Two Former Gamecocks Move Onto Divisional Round Of MLB Playoffs

South Carolina's storied baseball program has produced a bevy of MLB players, and they're being well represented in the MLB Playoffs.

It's officially the month of October, which can mean different things for different people. For people living in South Carolina or anywhere in the deep South, cooler temperatures are finally coming. For others, they can pick up their favorite Pumpkin Spice coffee drinks from their local Starbucks and look at all the Fall Foliage in their town. For diehard sports fans, October means it's time for playoff baseball.

Playoff baseball brings an energy that's just different from other sports, as the excitement is palpable with every pitch that's thrown to home plate. A well-timed homerun can cause enough of a frenzy amongst a home crowd that the reaction registers on the Richter scale. It's a stretch where stars are born, and championship dreams go to die for most.

South Carolina's Baseball program is no stranger when it comes to having former players show up on the biggest of stages, with the most recent example being when Jackie Bradley Jr. and Steve Pearce won the ALCS MVP and World Series MVP, respectively in their championship run with the Boston Red Sox in 2018. This year, two new Gamecocks are looking to create their own playoff legacy with their respective teams.

Let's start with the one who put together the most notable performance out of all the starting pitchers during the Wild Card round, Texas Ranges Left-hander Jordan Montgomery, who threw seven innings and gave up no runs while striking out five Tampa Bay Batters. That performance gave the Rangers a surge of momentum that they didn't relinquish, as they turned around and won game two of their series against the Rays, sweeping their AL counterpart and moving on to the NLDS to take on the No. 1 seed Baltimore Orioles.

Another Gamecock who remains in the playoff fight with his team is Arizona Diamondback first baseman Christian Walker, who reached base four times in the D-backs game one win over the Milwaukee Brewers, batting in two runs in the process. Arizona also won game two and will move on to the NLDS to take a fellow NL Western Division foe, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Regarding other Gamecocks who were in the playoffs, Whit Merrifield and the Toronto Blue Jays were unfortunately eliminated in the AL Wild Card Round by the Texas Rangers on Wednesday. Could Montgomery or Walker be the next Gamecocks to manifest some playoff heroics?

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