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| Date | September 28, 1998 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Wrigley Field | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City | Chicago, Illinois | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Umpires | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 39,556 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Television | ESPN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TV announcers | Jon Miller andJoe Morgan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio | ESPN KNBR (SF) WGN (CHC) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio announcers | ESPN:Charley Steiner andKevin Kennedy KNBR:Mike Krukow,Duane Kuiper,Lon Simmons andTed Robinson WGN:Pat Hughes andRon Santo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The1998 National League Wild Card tie-breaker game was aone-game extension toMajor League Baseball's (MLB)1998 regular season, played between theChicago Cubs andSan Francisco Giants, to determine theNational League (NL)wild card winner. The game occurred atWrigley Field inChicago, on September 28, 1998. The Cubs won the game 5–3, holding the Giants scoreless for most of the game until the Giants threatened heavily in the ninth inning and scored all three runs. As a result of the game, the Cubs qualified for the postseason, and the Giants did not.
The game was necessary after both teams finished the season with identicalwin-loss records of 89–73. The Cubs won a coin flip late in the season, which, by rule at the time, awarded themhome field for the game. This victory advanced the Cubs to the1998 NL Division Series (NLDS), where they were swept by theAtlanta Braves, ending the Cubs' season.Michael Jordan, a popular Chicago sportsman who had just led theChicago Bulls to a sixth championship in eight years, threw the game'sceremonial first pitch. Inbaseball statistics, the tiebreaker counted as the 163rd regular season game for both teams, with all events in the game added to regular season statistics.
The Cubs finished theprevious season at the bottom of theNL Central Division with a 68–94 record, while theGiants won theNL West at 90–72; however, they were defeated by the eventualWorld Series championFlorida Marlins in theNLDS. The Giants'Barry Bonds drew criticism for his postseason performance, which had been a recurring criticism dating back to his time with thePittsburgh Pirates.[1] The Cubs made several offseason acquisitions following the 1997 season, including tradingDoug Glanville forsecond basemanMickey Morandini and signingJeff Blauser andHenry Rodríguez asfree agents.[2][3][4]
One notable event of the 1998 season was the race for thehome run title andRoger Maris' single-season record of 61home runs between the Cubs'Sammy Sosa and theSt. Louis Cardinals'Mark McGwire. McGwire ultimately won, setting a new record of 70, while Sosa closed the season with 66.[5] Additionally, three teams finished the 1998 season within one game of one another in the race for the National League wild card: the Cubs, Giants, andNew York Mets. This late-season race included a dramatic Cubs loss to the Brewers on September 23. The Cubs led 7–5 with two outs and thebases loaded for the Brewers at the bottom of the ninth inning whenBrant Brown dropped a fly ball, allowing threeunearned runs to score on hiserror and losing the Cubs the game.[6] This loss gained notoriety for the announcer and former-CubRon Santo's call of the final play, yelling "Oh, no!" as the final runs scored.[7]
The Mets were tied with the Cubs and Giants in the wild-card race as late as September 25 at 88–72.[8] However, the Mets lost their remaining two games and finished their season one game back of the Cubs and Giants, who ended tied at 89–73.[9] This record was also the best non-division-winning record, so a tiebreaker was necessary to determine the wild-card winner. A coin flip on September 14 gave the Cubs home-field advantage, settingWrigley Field as the location for the game.[10] In the event of a three-way tie, the Cubs were given the choice to either host two home games or receive a bye and play the winner of a Mets-Giants game on the road because they had the best combined record against the Mets and Giants.[10] Cubs'general managerEd Lynch decided on the second option, though the choice was moot as the Mets fell out of the race.[10] The Cubs'Steve Trachsel and the Giants'Mark Gardner were slated tostart the tie-breaker on September 28.[11]
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| San Francisco Giants | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Chicago Cubs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | X | 5 | 10 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP:Steve Trachsel (15–8) LP:Mark Gardner (13–6) Sv:Rod Beck (51) Home runs: SFG: None CHC:Gary Gaetti (19) Attendance: 39,556 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The game remained scoreless in the early innings, with only two baserunners apiece for each team through the first three. The Giants loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the fourth inning, butBrian Johnsonstruck out to end the inning. The game's first run came in the bottom of the fifth as Henry Rodriguez singled to lead off the inning and scored on a home run byGary Gaetti to give the Cubs a 2–0 lead. The Cubs threatened again in the next inning withLance Johnson andSammy Sosasingles.Rich Rodriguez relieved Gardner but loaded the bases with awalk toMark Grace and allowed a single toMatt Mieske scoring two more runs and extending the Cubs' lead to 4–0.John Johnstone relieved Rodriguez and closed the inning without further scoring.
After getting one out in the top of the seventh, Steve Trachsel allowed a single and a walk topinch hittersBrent Mayne andArmando Ríos, respectively. The Cubsdouble-switched, bringingMatt Karchner to relieve Trachsel andOrlando Merced to play left field. Karchner induced another out before loading the bases on a single byShawon Dunston.Félix Heredia relieved Karchner and got Barry Bonds to ground out to first base to end the inning. The Cubs further extended their lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. AfterAlvin Morman got Morandini to strike out to open the inning the Giants double-switched to bringJosé Mesa to pitch andBill Mueller at third base. Mesa allowed a single to Sammy Sosa and adouble toMark Grace, which advanced Sosa to third. Following a ground out, Mesa threw awild pitch while facing Gaetti, and Sosa scored to make the game 5–0.
The Giants responded at the top of the ninth, scoring their only runs in the game.Kevin Tapani allowed successive singles toBrent Mayne and Mueller to open the inning beforeTerry Mulholland relieved him.Stan Javier singled to score Mayne, andEllis Burks, then walked to load the bases. Bonds came to bat with the bases loaded for the second time in the game and lined out to deep right field, scoring Mueller on asacrifice fly, and Javier advanced to third base.Rod Beck entered and got successive outs byJeff Kent, which scored Javier andJoe Carter to end the game 5–3 for the Cubs.
Chicago's win clinched the team's 15th postseason berth in franchise history and their first since1989.[12] The Cubs' presence in the postseason led several sportswriters to reference theCurse of the Billy Goat and the difficulties the Cubs' had faced since 1945.[13][14][15] The Billy Goat story suggests thatBilly Sianis cursed the Cubs after he and his goat were asked to leave Game Four of the1945 World Series.[16][17] The playoff berth matched the Cubs with theAtlanta Braves in the NLDS, where the Cubs were swept 3 games to 0. The Cubs would have to wait another 18 years to win the National League pennant and World Series in 2016, their first NL pennant since 1945 and their first title since 1908.[12]
Inbaseball statistics tiebreakers count as regular season games, with all events added to regular season statistics.[10] For example, theChicago Sun-Times noted that Sammy Sosa could have added to his notable home run total in the game.[10] Sosa did add to his league-leading strikeout total with one in the fourth inning.[18] Beck also added to his league-leading total ingames played and earned his 51stsave of the season which finished second toTrevor Hoffman's 53 but is tied for the ninth-highest single-season save total in MLB history.[19][20] Several Cubs and Giants won awards for their regular season performances, includingRookie of the Year honors forKerry Wood, aSilver Slugger Award for Sosa, and aRawlings Gold Glove Award forJ. T. Snow.[21] Sosa also won the National League'sMost Valuable Player award, earning 30 out of 32 first-place votes (with McGwire taking the remaining 2).[22]
Barry Bonds drew criticism after the game for his poor performance, including twice making an out with the bases loaded,[23] with some suggesting that Bonds often played poorly in "big games".[1][24] Bonds' 0–4 performance with an RBI and a strikeout earned him a −.186win probability added (WPA), the lowest figure for any player in the game. WPA is a statistic which considers the game situation to quantify how a player altered his team's chances of winning. Bonds' figure translates into decreasing the Giants' chances of success by 18.6%. The bookGame of Shadows, which details Bonds' suggested use ofperformance-enhancing drugs (PED), argues that Bonds grew jealous and resentful of the attention Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were given during their record chase. As a result, according toGame of Shadows, Bonds turned to weight training underGreg Anderson, who began providing him with steroids and other PEDs following the 1998 season.[25]