Wild Card Game

The Wild Card Game is a one-game postseason "play-in" between the two wild card teams in each league. Beginning with the 2012 postseason, the winner of each Wild Card Game proceeds to its league's Division Series to play the team with the best regular season record, regardless of division.

In 2014, the winners of both leagues' Wild Card Game reached the World Series, with the San Francisco Giants becoming the first World Series Champions to have played in the game.

The Wild Card Game was scrapped in 2020 as a result of the special postseason format adopted due to the shortened season resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, all postseason teams took part in the "Wild Card Series", pitting the three division winners in each league and the top second-place team hosting the other two second-place teams, and the next two best teams in best-of-three format. The winners then moved on to the Division Series, as per other years.

American League Wild Card Game

Year	Date	Home team	Record	Manager	Score	Road team	Record	Manager	Notes
2012	October 5	Texas Rangers	93-69	Ron Washington	1-5	Baltimore Orioles	93-69	Buck Showalter	1
2013	October 1	Cleveland Indians	92-70	Terry Francona	0-4	Tampa Bay Rays	92-71	Joe Maddon	2
2014	September 30	Kansas City Royals	89-73	Ned Yost	9-8	Oakland Athletics	88-74	Bob Melvin
2015	October 6	New York Yankees	87-75	Joe Girardi	0-3	Houston Astros	86-76	A.J. Hinch
2016	October 4	Toronto Blue Jays	89-73	John Gibbons	5-2	Baltimore Orioles	89-73	Buck Showalter	3
2017	October 3	New York Yankees	91-71	Joe Girardi	8-4	Minnesota Twins	85-77	Paul Molitor
2018	October 3	New York Yankees	100-62	Aaron Boone	7-2	Oakland Athletics	97-65	Bob Melvin
2019	October 2	Oakland Athletics	97-65	Bob Melvin	1-5	Tampa Bay Rays	96-66	Kevin Cash

Notes:

1. The Texas Rangers won a tiebreaker for the right to host the 2012 American League Wild Card Game
2. The Tampa Bay Rays won a one-game playoff with the Texas Rangers for the wild card spot
3. The Toronto Blue Jays won a tiebreaker for the right to host the 2016 American League Wild Card Game

National League Wild Card Game

Year	Date	Home team	Record	Manager	Score	Road team	Record	Manager	Notes
2012	October 5	Atlanta Braves	94-68	Fredi Gonzalez	3-6	St. Louis Cardinals	88-74	Mike Matheny
2013	October 1	Pittsburgh Pirates	94-68	Clint Hurdle	6-2	Cincinnati Reds	90-72	Dusty Baker
2014	October 1	Pittsburgh Pirates	88-74	Clint Hurdle	0-8	San Francisco Giants	88-74	Bruce Bochy	1
2015	October 7	Pittsburgh Pirates	98-64	Clint Hurdle	0-4	Chicago Cubs	97-65	Joe Maddon
2016	October 5	New York Mets	87-75	Terry Collins	0-3	San Francisco Giants	87-75	Bruce Bochy	2
2017	October 4	Arizona Diamondbacks	93-69	Torey Lovullo	11-8	Colorado Rockies	87-75	Bud Black
2018	October 2	Chicago Cubs	95-68	Joe Maddon	1-2	Colorado Rockies	91-72	Bud Black
2019	October 1	Washington Nationals	93-69	Dave Martinez	4-3	Milwaukee Brewers	89-73	Craig Counsell

Notes:

1. The Pittsburgh Pirates won a tiebreaker for the right to host the 2014 National League Wild Card Game
2. The New York Mets won a tiebreaker for the right to host the 2016 National League Wild Card Game

American League Wild Card Series

Year	Series	Home team	Record	Manager	Score	Road team	Record	Manager
2020	ALWC - 1	Tampa Bay Rays	40-20	Kevin Cash	2-0	Toronto Blue Jays	32-28	Charlie Montoyo
	ALWC - 2	Cleveland Indians	35-25	Terry Francona	0-2	New York Yankees	33-27	Aaron Boone
	ALWC - 3	Minnesota Twins	36-24	Rocco Baldelli	0-2	Houston Astros	29-31	Dusty Baker
	ALWC - 4	Oakland Athletics	36-24	Bob Melvin	2-1	Chicago White Sox	35-25	Rich Renteria

National League Wild Card Series

Year	Series	Home team	Record	Manager	Score	Road team	Record	Manager
2020	NLWC - 1	Los Angeles Dodgers	43-17	Dave Roberts	2-0	Milwaukee Brewers	29-31	Craig Counsell
	NLWC - 2	San Diego Padres	37-23	Jayce Tingler	2-1	St. Louis Cardinals	30-28	Mike Shildt
	NLWC - 3	Chicago Cubs	34-26	David Ross	0-2	Miami Marlins	31-29	Don Mattingly
	NLWC - 4	Atlanta Braves	35-25	Brian Snitker	2-0	Cincinnati Reds	31-29	David Bell

Further Reading

• Chris Landers: "Every single Wild Card Game, ranked", "Cut4", mlb.com, October 2, 2017. [1]
• Matthew Leach: "These Wild Card Games went all-in on the 'wild'", mlb.com, September 28, 2018. [2]