It took a while to get here, with the teams and the seeding in the wild-card bracket shifting around until the final day of the season. But when the dust settled, the Mariners and Cubs were out, the Marlins were in, and the Rangers settled for a wild card.
Now that we finally know the matchups in the postseason’s first round, how do they shake out? Here’s our breakdown of this week’s wild-card games, including the players who could be X-factors, the strengths and weaknesses that will be difference-makers and our predictions for each series.