The two sets of wild-card game participants took different paths to reach the first two games of the Major League Baseball postseason.
The Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs suffered defeats in divisional tiebreakers Monday to set up a winner-takes-all game at Wrigley Field Tuesday.
Over in the American League, the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics put together tremendous seasons, but neither team came close to challenging Boston and Houston for their respective divisional crowns.
The winner of Tuesday's NL wild-card game begins the NLDS Thursday against Milwaukee, while Wednesday's victorious side in the AL heads up to Boston to begin the ALDS Friday.