Here are the times and announcing assignments for the MLB Wild Card games on Oct. 2 and 3, with some analysis of a selected matchup. All times are Eastern.
Wednesday, October 2
Detroit at Houston
ABC 2:30 p.m.
Michael Kay, Todd Frazier, Tim Kurkjian, Alden Gonzalez
ESPN Radio: Dave O’Brien, Will Middlebrooks
Kansas City at Baltimore
ESPN 4:30 p.m.
Sean McDonough, Ben McDonald, Jessica Mendoza, Jeff Passan
ESPN Radio: Mike Monaco, Ruben Amaro Jr.
Featured matchup: NY Mets at Milwaukee
ESPN 7:30 p.m.
Jon Sciambi, Doug Granville, Jesse Rogers
ESPN Radio: Mike Couzens, Chris Burke
The Mets took the series opener here 8-4 Tuesday, fueled by a nightmare fifth inning from the Brewers. There, manager Pat Murphy pulled starter Freddy Peralta after just four innings and 68 pitches, saying he was “probably 18 pitches from where his — his kind of limit is” and arguing that their full bullpen justified that. It didn’t in this case, with the Mets’ offense tagging the Brewers’ relievers for five runs in that inning (and helping to overcome their own pitching issues: starter Luis Severino went six innings, but gave up leads in both the second and fourth).
Wednesday’s starting pitching matchup also seems to set up in favor of the Mets, with Sean Manaea (12-6, 3.47 ERA, 3.83 FIP, 1.084 WHIP, 184 strikeouts) taking the hill against Frankie Montas (7-11, 4.84 ERA, 4.35 FIP, 1.637 WHIP 148 strikeouts). So an interesting element to watch here will be when Murphy goes to the bullpen this time, and how the booth discusses that decision.
Atlanta at San Diego
ESPN2 8:30 p.m.
Karl Ravech, David Cone, Eduardo Pérez, Buster Olney
ESPN Radio: Roxy Bernstein, Gregg Olson
Thursday, October 3
Kansas City at Houston, ESPN/ABC TBA*
Detroit at Baltimore, ESPN/ABC TBA*
NY Mets at Milwaukee, ESPN/ESPN2/ABC TBA*
Atlanta at San Diego, ESPN 7 p.m.*
* If necessary
H/T Sammy for the listings!
