Pittsburgh Pirates clinch home field for National League Wild Card play-in game

April 16, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Batting helmet belonging to Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Michael McKenry (not pictured) sits in the dugout prior to the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

Coming into today’s game, there was still a chance the Cincinnati Reds could catch the Pittsburgh Pirates and host the National League Wild Card play-in game. Sitting just two games behind with two to go, the Reds would have needed to beat the Pirates both Saturday and Sunday to make that possible.

However, after the Pirates brought out the boom today, the will be no drama – Pittsburgh will be hosting the Wild Card play-in game this week.

The Pirates hit six home runs in their 8-3 victory over the rival reds, two of which came from infielder Neil Walker which dropped the Reds to three games behind the Pirates for the final Wild Card spot.

Thankfully for Cincinnati, their place in the postseason has been clinched so the only battle left was for home field in the winner take all play-in game.

Both Pittsburgh and Cincinnati will finish out their regular season on Sunday afternoon before returning to PNC Park for one final game, where the winner will move on to the National League Divisional round while the loser will have played 163 games to go home early.

It will be the Pirates first postseason game since 1992.

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