The SnakePit Guide to the Wild-card Round

The playoffs are starting tomorrow. The new rules for the playoffs have expanded the number of teams and the win-loss record of the teams involved. There are three wild-card match-ups starting from Friday through Sunday. The first two games are played at home, so a team could get bounced without playing in front of their own fans. Former D-backs played for their current team this year.

Rays (86 wins) play Guardians (92) in the Wild-card round. Rays have their fourth consecutive post-season appearance. Guardians have struggled to draw under their new name. It has been 74 years since there was a World Series won for Cleveland.

The SnakePit Guide to the Wild-card Round gives Rays +120 and Guardians -130 odds.

Phillies (87) and Cardinals (93) play each other in the Wild-card round. The Cardinals won the season series against Philadelphia. Albert Pujols is retiring after the playoffs. Mark McGwire played for the Cardinals in 2001 Division Series against the D-backs.

Phillies won 87 games in the regular season. Cardinals won 93 games. Ex-Diamondbacks had Didi Gregorius and Chris Devenski.

The Mariners and Blue Jays are playing each other in the Wild-card round. The Blue Jay's won 92 games in regular season, while the Mariners won 90. Arizona won the wild-cards in 2001. The game starts at 1:07 p.m. on ESPN.

The SnakePit Guide to the Wild-card Round gives the odds of Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays.

Padres (89) and Mets (101) are playing each other in a divisional series. The Mets were 10% up on June 1 and 7% as late as August 10th. They didn't play badly afterwards, going 28-22. Padres made a splash at the deadline trading for Juan Soto and Josh Hader, but they could only finish 22 games back of the Dodgers.

The Padres finished with 89 wins in the regular season and the Mets with 101.