The NL Playoffs start on Wednesday with the National League wild card game on ESPN and it has the San Francisco Giants taking on the Pittsburgh Pirates to see who will advance to the NLDS to play against the Washington Nationals and that will start up on Friday.
Andrew McCutchen won the MVP last season and he comes in as the leader for the Pirates and he wants to get the team through this game and into the series with the Nationals. The team was ranked in the top 10 in all major offensive categories this season, including runs, batting average, on base percentage and slugging percentage.
The Pirates are hosting the National League wild card game for the second season and that snapped their two decade streak of missing the playoffs and now they get another chance. The San Francisco Giants are going to have Madison Bumgarner on the mound, while the Pirates will counter with Edinson Volquez. The Pirates won this game over the Reds last season and now their hopes rest with Volquez and he is facing one of the best NL pitchers this season in Bumgarner.
Francisco Liriano pitched the game last season and got the Pirates through and he had put up great numbers all season and now Volquez is the starter for the Pirates. Volquez had a strong season with 13 wins and a team leading 32 starts and he will be in over Gerrit Cole and Charlie Morton as well as Francisco Liriano. The Giants come in with tons of experience in the playoffs and now they have the Pirates looking to get through to the next round.