Update: 11:08 MT GAME OVER! ROCKIES WIN! BREWERS NEXT! Update: 10:53 MT T F W! Tony Wolters(!) singles in a run in the thirteenth, and the Rockies lead it 2-1! Update: 10:42 MT This game is headed to the thirteenth inning, and it is now the longest elimination game in MLB history. Time to pound a Red Bull and maybe, maybe, watch the Rockies score a run or four. Update: 10:16 MT Bizarre thing in the eleventh inning. The Cubs had two runners on with one out, and a ground ball went to Nolan Arenado at third base. He picked up the grounder and tagged out Javier Báez at third base. But while doing so, Báez hugged Arenado. All good and fun for baseball, but the ball was live! Bud Black came out to ask questions, but no changes to the play. Update: 9:33 MT Free baseball! Update: 9:28 MT The situation: Ninth inning, tie game, runner in scoring position. Ian Desmond is up, the count is 1-2, and he strikes out looking on this pitch. Ian Desmond frozen on a pitch down the middle pic.twitter.com/jiNntmXXSe — Daren Willman (@darenw) October 3, 2018 Update: 9:08 MT And it’s tied. Javier Báez, facing Adam Ottavino in his second inning of work, doubled in Terrence Gore to tie the game 1-1. There’s still baseball left, and the Rockies are not, contrary to the way that run felt, losing. Adam Ottavino didn't allow a hit on an 0-2 pitch in the regular season 0-for-36 against him ... I'm gonna start a hashtag #onlyinOctober — Mark Simon (@MarkASimonSays) October 3, 2018 Update: 8:39 MT This was how Kyle Freeland reacted when the Cubs loaded the bases due to a catcher’s interference. Kyle Freeland is all of us pic.twitter.com/5Kd83Tku9k — Cespedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) October 3, 2018 Tommy LaStella was at the plate. That was the fourth time this season he reached due to catcher’s interference, which was the most in baseball. BUT, there’s a but. Adam Ottavino was able to strike out Jason Heyward to end the inning. Rockies up 1-0 still. Six outs to go. Update: 8:27 MT Kyle Freeland is finished after 6 2⁄ 3 truly outstanding innings — four hits, no runs, one walk, and six strikeouts. He did what the Rockies needed. Adam Ottavino is on to pitch. Oh yeah, and SCORE SOME RUNS PLEASE! Update: 8:18 MT Ian Desmond singled in the seventh. That’s good! Ian Desmond attempted to advance to second on a fly ball to left field and got thrown out. That’s bad. sooooo clooooooooose but nope pic.twitter.com/wWbkJX8iMB — SB Nation MLB (@SBNationMLB) October 3, 2018 Update: 8:08 MT That was close. With a runner on first and one out, Kris Bryant popped up to right-fielder David Dahl. Except Dahl overran the ball and Bryant ended up safe at first base. It was an extremely catchable ball. BUT, there’s a but. Kyle Freeland induced a double play to end the inning. Rockies up 1-0, heading to the seventh. Exhale. Update It’s about time to take note that Kyle Freeland is pitching a dang shutout in the Wild Card Game. Things are going well! Let’s just score some runs. Here’s some inspiration from Kyle: Kyle Freeland, Messing with Timing/Leg Hang Variations (two pitch overlay). pic.twitter.com/kHxTExrnlT — Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 3, 2018 Update, 7:22 MT Matt Holliday hit a double! It’s like old times! (If only he wasn’t stranded at second base.) 1-0 Rockies heading to the bottom of the third. Update, 7:14 MT Still 1-0 Rockies after three. Kyle Freeland is cruising so far. Here’s a look at what Cubs hitters are having to deal with tonight. Kyle Freeland, 89mph Cutter and 94mph Fastball, Overlay. pic.twitter.com/DbOctjX8Xo — Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 3, 2018 Update, 6:56 MT No scoring in the second inning, just more Kyle Freeland-ness. 1-0 Rockies after two. Update, 6:38 Kyle Freeland gives up a leadoff single, but he escapes the inning without giving up a run. Let’s hope this comes to pass: When Kyle Baptized America Into Kyle Freeland Guyism https://t.co/XnEsUtMsya — Hayden Ringer (@hjrrockies) October 3, 2018 Update, 6:24 MT The Rockies scored a run in the first inning and lead the Wild Card game. DJ LeMahieu maybe probably should have gotten an RBI after hitting a double that got sucked up by the ivy and left Charlie Blackmon on third base. Nolan Arenado drove him home with a sacrifice fly. GO ROCKIES! Update, 5:52 MT Lineups! Almost game time! Please don’t be like last year! Also, I love that the Rockies went with the purple tops tonight. #Rockies and Cubs lineups being introduced. Almost time for #NLWildCard from Wrigley pic.twitter.com/sjROKZNkoY — Rox Pile (@RoxPileFS) October 2, 2018 Update, 3:12 MT The Rockies have arrived. Greetings, Rockies fan and/or internet stranger, and welcome to the second annual Purple Row NL Wild Card Game Live Blog. It is a tradition unlike any other. The Rockies and Cubs face off tonight at 6:00 pm MT on ESPN (and ESPN2 for a StatCast-themed broadcast) for the chance to face off against the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Division Series beginning Thursday at 3:07 pm MT. Both teams will send their ace lefties to the hill. Kyle Freeland gets the ball for the Rockies while Jon Lester makes his 22nd postseason start, 11th with the Cubbies. Here are the lineups, both featuring a lot of right-handed hitters. We’ll be back ahead of first pitch.<doc-sep>With the Major League Baseball playoffs set, we simulate the Wild Card round using MLB The Show 18 to predict who will move on. If you recall, back in April, we simulated the entire 2018 Major League Baseball season using Sony’s PlayStation 4 exclusive game MLB The Show 18. The game originally predicted the Chicago Cubs would meet the New York Yankees in the World Series, with the Bronx Bombers taking home the trophy in five games. Fast forward 162 games later and, well, our simulation wasn’t exactly the most accurate prediction of how the season would unfold. While it’s entirely possible both teams could still make the World Series in real life, how they get there is completely different than originally simulated. But seriously, who could’ve predicted that we would need to play two additional games to determine the champions of both the NL Central and NL West? This has been a wild season and after 163 games, we finally have our 2018 playoffs set. And because the real-life playoffs are so drastically different than our simulation, we’ve decided to run an entirely new sim with actual teams in the playoffs and accurate rosters. Unfortunately, due to the extra games having to be played, our simulation is a little delayed. So, for now, we only have the MLB The Show 18 simulation of the Wild Card round, featuring the Colorado Rockies at Chicago Cubs and Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees. NL Wild Card: Colorado Rockies 7, Chicago Cubs 4 Both Rockies and Cubs participated in an extra 163rd game of the season to determine who would win their respective divisions. The Rockies lost to the Dodgers, while the Cubs lost to the Brewers. So here we are with both teams now facing off in the NL Wild Card. In a left-handed duel, the Rockies will send Kyle Freeland to the mound, while the Cubs will send playoff veteran Jon Lester. This was an exciting one from the start. The gave Lester an early 2-0 lead in the second inning on RBI singles by both Kyle Schwarber and Jaso Heyward. But the Rockies would claw their way back. Trevor Story hit a solo home run in the top of the 4th and an RBI single to center in the top of the 6th to tie the game at two. It didn’t last long though as the Cubs regained the lead in the bottom of the inning. With the bases loaded, Jason Heyward walked to bring in Ben Zobrist. A pitching change brought in Rockies reliever Chris Rusin who got out of a bases-loaded jam by forcing Lester to ground out. Lester (6 IP, 3 ER, 8 SO) would leave the game with a 3-2 lead. And that’s where things fell apart for the Cubs. Struggling to find the strike zone, the Cubs bullpen surrendered runs in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings. Most of the damage was self-inflicted as Justin Wilson walked two batters and gave up a single to load the bases. He then gave up a game-tying walk to second baseman DJ LeMahieu. The Rockies would take the lead in the 8th on another Trevor Story solo home run. They wouldn’t look back, adding three more safety runs in the 9th with a three-run blast by Nolan Arenado. The Cubs attempt at some late-game heroics would fall short. Ben Zobrist singled-in Albert Almora Jr., but Javy Baez would strike out to end the game and the Chicago Cubs season and bid for a second World Series championship this decade. Chris Rusin (1.1 IP, 1 SO) gets the win, while Wade Davis gets the save. Trevor Story earns Player of the Game honors after going 3 for 5 with two home runs, three RBIs, and two runs. Cubs reliever Randy Rosario (1.1 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) gets the loss. With the win, the Rockies will move on to face the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Division Series.<doc-sep>LOS ANGELES — After falling 5-2 to the Dodgers in the National League West tiebreaker game here Monday, the going won’t get any easier for the Rockies to make the divisional playoff round. Colorado now heads to Chicago to take on the Cubs at Wrigley Field in Tuesday’s wild card game. Chicago lost its Monday tiebreaker for the National League Central crown at home to Milwaukee, 3-1. Tuesday’s game will be a matchup of left-handers, with Chicago starting veteran Jon Lester while Colorado is expected to start Kyle Freeland on three days rest. “I’m looking forward to the battle in Chicago,” Freeland said. “I’ve done everything I could to get my arm feeling good from my last start, and it feels good right now. I’m ready to go, and I’m not too worried about being on short rest.” Lester gave up two runs, both unearned, in five-plus innings in his lone start against Colorado this season, a 3-2 Cubs’ win over Freeland and the Rockies at Coors Field on April 30. The Cubs will look to the 2016 NLCS co-MVP to get their lofty postseason ambitions back on track after being caught by the Brewers in the division standings in late September to force the tiebreaker. Chicago was 4½ games ahead of Milwaukee on Sept. 1. Lester has a 3.71 ERA at home compared to 2.87 on the road, although he is coming off six shutout innings in his final home start of the regular season against the Pirates. For Colorado to advance to the divisional round for the first time since 2009 — and to avoid the lose-and-go-home reality they were slapped with last season in Phoenix — they’ll need a big game from Freeland. Since the all-star break, Freeland is 9-1 with a 2.49 ERA in 14 starts. “He’s been our best guy. It seems like every time he’s out there, we’re winning, we have a chance to win, or we do win,” outfielder Charlie Blackmon said. “He’s an amazing competitor and I’m sure he’ll rise to the occasion. If he just pitches like he normally pitches, we’re going to be fine.” In Freeland’s lone start against Chicago, an April 30 loss, he was tagged for three runs on six hits in seven innings. Freeland set club records for single-season ERA (2.85) and home ERA (2.40) during the regular season. “I still have reports from there (in April), and I did a couple reports yesterday just preparing for what could happen,” Freeland said. “I went back and watched the video, checked up on some guys to see if they made any adjustments. But it’s going to be the same game plan me and (catcher) Chris Iannetta have been doing all year long.” This will be his first start on three days rest in his professional career, minors included. “He’ll be fine,” manager Bud Black said. “His arm has been pretty solid (health-wise) all year, so the short rest is not going to be a factor when he takes the mound.” Tuesday’s first pitch will be at 6:00 p.m. MT, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.<doc-sep>
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images The Chicago Cubs will host the Colorado Rockies in the National League Wild Card Game at Wrigley Field on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. ESPN will televise the contest, with Baseball Tonight beginning at 7 p.m. This matchup will be a battle of southpaws between the Cubs' Jon Lester and the Rockies' Kyle Freeland, per Kyle Newman of the Denver Post. Lester is 18-6 with a 3.32 ERA and 149 strikeouts in 181.2 innings, while Freeland is 17-7 with a 2.85 ERA and 173 strikeouts in 202.1 innings. Lester has induced an inordinate amount of soft contact throughout his career, and this year is no exception: Per FanGraphs, his hard-hit rate is just 31.9 percent. He gives up just 1.19 home runs per nine innings. The crafty 34-year-old has five pitches in his repertoire: a four-seam fastball, cutter, sinker, changeup and curveball. Freeland is an extreme ground-ball pitcher who induces them at a 46.0 percent rate, per FanGraphs. Like Lester, he doesn't get hit too hard (31.6 percent) or give up many home runs (0.76 per nine innings). The 25-year-old strikes out batters at a 20.5 percent clip. He throws a four-seam fastball, cutter, sinker, changeup and slider. Of note, he would be pitching on three days' rest, as Freeland started (and won) on Friday against the Washington Nationals after six innings of two-run ball. Lester has an extra day of rest, having made his last appearance Thursday (six scoreless innings versus the Pittsburgh Pirates). Video Play Button Videos you might like The two men faced off at Wrigley once this season, with the Cubs winning 3-2. Lester went 5.2 innings with two runs (neither earned), five punchouts and three walks, while Freeland tossed seven frames of three-run ball with five strikeouts. It could have been worse for both sides. Lester struck out Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta with the bases loaded in the fifth to wiggle out of a jam, and Freeland limited the damage to one run in the sixth after a leadoff triple from Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant. The lineups will be a little different this time around. Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu (15 home runs, 62 RBI, .278 batting average in 127 games) did not play, nor did Colorado outfielder David Dahl (16 home runs, 48 RBI, .276 batting average in 76 games). For the Cubs, second baseman Daniel Murphy (six home runs, 13 RBI, .299 batting average in 34 games with Chicago) was still a member of the Washington Nationals at the time. Freeland arguably had a better year than Lester, but the latter has started 21 postseason games and been part of three World Series champions. He also more than held his own en route to an All-Star season. The starting pitching matchup looks like a slight edge toward the Cubs simply because Lester has an extra day of rest. The Cubs would seem to have four other advantages, though. First, they are home, where they've gone 51-31 this season. Chicago has the added benefit of staying put, as the Cubs have been in town since starting a regular-season closing homestand on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Rockies are going to be in three time zones in three days as they go from Denver to Los Angeles to Chicago. Colorado closed the regular season with a win over the Washington Nationals on Sunday before losing in the NL West tiebreaker Monday. Now it has to turn around in 24 hours and play a game in Chicago Tuesday. Colorado is respectable on the road (44-38) but that travel schedule may be tough to overcome. Second, as Newman noted, the Cubs will call on left-hander Cole Hamels if needed. The veteran has been fantastic for Chicago this year, going 4-3 with a 2.36 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 76.1 innings. That's a big trump card in favor of the Cubs. Third, the Cubs bullpen has performed far better than the Rockies' this year, with Chicago's relievers sporting a 3.34 ERA (second-best in MLB) and the Rockies finishing with a 4.63 (26th). Lastly, Chicago simply has more postseason experience, having made the NLCS in 2015 and 2017 and winning the World Series in 2016. Granted, not every member of the team has been with the Cubs through that entire stretch, but some newer members of the team have played in October (Murphy for the Mets and Washington Nationals, for instance).