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By Wednesday night, a team with one of the three best records in baseball will already be eliminated from the playoffs.
Representing what was an incredibly stacked NL Central, the Chicago Cubs (97-65) and Pittsburgh Pirates (98-64) will battle it out in the National League wild-card game, with the winner booking a spot in the NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Taking the mound for the Cubs will be Jake Arrieta, who owns a sparkling 1.77 ERA and has been untouchable for the last two months, going 11-0 over his last 12 starts and surrendering an unbelievable four earned runs in 88.1 innings over that span. In five starts against the Pirates this season, the Cy Young candidate is 3-1 with a 0.75 ERA and 0.64 WHIP.
Opposing him will be Gerrit Cole, who boasts a 2.60 ERA on the season. The Pirates’ young ace, who threw a pair of gems during his only other postseason experience in 2013, went 2-1 against the Cubs this year, giving up six earned runs in 25.1 innings.
First pitch is scheduled for 8:08 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on TBS. If you can’t get to a television, here’s how to watch online or on mobile:
Watch Cubs vs. Pirates Online
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Users with a cable subscription can watch the game live online at TBS.com. You’ll need a cable log-in and password, or the log-in and password of someone you know, to access the stream.
Users without a cable subscription have a variety of ways to watch online. The first is Sling TV, which is an online streaming service that provides access to a handful of channels (including TBS and ESPN) for a monthly fee. They offer a free seven-day trial.
MLB is also offering different ways to watch online. Postseason.TV costs $9.99 for the entire playoffs and allows users to watch live alternative video feeds (different from the regular TBS broadcast and with no announcers) of the game. MLB.tv also costs $9.99 for the playoffs, and it allows users who are able to authenticate a cable subscription with a log-in and password to watch the live broadcast online.
International users can watch every postseason game live online through MLB.tv for $24.99. No cable subscription is necessary.
Watch Cubs vs. Pirates on Mobile
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Users with a cable subscription can watch the game live on the Watch TBS app, which is free to download from the Apple store, the Google Play store or the Amazon app store. As is the case with desktop, you’ll need a cable log-in and password, or the log-in and password of someone you know, to access the stream.
Users with a subscription to Sling TV can watch it on their app, which can be downloaded for free in the App store or the Google Play store.
Users with a subscription to Postseason.TV or MLB.tv can watch the game live on the MLB.com At Bat app, which is free to download from the Apple store, the Google Play store or the Amazon app store.