Pirates Walk Plank for Giants

Okay, it's only one game, but it was an elimination game: the one-game wild-card baseball playoff (sometimes called a "play-in") game between the San Francisco Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Winner goes into the main playoffs; loser is done. The game was in Pittsburgh because the Pirates (who ended the season with the same 88-74 record as the Giants) had won the regular season series between the two teams 4-2. The Giants dominated the game, including a grand slam from Brandon Crawford and a shutout pitched by Madison Bumgarner, and won 8-0. They now move on to the National League Division Series best-of-five versus the Washington Nationals.

Alas, the prospect for another Bay Bridge Series ended last night when the Oakland A's lost a heart-breaker in the American League Wild-Card game to Kansas City, 9-8 in 12 innings. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. One game does not a championship make, and the Giants do not have an easy road to the World Series.