MLB Notebook: Wild-Card Round Recaps

The Wild-Card Round came to a conclusion yesterday with a trio of Game 3s, the first time in this round’s four-year history that more than one series has gone to a decisive game. What were the moments swung each one? Who were the players that mattered? Here’s our concise breakdown of all four matchups:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

NY Yanks over Boston (2-1)
Each team got a vintage pitching performance. Garrett Crochet dominated the opener for the Red Sox. Cam Schlittler did the same for the Yanks in a decisive Game 3. The middle game is the one that stands out. In a 4-3 decision that could have gone either way,

Boston made a key baserunning mistake, while New York ran the bases well at the decisive point. The Red Sox made a key defensive miscue, while the Yankees got a big defensive play. That was the difference in that particular game, and that game is why New York is advancing. And for the historical record book, this is the first time that a team that lost the opening game of the Wild-Card Series turned around won the next two.

Series MVP: Cam Schlittler (SP, NY Yanks): There were some other good performances. Aaron Judge had four singles over the three games. So did Yankee shortstop Anthony Volpe, including a home run that was the only dent in Crochet in Game 1. Trevor Story knocked out five hits and a home run for the Red Sox and Masataka Yoshida swung the bat well. But eight dominant innings in a winner-take-all game? We’ll go with the rookie pitcher standing tall under October pressure.

Detroit over Cleveland (2-1)
The series was mostly dominated by pitching, with each game being low-scoring in the late innings. But each team had a burst—a five-run outburst by the Guardians that kept them alive in Game 2, and a four-run surge for the Tigers in the seventh inning that sealed Game 3. Ultimately though, Detroit just put runners on more consistently. No Cleveland player had more than two hits. Tiger pitching worked around Jose Ramirez.

Meanwhile, Detroit had several players make consistent contact. Javier Baez had five hits, while Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter had four apiece. Catcher Dillon Dingler had the go-ahead home run in Game 3 and also threw Ramirez out stealing. The Tigers just always kept the pressure on, and in the end, that was enough.

Series MVP: Tarik Skubal (SP, Detroit): For all of the good Detroit hitting performances, they would have gone for naught had Skubal not worked into the eighth inning and won a pitcher’s duel in Game 1.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Chi Cubs over San Diego (2-1)
In our overview of the postseason, we said the Cub offense would have problems if they didn’t hit home runs. Well, they hit just enough to survive a tense pitcher-dominated series where there were only 11 runs combined across all three games. The biggest sequence came in the middle of Game 1, when Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly went back-to-back for Chicago.

Most people will remember the controversial strike call on San Diego’s Xander Bogaerts on a full count in the bottom of the ninth in a 3-1 game, bailing out a struggling Brad Keller who also hit two other batters and gave up a home run. It was an obviously missed call, although the Padres got an even bigger gift from the replay booth in the seventh when Nico Hoerner scored an additional run, got called out and then replay would not reverse it.

Series MVP: Michael Bush (1B, Chi Cubs): Busch had three hits in Game 3 and a huge  home run late in that game. As dominant as the pitching was both ways, the bullpens were so emptied out that no one individual arm really stood out.

LA Dodgers over Cincinnati (2-0)
Los Angeles just had too much muscle, scoring 18 runs over the two games. For the Reds, they were just happy to be here anyway, with a young team now coming into its own. For the Dodgers, this was just the start of a process that has only one acceptable outcome. To that end, it’s worth raining on L.A.’s parade and noting that a problematic bullpen looked even worse than advertised—Los Angeles had both games comfortably in control and the pen managed to make them quasi-interesting late.

The Dodgers had enough cushion on the Reds to get away with it, but it’s the last series where the defending champs can expect that. It’s really not too much to say this series swung with the first batter in the bottom of the first in Game 1—when Shohei Ohtani homered, setting an immediate tone.

Series MVP: Mookie Betts (SS, LA Dodgers): There were plenty to pick from, but Mookie had two hits in the opener, and his four-hit night in Game 2 included three doubles that came when the Dodgers were still breaking the game open. He didn’t have a vintage regular season, but he was gaining steam in September and is clearly locked in for October.

LOOKING AHEAD

The bracket for the Division Series is now set thusly:

American League
(4)NY Yanks – (1)Toronto
(6)Detroit – (2)Seattle

National League
(4)Chi Cubs – (1)Milwaukee
(3)LA Dodgers – (2)Philadelphia

All four series begin on Saturday. We’ll be back here in this space tomorrow morning before the first pitch to preview all four.