It’s a sweep of sweeps in the Wild Card Series, with three road teams coming causing upsets to advance to the Division Series. In the AL, the Road Warriors are the only home team to advance, eliminating the Mariners to set up an all-AL Central series with the Royals while the White Sox make it three Central teams by taking out the East-winning Yankees to face the Angels.
In the National League, the Reds make up for losing the Division battle to sweep the Cardinals and set up a series against the Mets, while the Nationals make up for their disappointment to eliminate the Diamondbacks and set up a series against the Giants.
The Giants won the regular season series 4-3, and hold the postseason edge (1-0) thanks to their 3-1 victory in the 2014 NLDS on their way to the World Series.
The Nationals are more balanced in make up with the 5th best runs scored and 7th runs against, versus the Giants 8th runs scored and best runs against total.
Their positional players are led by SS Ken Whitener, who averaged .293 and stole 29 bases while their power comes from RF Ernesto Chairez (25 HRs, 92 RBIs) and 1B Morton Henrik (24, 95).
On the pitching side, Blake Alcock only pitched 95 innings but had a 2.73 ERA and 3.1 WAR in 18 GS to lead the team while no other SP had an ERA below 4. It is an all RHP rotation, although former Royal SP Jeremy Ogans is a LHP in the bullpen, along with Andres Gonsales, who put up a 1.59 ERA as a specialist. Arturo Adan (2.73) and D.J. Parker (2.74) were the others to have an ERA under 3, while Luis Escobedo had 20 SV in 26 chances.
Game 1 in San Francisco: Andy Frederick vs Devin Massey (2048 Trade HOU)
- San Francisco wins 3-2 (11)
- Frederick: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R
- Massey: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R
- Jong-hun Hong (W): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R
- Luis Escobedo (L): 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R
- San Franciscio HRs: Wildredo Polo (3rd, 2R)
- Washington HRs: Rodolfo Miramontes (1st)
- Devin Massey (WAS) INJ pitching OUT pending
- 1-0 San Francisco
The Nationals took the lead in the top of the 1st as Rodolfo Miramontes hit his first HR of the postseason to put the National 1-0 up. The Giants answered in the bottom of the 3rd, a two-run bomb by Wildredo Polo putting them up 2-1. The top of the 4th saw the National immediately tie it up with Miramontes scoring the run, knocked in by Ernesto Chairez. Despite an injury to Devin Massey in the 4th inning, the pitcher duel continued as the game went into extra innings. In the bottom of the 11th, Sergio Ibarra hit a GW single to score Joel Hudson and give the Giants the lead in the series.
Game 2 in San Francisco: Chris Krupa vs Jamie O’Hara (2054 Waivers LAA)
- San Francisco wins 11-4
- Krupa (W): 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R
- O’Hara (L): 3.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R
- San Francisco HRs: Joel Hudson (2nd, 3R), Juan Ramos (7th, 2R)
- Washington HRs: Ken Taylor (7th, 2R)
- POTG: Wilfredo Polo (SF) 3-4, BB, 3 RBI
- 2-0 San Francisco
The Nationals once again struck first, this time going 2-0 up with both Ken Whitener and Ken Tayor hitting run-scoring singles. In the bottom of the 2nd, though, the Giants hit back as Joel Hudson hit a 3-run HR to give them the lead. They extended that lead with a further two runs in the 3rd, one in the 5th, and 2 in the 6th, 8-2 up at the start of the 7th. The Nationals closed the gap with Taylor’s 2R HR in the 7th, but Juan Ramos closed the door with his own 2R bomb in the bottom of the 7th. The Giants tacked on an additional insurance run in the 8th to make sure they take a 2-0 lead to Washington.
Game 3 in Washington: Greg Ward vs Blake Alcock (2052 Trade CWS)
- Washington wins 11-5
- Alcock (W): 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R
- Ward (L): 3.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R
- San Francisco HRs: Ernesto Pantoja (7th)
- Washington HRs: Amari Nelams (2nd), Juan Flores (2nd), Morton Henrik (4th, 2R)
- POTG: Morton Henrik (WAS) 2-3, HR, 2 BB, 2 RBI
- 2-1 San Francisco
Washington bounced back to keep the series alive with an 11-5 win. This was a cruise as the Nationals his two HRs in the 2nd inning to take an early lead, and built on that with one in the third, two in the fourth behind Morton Henrik’s HR, and then 5 R in the 5th, to lead 10-0. The Giants scored in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings to make it 10-5, but a final run in the 8th for the Nationals meant this was never particularly close.
Game 4 in Washington: Juan Barboza vs Eytor Incio (2045 International Amateur)
- Washington wins 3-1
- Incio: 5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R
- Barboza: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R
- Juan Monterroso (W): 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R
- Mike Stark (L): 1.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R
- Arturo Adan (SV): 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R
- Washington HRs: Nelams (7th), Flores (7th)
- 2-2 Series Tied
The Nationals tie the series up behind a strong pitching performance. After early scoring had been the theme of the series, this one was scoreless until the bottom of the 5th, Fidel Rico scoring Juan Flores after the latter’s double. The Giants were able to tie it up in the 7th as Ben Thomas knocked in one run with a single. The Nationals did the damage in their half of the inning, though, with Nelams and Flores both hitting their second HRs of the series to give Washington that final 3-1 score. Player of the Game was SP Eytor Incio for his 5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R line. The teams will head back to San Francisco for a Game 5.
Game 5 in San Francisco: Frederick vs Massey
- Washington wins 13-10 (14)
- Massey: 5.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R
- Frederick: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R
- Monterosso (W): 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R
- Greg Hyder (L): 2.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R
- Jong-hun Hong (BS): 1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R
- Rickey Martino (BS): 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R
- San Francisco HRs: Hudson (6th, 2R), Pantoja (8th, GS)
- Washington HRs: Chairez (2nd), Nelams (4th, 2R; 8th, 2R), Henrik (7th), Flores (14th, 2R)
- POTG: Amari Nelams (WAS) 3-7, 2 HR, 5 RBI
- 3-2 WASHINGTON WINS
The Giants are eliminated at home in the 14th innings as two relievers have blown saves to end the season on a very sour note. This time it was the Giants getting on top early, three runs in the bottom of the 1st a nice change from early game. The Nationals came back, though, with a Chairez HR in the 2nd and a 2R HR from Nelams in the 4th to tie the game up. The Giants took the lead again in the 6th, with Joel Hudson’s second HR of the series and, while the Nationals claimed one back through a Henrik HR in the 7th, they stretched ahead with another run in the bottom of the inning. Nelams hit his 2nd HR, another 2R shot, as part of a wild 5-run 8th for the Nationals to give them a 9-6 lead as Jong-hun Hong blew the save. Ernesto Pantoja hit a GS in the bottom of the 8th, though, to take the lead back from the Giants, who put reigning Reliever of the Year Rickey Martino on the mound to close out the game in the 9th. He couldn’t did it though giving up a run-scoring double to Nelams to send the game to extra innings. After the madness came 4 innings without scoring, before Juan Flores hit a 2R HR as part of a three-run inning that the Giants couldn’t overcome. Nelams had three hits, all of which knocked runs in, to take the player of the game award.
Series MVP: Amara Nelams (WAS) 7-21, 4 HR, 8 RBI