Teams who were a lot better than the Orioles this year playing baseball tonight.

At the end of one winner-take-all game Brian Flynn Jersey , either the Cubs or Rockies season will be over."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Commentary & AnalysisOrioles ProspectsOrioles Game RecapsOrioles News and RumorsCamdencastGamethreadsNL Wild Card Game open threadNew,192commentsTeams who were a lot better than the Orioles this year will be playing baseball tonight. At the end of one winner-take-all game, either the Cubs or Rockies season will be over.ByMark BrownOct2, 2018,7:45pm EDTShareTweetShareShareNL Wild Card Game open threadRichard Mackson-USA TODAY SportsAfter an exciting day of tiebreakers, the real, official postseason gets under way tonight. The Cubs and the Rockies, losers of those same tiebreaker games, must now play the Wild Card Game. One will move on to play the Brewers. One will join the rest of the suckers on the golf course. I recommend that the Rockies, who are the road team in the contest, should be certain to use their good relievers even if the game is tied. My second recommendation to the Rockies is to just be better than Cubs starter Jon Lester somehow http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-ryan-goins-jersey , no matter how good he is. And my third recommendation is that they should have a jabroni starting pitcher shut down a good lineup somehow. Rockies starter Kyle Freeland is not a jabroni at all, posting a 2.85 ERA over 33 starts this year. He is no slouch. This should be a good game.The game gets going on ESPN at about 8pm Eastern. There will also be a second broadcast on ESPN2 that is going to focus on more advanced stats, supposedly. If what I heard on the ESPN broadcasts of the tiebreakers yesterday is any indication, the idea of checking out some different announcers may quickly seem appealing to you.The Rockies starting lineup is as follows:Charlie Blackmon - CFD.J. LeMahieu - 2BNolan Arenado - 3BTrevor Story - SSMatt Holliday - LFIan Desmond - 1BDavid Dahl - RFChris Iannetta - CKyle Freeland - LHPThe Cubs starting lineup is as follows:Ben Zobrist - RFKris Bryant - LFAnthony Rizzo - 1BJavy Baez - SSAlbert Almora Jr. - CFDaniel Murphy - 2BWillson Contreras - CDavid Bote - 3BJon Lester - LHPBeing as the Cubs just won the World Series in 2016, I hope they lose tonight because nobody deserves two titles in three years as long as I’ve been waiting the entirety of the 34 years of my life for the Orioles to win the World Series. Emily Waldon of The Athletic spoke to 30 people about the hardships that minor league ballplayers face."In an article for The Athletic, Emily Waldon tries to put a human face upon the harsh lives that minor league ballplayers lead as they try to achieve their major league dreams. (The Athletic sub. req.) The piece is behind a paywall, but since minor league pay has been a repeated topic of conversation around here, I’ll try to quote as much of it as I can under fair use rules.Everyone that Waldon spoke to requested anonymity. She quotes several players about why no one is speaking up about this unconscionable situation. Waldon does quote two major league players who have been outspoken about this issue: Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright and Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle. Wainwright is near the end of his career and has very little to lose at this point. Doolittle is known for being outspoken and not caring if it upsets anyone. But when people ask why don’t the minor leaguers speak up or organize or do something about their plight, that’s why. I’m sure that if and when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. speaks out about the plight of minor leaguers, he’s not going to get released. Ignored, maybe Justin Grimm Jersey , but not released. But for 95 percent of them? Speaking up means the end of their careers.As I wrote last week, Spring Training is unpaid. And that extends to anyone who is left behind in Extended Spring Training that can last until June. With that, you have to find a place to live. For the young guys, there is a dorm that the players can stay in. But what if the player is married with a family?Waldon also restates the actual pay for minor leaguers once they leave Spring Training, which ranges from a high of $2,700 a month for a player with three years of experience in Triple-A to a low of $1,160 a month for players just starting out in low-A. I should stress that some Triple-A players earn a lot more than that if they’ve been around long enough (7 years) to experience minor-league free agency or if they’re on the 40-man roster, which means that they are covered by the major league union. But for ordinary minor leaguers, that’s the pay scale.Minor leaguer NBA players in their G-League are guaranteed $35,000 a year. Minor league NHL players receive a minimum of $47,500 a year. It is true that neither one of those sports employs nearly as many minor leaguers as MLB does. Neither of those leagues has the overall revenue of MLB either. Once a player gets sent to a minor league affiliate http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-ryan-goins-jersey , they have to find a place to live. Teams usually pay for two or three days at a hotel and after that, the player is expected to find their own place to live. The lowest levels of the minors have host families, but none of the higher levels do. Additionally, the quality of the programs to place players in with host families varies widely from organization to organization.Host families end up doing a lot out of the goodness of their hearts.For those that don’t have host families, they’re left in pretty tough situations.One thing I haven’t mentioned in my pieces on minor league pay is clubhouse dues. Yes, players get a small per diem, but they also have to pay $5 to $15 a day in clubhouse dues. As Waldon notes, a lot of the Latin American players are sending a chunk of that tiny paycheck and per diem home as well.One thing that minor leaguers do say has gotten better recently is the food provided by the team for the post-game meal, at least on the higher levels. One player said they got Chipotle or Panda Express catered in Double-A, and they were pretty happy about that. Still, while that might keep their bellies full Blaine Boyer Jersey , it’s not exactly the type of diet an elite athlete should be eating on a regular basis. Below Double-A, however . . .This is why it was so huge when Yu Darvish bought a catered steak and lobster dinner for the players of both teams when he was on a rehab assignment in South Bend last season.Waldon also quotes players about the miserable bus trips that the players have to take that can last as long as 13 hours and how creative they have to be to get some sleep in. She also talks about the jobs they do in the offseason to try to make enough money to get through the regular season.But she ends with this quote from a player in High-A. This is a man who has spent much of his life preparing for a major league baseball career that may never come. And it highlights why all of this is so important.So please, subscribe to The Athletic to read the whole thing. The attention that articles like this one is getting is starting to make a difference. The Toronto Blue Jays announced that they intend to increase their minor league pay by 40% to 56% across their affiliates. That’s not nearly enough (and again, to the Blue Jays credit, they acknowledge that it’s not enough), but it’s a good first step and the Blue Jays deserve to be applauded for taking it. I doubt they do so if it weren’t for journalists and fans continuing to keep this story in the public eye.