(Sports Network) - The San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies will meet in a one-game tiebreaker this evening at Coors Field to determine the National League's wild card winner.

This will be baseball's first one-game playoff since 1999 when the New York Mets defeated the Cincinnati Reds to earn the NL wild card, and the seventh ever. The winner of tonight's contest will face the NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Division Series starting Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park.

The playoff was made necessary on Sunday, as San Diego was defeated by the Milwaukee Brewers, 11-6, while Colorado edged the NL West champion Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-3, to pull even with the Padres.

San Diego, which has been in the playoffs the last two seasons as NL West champions, needed just one win since Saturday to secure the final playoff spot, but dropped the final two games of its series with the Brewers and has lost six of its last 10 to give the Rockies life.

The Padres will have their ace on the hill this evening, as right-hander Jake Peavy tries to join Boston's Josh Beckett as the only 20-game winners in the league. Peavy, the NL's leading Cy Young Award candidate, has been sensational down the stretch for San Diego, going 10-1 with a 2.20 earned run average in his last 13 starts.

Peavy, who is 19-6 with a 2.36 ERA on the year, also has the majors' best ERA and leads the NL with 234 strikeouts, five less than Scott Kazmir's major league-leading total.

The 26-year-old hurler faced the Rockies twice this season without recording a decision, but did pitch to a 1.29 ERA in those outings. For his career he is 4-4 with a 4.11 ERA against them in 12 starts, including a 3-3 mark at hitter- friendly Coors Field with a 3.96 ERA in six starts.

Colorado, which is trying to secure its first postseason berth since 1995, enters tonight's tilt as the hottest team in baseball, winning 13 of its final 14 regular season contests and finishing September a major-league best 20-8. The Rockies went 71-46 after May 22, when they were 8 1/2 games back in the wild card race. Only the New York Yankees were better than them in that time.

NL MVP candidate Matt Holliday was the driving force behind an incredible lineup that scored a league-best 172 runs, as he finished the season hitting .340 with 36 homers and 119 RBI. He was even better in September, batting .367 with a 12 home runs and 30 RBI.

Colorado will hand the ball to 30-year-old righty Josh Fogg tonight. Fogg, who is 10-9 with a 4.79 ERA, has won his last three decisions and is unbeaten in his last six starts. He is coming off a tremendous outing on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, as he scattered five hits in 6 2/3 scoreless innings.

Fogg, who is 5-4 at home this season, faced the Padres three times this year and is 1-1 against them with a 6.28 ERA. However, he held them to a run and seven hits in five innings in beating them the last time he faced them.

Colorado won 10 of its 18 matchups with the Padres this season and swept them in a three-game set at Petco Park the last time the teams met from September 21-23. The Rockies have also won four straight and five of last six in the series.