AL Wild Card Game Open Thread: Athletics @ Royals, 8:07

One cool thing about the AL Wild Card game is that no matter who wins, the Orioles are still in the playoffs. For some weird reason, the time of Thursday's ALDS Game 1 is tied to the result of this game, however. If Kansas City wins the game, then Game 1 will start at 5:37. If Oakland wins the game, then Game 1 will start at 6:07. It's weird.

Another weird thing about this game is that a pair of long-time playoff-less players - Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham - have both been left out of the starting lineup for their respective teams for this one-game winner-take-all playoff. Willingham hits lefties and is on the bench against a lefty starter. Ned Yost in action. This is why it would have been nice if the Royals won the AL Central, and probably also why they didn't.

The game airs on TBS. One subplot to the game will be the number of angry tweets that are sent out into the Internet ether about the lack of Big Bang Theory re-runs. This happens every October and it's kind of hilarious.