End of the (Ir)Regular Season

                  W-L  GB

Milwaukee 29-31 Backed in to postseason.

GIANTS         29-31 … Friday night made the difference.

Philadelphia 28-32 1 Maybe it wasn't about Kapler.

Yesterday

Giants lost to San Diego, 5-4.

Milwaukee lost at St Louis, 5-2, but qualified for the last wild-card playoff berth with the Giants' loss.

Philadelphia lost at Tampa Bay.

Today

Everyone has the day off. The eight wild-card playoff series begin tomorrow. 

Yesterday's Game

The story of the season: the Giants had their chances, took advantage of many of them, got into the opponent's bullpen and made it close, but gave away as many runs as they gained. And so they finish two runs to the good but two losses to the bad, while Milwaukee, with the same record, goes on to the playoffs 17 runs to the bad. Them's the breaks.  

Drew Smyly pitched well over five, striking out ten while allowing two runs on three hits and a walk.  Mauricio Dubon's homer in the second got the Giants on the board, and it was a 2-1 pitchers' duel after six, Tyler Rogers having picked up Smyly. Then in the seventh Jarlin Garcia was tagged for two hits and two runs after Evan Longoria fumbled a leadoff ground ball. Logan Webb came in with two out, walked Alex Nola, and gave up a RBI double to Wil Myers. It was 5-1 and the Giants had done nothing against a parade of Padre relievers since "opener" Adrian Morejon gave up Dubon's shot. But Longoria singled to open the bottom of the seventh and Brandon Crawford belted a two-run homer. Joey Bart and Mike Yastrzemski drew walks, and Donovan Solano batted for Alex Dickerson against lefty Tim Hill. For the second time this weekend, Hill struck him out in a climactic at-bat and the rally yielded no more. Wilmer Flores led off the eighth with a homer to make it a one-run game, but that was all. Three Giants struck out against Trevor Rosenthal to end it in the ninth. 

The Playoff Picture

Minnesota won the AL Central yesterday and Cleveland beat out the Chicago White Sox for second place. St Louis nosed out Cincinnati for second place in the NL Central on the tiebreaker. The Cardinals are the only team in the majors that did not complete 60 games; they played 58. 

The AL series kick off on Tuesday at the top seeds' home fields. Tampa Bay (1) hosts Toronto (8), Oakland (2) hosts Chicago (7), Minnesota (3) hosts Houston (6), and Cleveland (4) hosts New York (5).

The NL on Wednesday has LA (1) hosting Milwaukee (8), Atlanta (2) hosting Cincinnati (7), Chicago (3) hosting Miami (6), and San Diego (4) hosting St Louis (5).  

For the first time since 2008, and only the second time in 114 years, war-torn Chicago has a shot at reprising the World Series of 1906. If it comes to pass, it will be played in Texas.

For what it's worth, the hottest teams going in are Cleveland, the Dodgers, and the Rays; the coldest is the White Sox, who lost 8 of their last ten. 

LA has the best ERA of any team in the game, but the next 5 on the list are all AL teams. The top three in runs scored are the Dodgers, Braves, and Padres, with the Yankees leading the AL. (Parenthetical note: the Giants have scored more runs than 10 of the 16 teams in the playoffs.)