1998 National League Wild Card tie-breaker game

The Cubs won a coin flip late in the season, which, by rule at the time, awarded them home field for the game.

[1] The Cubs made several offseason acquisitions following the 1997 season, including trading Doug Glanville for second baseman Mickey Morandini and signing Jeff Blauser and Henry Rodríguez as free agents.

[5] Additionally, three teams finished the 1998 season within one game of one another in the race for the National League wild card: the Cubs, Giants, and New York Mets.

[10] Cubs' general manager Ed Lynch decided on the second option, though the choice was moot as the Mets fell out of the race.

Rich Rodriguez relieved Gardner but loaded the bases with a walk to Mark Grace and allowed a single to Matt Mieske scoring two more runs and extending the Cubs' lead to 4–0.

After getting one out in the top of the seventh, Steve Trachsel allowed a single and a walk to pinch hitters Brent Mayne and Armando Ríos, respectively.

After Alvin Morman got Morandini to strike out to open the inning the Giants double-switched to bring José Mesa to pitch and Bill Mueller at third base.

Kevin Tapani allowed successive singles to Brent Mayne and Mueller to open the inning before Terry Mulholland relieved him.

Rod Beck entered and got successive outs by Jeff Kent, which scored Javier and Joe Carter to end the game 5–3 for the Cubs.

[21] Sosa also won the National League's Most Valuable Player award, earning 30 out of 32 first-place votes (with McGwire taking the remaining 2).

[1][24] Bonds' 0–4 performance with an RBI and a strikeout earned him a −.186 win probability added (WPA), the lowest figure for any player in the game.

As a result, according to Game of Shadows, Bonds turned to weight training under Greg Anderson, who began providing him with steroids and other PEDs following the 1998 season.

An African American man in a white baseball uniform with "GIANTS" on the chest takes a left-handed baseball swing as a catcher kneels behind him to receive the pitch.
Barry Bonds had a poor offensive performance in the tie-breaker, twice making outs with the bases loaded en route to the worst win probability added for any player in the game. The authors of Game of Shadows allege that Bonds turned to performance-enhancing drugs after the 1998 season.