The MLB playoffs are underway. It hasn’t even been a week since the regular season ended, and baseball is already crazy again. The playoff series have been moving along already, but the chaos started before the playoffs (technically) started.
Monday 9/30: Braves vs. Mets
A week before everything got started, a three-game series between the Braves and Mets was mostly washed away due to rain, so the league pivoted and set up a doubleheader for the day after the regular season ended. There was a lot on the line; the Braves and Mets each needed one win to find their way into the playoffs and with a sweep on either side, the Arizona Diamondbacks would find their way into the playoffs, leaving the doubleheader’s loser out. Game 1 was a wild shootout. 10 runs were scored in the 8th inning alone, with both teams taking the lead in that frame. In the 9th, down 7-6, New York’s star shortstop Francisco Lindor took reliever Pierce Johnson deep, giving the Mets an 8-7 lead for good. The Braves got the job done in game 2 with a 3-0 win, splitting the series to send both teams to the playoffs, leaving Arizona as the odd one out.
Wild Card: Padres vs. Braves
After Atlanta’s game 162 victory to clinch, they were rudely awakened by San Diego immediately in the Wild Card round. In the first inning, Braves righty AJ Smith-Shawver, who had pitched in one game the whole regular season, promptly surrendered a two-run homer to Fernando Tatis. Padres starter Michael King was phenomenal in game One, striking out 12 Braves en route to a 4-0 San Diego victory. Game two was tighter. Padres starter Joe Musgrove left the game early due to injury, leaving the bullpen to fend for themselves the rest of the way. On the other side, Atlanta’s starter Max Fried struggled, surrendering 5 runs in two innings. Atlanta’s bullpen locked it down in the final seven innings, keeping the Braves in the game up until the end. Jorge Soler and Michael Harris homered, but they couldn’t bring it all the way back. San Diego will take on the Dodgers in the NLDS. After losing in the
Orioles vs. Royals
Four runs were scored in the entire series, which is realistic given the pitching matchups. In game 1, former Cy Young award winner Corbin Burnes took on 2024 All-Star Cole Ragans, and the results were as expected. Through five innings, the score was deadlocked at 0-0. The Royals were able to scratch a run across in the 6th, and that’s where the game stood until the end. Bobby Witt Jr. contributed the lone RBI, knocking in Maikel Garcia. Ragans struck out 8 over 6 shutout innings and was relieved due to cramps. Burnes went eight innings, surrendering just one run and five hits. In game two, the starters were righty Seth Lugo, another first-time All-Star, and Zach Eflin, who finished the year with a 3.59 ERA. The Royals scored a run in the 1st on a Vinnie Pasquantino base hit, Baltimore tied it in the 5th on a homer from Cedric Mullins, and Kansas City answered right back and took the lead for good courtesy of a hit from Bobby Witt Jr., earning a 2-1 win and a date with the Yankees in the ALDS. Baltimore exits in the Wild Card round for the second straight year. They haven’t won a playoff game in 10 years.
Astros vs. Tigers
Houston coasted from May on, winning the AL West going away, surpassing the Mariners in August and never looking back. Detroit was the hottest team on the planet coming into the playoffs, sneaking into the Wild Card during the last series of the season. Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal got the ball opposite Framber Valdez in game 1 and dominated, throwing six shutout innings. Framber wasn’t on his A-Game, not completing four innings as he was hit around in the 2nd. The Tigers scored 3 in the second and that was just about all the offense in the game. Houston threatened in the ninth, even bringing a run across before a lineout ended the game. In game 2, the Tigers turned to their “pitching chaos” approach, with not a single pitcher facing the same hitter twice. Astros starter Hunter Brown was excellent, surrendering a single run over 5.2 innings The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the 6th courtesy of a Parker Meadows home run, Houston scored 2 in the 7th, and Detroit scored 4 in the 8th, 3 of which were brought home by Andy Ibanez, pinch-hitting with the bases loaded. Everything went cleanly from there, and Detroit swept the series, moving on to face Cleveland.
Brewers vs. Mets
The only set in the Wild Card round to go to three games, the tilt in Milwaukee was electric. The Mets dominated game 1, winning 8-4. Mets starter Luis Severino did his job, going 6 innings allowing four runs, limiting the bullpen usage for the Mets early on in the series. Brewers starter Freddy Peralta struggled in the loss. In game 2, Brewers rookie Jackson Chourio took over, hitting two home runs. Garrett Mitchell contributed one as well and the Brewers got a 5-3 win. Game 3 was when the magic happened. Through six innings, the game was a pitchers’ duel between Brewers rookie Tobias Myers and veteran lefty Jose Quintana. In the bottom of the seventh, Milwaukee struck. Following the summoning of righty Jose Butto from the bullpen, veteran Jake Bauers was called upon to pinch-hit. On a 3-2 pitch, Bauers demolished a changeup and put it in the seats, putting the Brewers up 1-0. The next batter was Sal Frelick, and he made it back-to-back homers. The score remained 2-0 until the top of the ninth. With runners on the corners and two outs, Mets slugger Pete Alonso went the other way and snuck a ball over the wall in right, silencing the Milwaukee crowd. New York scratched another run across two batters later to make it 4-2, where the lead would hold. New York advanced to the NLDS to take on the Phillies.
The Wild Card was a blast, despite the fairly quick finishes. The Mets and Brewers series was the most entertaining Wild Card series maybe ever, and the other three certainly had their moments. From the Tigers’ late rally to the hard-fought series between Baltimore and Kansas City, the playoffs are off to a great start, and it’s only getting better from here.
