Giants’ win over Mets seen by average of 7.71M on ESPN

Yes, this one hurts, and IT will linger into the offseason. Unfortunately for Chicago, that’s the team the Giants have resembled over the last week, which means they’re heading into the NLDS with confidence. The telecast generated a record 5.8 overnight rating, which surpasses the previous high (5.7) set by both the American League and National League Wild Card Games in 2015, according to Nielsen. Things changed in Game 1, when Kansas City Royals’ outfielder Alex Gordon homered off Familia to tie the game.

“It is one of the greatest pitchers in the history in important matches”, said the manager of the Mets, Terry Collins. The San Francisco Giants lefthander threw another complete NL wild card game shutout Wednesday night at Citi Field and the Mets season came to an abrupt end. Syndergaard took a no-hitter into the sixth, allowed two in seven innings and struck out 10.

“Every person in here should be proud”. “We went up there swinging and we didn’t get anything really good to hit because he’s that good”. O’s manager Buck Showalter has caught an earful ever since for going with an old baseball axiom that on the road don’t bring in your closer until you are AHEAD in the bottom half of the last inning.

“I don’t know what I was thinking”.

Those Cubs played well enough to win the NL East by six games and and face the Giants. If Panik misses that pitch and strikes out, the Mets nearly certainly intentionally walk Gillaspie.

In the top of the ninth against Familia, Brandon Crawford led off with a double to left-center. It was the pitching duel we all wanted to see, the type that some could kvetch shouldn’t have been wasted on a wild card game, but those people are wrong.

“This game was everything we thought”. Asdrubal Cabrera then lined a ball up the middle, smack into Bumgarner’s glove. Do you think the Mets could have gotten to him in the tenth? He fired a 1-1 sinker to Gillaspie that didn’t sink, and it landed in the Mets’ bullpen to all but put the bow on the Mets season. But the passion could not help the Mets get a run home.

Local legend E-40 was even on hand in NY to celebrate. “That guy has been lights out all year”. San Francisco had the best record in Major League Baseball at the All-Star break but finished the season by going 30-42 after the break (the fourth-worst record in Major League Baseball over that span). Through eight innings, Bumgarner limited them to four hits and a pair of walks with six strikeouts on 106 pitches.

This has to be the year for the Cubs, right?

-Key point: I am not in NY and am not covering the Giants in this first week of the postseason and the best reporting and analysis, as always, will come from those who are. “That’s a big game out there for us and we were fortunate enough to get some late runs”, he said in his thick southern drawl in an on-field interview at Citi Field in NY.