2018 American League Wild Card Game

{{Short description|None}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2018}}

{{Infobox baseball league wild card game

| league = al

| image = 2018 American League Wild Card Game logo.svg

| year = 2018

| visitor = Oakland Athletics

| top1 = 0

| top2 = 0

| top3 = 0

| top4 = 0

| top5 = 0

| top6 = 0

| top7 = 0

| top8 = 2

| top9 = 0

| visitor_r = 2

| visitor_h = 4

| visitor_e = 0

| manager_visitor = Bob Melvin

| home = New York Yankees

| bot1 = 2

| bot2 = 0

| bot3 = 0

| bot4 = 0

| bot5 = 0

| bot6 = 4

| bot7 = 0

| bot8 = 1

| bot9 = x

| home_r = 7

| home_h = 7

| home_e = 1

| manager_home = Aaron Boone

| date = October 3, 2018

| venue = Yankee Stadium

| city = The Bronx, New York

| attendance = 49,620

| television = TBS

| tv_announcers = Brian Anderson, Ron Darling, Dennis Eckersley, and Lauren Shehadi

| radio = ESPN

| radio_announcers = Jon Sciambi and Eduardo Pérez

| umpires = {{unbulleted list

|HP: Jim Wolf

|1B: Greg Gibson

|2B: Gerry Davis (crew chief)

|3B: Alan Porter

|LF: Will Little

|RF: Pat Hoberg

}}

}}

The 2018 American League Wild Card Game was a play-in game during Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2018 postseason contested between the American League's (AL) two wild card teams, the New York Yankees and the Oakland Athletics.{{cite news |url=https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/al-playoff-field-is-set-after-athletics-clinch-wild-card-spot-yankees-eliminate-rays-from-postseason-contention/ |title=AL playoff field is set after Athletics clinch wild-card spot, Yankees eliminate Rays from postseason contention|first=Dayn|last=Perry|website=CBS Sports |date=September 25, 2018 |access-date=September 26, 2018}} The game took place at Yankee Stadium on October 3, starting at 8:08 pm EDT.{{cite news |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/luis-severino-to-start-al-wild-card-game/c-296877846 |title=Yankees tab Severino for AL Wild Card Game |first=Bryan |last=Hoch |website=MLB.com |date=October 2, 2018 |access-date=September 28, 2018}} The Yankees won, 7–2, and advanced to face the Boston Red Sox in the American League Division Series.{{Cite web|url=https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/mlb/yankees/2018/10/03/top-moments-ny-yankees-wild-card-game-vs-oakland/1511765002/|title = Five moments that helped the NY Yankees advance in Wild Card win over A's}}

This game started a part of the postseason where TBS broadcast postseason games because of the Fox's contract holdout with Optimum. Said holdout would continue until the 2018 World Series.

Background

{{main|2018 New York Yankees season|2018 Oakland Athletics season}}

New York entered the game with a 100–62 record, while Oakland was 97–65. They met six times during the regular season, with each team winning three times.{{cite web |url=http://www.espn.com/mlb/standings/grid/_/year/2018 |title=MLB Standings Grid - 2018 |website=ESPN |access-date=October 3, 2018}}

This was New York's seventh playoff appearance as a wild card team. Since MLB's addition of a second wild card team in 2012, the Yankees had previously appeared in two Wild Card Games, a loss in 2015 and a win in 2017. The Yankees' appearance represented the first time a 100-win team played in a Wild Card Game. The most recent time that a 100-win team had not won their division was the 2001 Athletics.{{cite news |last1=Adler |first1=David |title=The 9 times a 100-win team didn't finish first |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/100-win-mlb-teams-that-finished-in-2nd-place/c-289601578 |access-date=October 1, 2018 |work=MLB News |date=August 12, 2018}}

This was Oakland's third playoff appearance as a wild card team. They had previously appeared in one Wild Card Game, a loss in 2014.

{{more|List of American League Wild Card winners}}

This was the fourth time the Yankees and A's met in postseason play—the Yankees had won the three prior meetings: the 1981 ALCS (3–0), 2000 ALDS (3–2), and 2001 ALDS (3–2).{{cite web |url=http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/history/postseason_results.jsp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070422190649/http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/history/postseason_results.jsp |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 22, 2007 |title=Yankees Postseason Results |website=MLB.com |access-date=September 28, 2018}}

Game results

File:Aaron Judge on September 8, 2016.jpg hit a two-run home run in the first inning.]]

=Line score=

{{linescore|

|Date = Wednesday, October 3, 2018

|Time = 8:08{{nbsp}}pm (EDT)

|Location = Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York,

|Other = {{convert|70|F|C}}, partly cloudy

|Road=Oakland|RoadAbr=OAK

|R1=0|R2=0|R3=0|R4=0|R5=0|R6=0|R7=0|R8=2|R9=0|RR=2|RH=4|RE=0

|Home=New York|HomeAbr=NYY

|H1=2|H2=0|H3=0|H4=0|H5=0|H6=4|H7=0|H8=1|H9=X|HR=7|HH=7|HE=1

|WP=Dellin Betances (1–0)|LP=Liam Hendriks (0–1)|SV=

|HomeHR=Aaron Judge (1), Giancarlo Stanton (1)|RoadHR=Khris Davis (1)

|Attendance=49,620

|BoxURL=https://www.mlb.com/gameday/athletics-vs-yankees/2018/10/03/563346/final/box

}}

Luis Severino was the starting pitcher for the Yankees, while the Athletics used Liam Hendriks as an opener.{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-sports-luis-severino-yankees-athletics-wild-card-game-20181002-story.html |title=Yankees Luis Severino to face off against A's 'opener' Liam Hendriks in wild card game|first=Kristie |last=Ackert |newspaper=New York Daily News |date=October 2, 2018}} The Yankees scored two runs in the first inning, as Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer off of Hendriks. The Yankees added four runs in the sixth, on back-to-back doubles by Judge and Aaron Hicks, followed by a walk to Giancarlo Stanton and a triple by Luke Voit. In the eighth inning, Khris Davis hit a two-run home run for Oakland and Stanton hit a home run for New York.

References

{{reflist|30em}}

Further reading

  • {{cite web |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/al-wild-card-game-faqs-between-yankees-as/c-296482692 |title=FAQs about A's-Yankees AL Wild Card Game |first=Mark |last=Feinsand |website=MLB.com |date=September 28, 2018 |access-date=September 28, 2018}}