though: They suddenly have a lack of healthy players.

Daniel Murphy, who has followed last postseason’s power barrage with an NL-best .596 slugging percentage, hasn’t started since Sept. 17 because of a mild buttocks sprain. Bryce Harper has missed the last three games with an injured thumb after reportedly playing through a shoulder injury, according to Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated.

Per MLB.com’s Jamal Collier, general manager Mike Rizzo said ace Stephen Strasburg (elbow) is unlikely to pitch in the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“I think it would be kind of pushing it,” Rizzo said. “I think that’s fair to say. Again, I haven’t seen him after he did his throwing program today, but just the calendar, it’s unlikely that he’d contribute in that first series.”

The most serious of them all, though, is catcher Wilson Ramos, whose season is over because of a torn ACL. He was hitting .307/.354/.396 with the highest weighted runs created plus (124) of any catcher with at least 300 plate appearances, per FanGraphs.

ESPN.com’s Buster Olney emphasized that Ramos’ absence will particularly hurt during the NLDS:

The Dodgers won’t take pity on their upcoming opponents. They have overcome their share of bad luck during a season in which they tied an MLB record by placing 27 players on the disabled list. Yet with Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill healthy, they’re closing the season strong.

Washington’s divisional foe can relate to its woes. A year after riding a stacked rotation to the World Series, the Mets are fighting for a wild-card bid without Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz. If they need to use Bartolo Colon and Noah Syndergaard over the weekend, Robert Gsellman or Seth Lugo would have to start the Wild Card Game.

Per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, the Mets may rearrange their rotation to avoid such a scenario:

Tying the San Francisco Giants or St. Louis Cardinals for the second spot would negate those efforts. Nevertheless, they have capitalized on a favorable schedule by scoring 64 runs in their last seven games against the Philadelphia Phillies and Miami Marlins. They’ll close the season with a three-game series at Philadelphia.

Like the Mets, starting pitching was supposed to mark the Cleveland Indians’ strength. The superb trio of Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar led them to their first American League Central title since 2007, but the team might not have any of them for the postseason.

Having last pitched Sept. 9, Salazar is attempting to return in time for the playoffs. But the 26-year-old right-hander would have to shake off considerable rust after accruing a 7.44 second-half ERA.

“His health is the first priority,” manager Terry Francona said, per Cleveland.com’s Zack Meisel. “He’s not rushing into anything. This is not a speed-up program.”

Carrasco is done for the year because of a broken hand. After he left his last start early, Kluber‘s status is also in question. The Associated Press’ Tom Withers presented a timetable, which could rule the ace out for the American League Division Series’ first two games.

The Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers and whichever team survives the wild-card ruckus are all stacked offensively. Countering with Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin will diminish Cleveland’s chances of winning its first World Series since 1948.

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The MLB postseason is quickly approaching, but many teams around the league already have their sights set on the offseason and potential improvements before the 2017 campaign.

After all, the World Series dreams have been extinguished for plenty of squads, leaving them with no choice but to focus on the long-term future. What’s more, even the contenders need to pay attention to the upcoming offseason if they hope to remain in favorable position beyond just this year. 

With that in mind, here is a look at some of the latest rumors from around the league and predictions for where some impending free agents will land before the 2017 season.

Blue Jays Sluggers Set to Hit the Open Market

As of Tuesday, the Toronto Blue Jays were tied for fifth in all of baseball in total runs scored, per ESPN.com. However, they may lose two key players in their powerful lineup this offseason.

According to Jeff Blair of Sportsnet, Edwin Encarnacion “is going to have a larger market than some expect because there are at least a couple of National League teams who view him as an everyday first baseman.”

Blair also discussed free-agent-to-be Jose Bautista, although he allowed that “more teams think Encarnacion can play first base everyday than think Bautista can still be an effective right fielder.”

Blair pointed out whether Encarnacion even wants to play first base full time will impact his free-agency decisions. Blair predicted the Houston Astros would pursue the slugger and noted “the fact Texas has no state income tax will help them since Encarnacion will want to keep as much as possible from what is likely his first and last big payday.”

Encarnacion will be 34 years old next season and does have experience in the National League from his time on the Cincinnati Reds (2005-09). However, he was a younger player at the time, and staying in the American League would give him the opportunity to prolong his career and continue mashing home runs as a designated hitter.

He can use the National League interest as leverage when negotiating with an Astros team that can use the absence of a state income tax as a selling point.

What’s more, Minute Maid Park in Houston has an inviting short porch in left field. According to MLB.com, the left field wall is just 315 feet away, which is likely enticing to Encarnacion considering he has at least 34 home runs in each of the last five seasons. He’s already surpassed 40 in 2016, which marks the second time he’s done so in that five-year span.

As for Bautista, he will be 36 years old next season and apparently won’t have the same market pull as Encarnacion to use as leverage.

That’s not to say a power hitter who drilled 40 home runs last year won’t generate interest on the open market, but his numbers have declined this year. As of Tuesday, he had 21 home runs and 67 RBI after drilling 40 and 114 last year, respectively. He also sported a .238 batting average, which would be his lowest mark since 2009.

The Blue Jays will lose Encarnacion this offseason and won’t want to watch another face of their franchise leave in Bautista. They will take advantage of the lesser market and keep the powerful slugger in their lineup next year with some of the money they could have used on Encarnacion. 

Prediction: Encarnacion heads to Houston; Bautista stays put in Toronto.

Lourdes Gurriel Attracting Attention from Notable Contenders

Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball noted Cuban prospect Lourdes Gurriel already had “a successful open showcase” and will have private workouts with the Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros and Miami Marlins, among others.

Heyman described Gurriel as a “shortstop by trade” but someone who is versatile enough to play at third base or the outfield. Considering he is 6’4”, he could move from shortstop to another position by the time he reaches the major league level.

Gurriel is No. 6 on MLB.com’s international prospects list, which said he is “a good runner with a good glove” and “athletic enough to play infield or outfield, which is part of his appeal to scouts.”

The prospect slashed .277/.362/.426 with 27 home runs and 23 stolen bases during six seasons in Cuba, per Heyman.

Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors pointed out Gurriel is subject to international bonus pools for the time being, but that will no longer be the case on Oct. 19 when he turns 23 years old.

“At that point, he’ll be free to sign with any MLB club for any amount, so the Red Sox will have a shot at him even though they’re currently restricted in their signings of players that are subject to international bonus restrictions,” Adams wrote.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported in July that MLB banned Boston from signing international players for a year because it “circumvented signing-bonus rules.”

The fact Gurriel won’t be subject to the restrictions is key here, especially since the Red Sox will look to take advantage of their limited opportunity to make an impact on the international market this offseason. They will jump at the chance to do so with Gurriel and make him one of their primary acquisitions before the 2017 campaign.

Prediction: Red Sox sign Gurriel.

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