A lot of 'was this trip really necessary?' outcomes for the wild card round. Lot of teams just beating the lower seed. The only 'upset' came from the team that had led the division the whole year beating the team that won it in the last few games. Still some intriguing baseball games to get us there but it's very much calling into question of the reason for expanding the playoffs, aside from 'to give teams the ownership group likes a chance'. Though...considerably less of that than in 2020 or 2022. A lot like Survivor instituting a final four tiebreaker to ensure the winner they want only for the people they like in the last several seasons to be shit at making fire.
The Tigers were able to win against the Guardians in October, after...not really being able to do so in September. They did it with contact, like RBIs from Wenceel Perez, Kerry Carpenter, Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene. The only real long ball was an inconsequential one from Dillon Dingler. The Tigers did almost spoil their win once or twice, and Spencer Torkelson's defense at 1st allowed 2 more runs to score, but they finished off Cleveland simply by being a better-developed team than them, and promptly punched their ticket to Seattle. Right now the Mariners are the favorites, which is a weird thing to say considering how well the Tigers were playing in June, but with Skubal on the mound anything's possible.
The Guardians were over a dozen games out of 1st at the beginning of September and still made the playoffs. That alone is an accomplishment. They were able to take the division with a wildly depleted team, led by a ton of rookies and unsung guys, and still pose a threat to the Tigers in a wild card series. That they didn't completely get the job done is sad, but understandable. The heroes yesterday were guys like George Valera, a rookie outfielder responsible for a rare earned run for Cleveland, and Chase DeLauter, the rookie prospect who got his first hit in the postseason, and Brayan Rocchio, who finished the season making up for all the time he wasn't hitting in the first 5 months. They will be back stronger, better developed and more commandingly.
The Cubs were the better team heading into their wild card series and were able to stave off the Padres after all, despite...being the Cubs. A lot had been made about their rough postseason luck since 2017, and they were able to erase that thanks to a home crowd, a better team and a commanding start from Jameson Taillon. If Seiya Suzuki, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Nico Hoerner and Michael Busch are gonna be great playoff pieces, they might be in for a long run. And if Jamo's a valid October option, only allowing 2 hits in 4 innings, they might have the starting depth after all. Cubs-Brewers has the potential to be the tightest series of the four, as the Brewers don't want you to know that they've actually lost steam since their insane August. Could go either way honestly.
As for the Padres...they got here, and they fought hard, but if Tatis and Machado aren't gonna hit then there's no point in showing up. At the end, the Padres were starting fights with the umps, saying they took the series from them. No. The Cubs were better and you couldn't hit them. Don't try and blame the system. One of the few Padres to actually show up this series was Freddy Fermin, the catcher they traded for to ensure they actually had a decent option back there. Fermin went 4-for-11 this postseason, hitting .364. The goal is for the rest of the team to show up as well. Jackson Merrill getting a late homer isn't gonna be enough. Next year it may be tougher for them to catch the Dodgers unless they really put the effort in.
As for my Yankees...what else can you say but 'wow'? Cam Schlittler getting Game 3 was a risk, and it paid off in dramatic fashion. The man went 8 innings, striking out 12, allowing no runs and no walks. It was a masterful performance, made even crazier by the fact that Schlittler was nearing 100mph for most of the night and was hitting 97 in the 8th. Nobody could hit this guy, and nobody could hit the bullpen either. The Yankees won this game by completely silencing a very tough Red Sox team, and remembering to contact-hit when they could. And again, the guys we got midyear, like Amed Rosario, David Bednar and Ryan McMahon, were the true difference maker. Very proud of these guys, and hopefully they can regain momentum in Toronto.
Connelly Early didn't do terribly badly himself, he struck out 6 through 4, but the problem with the Sox starting Nathaniel Lowe and Romy Gonzalez is that the errors that the Yankees' infield worked to avoid are gonna happen. That 4th inning illuminated just how unfit defensively this Sox team was for this moment, and they failed Connelly Early. The Red Sox were very close to winning this series and shocking everyone, and for the first time since 2003 they simply couldn't stop the Yankees.
I assume they'll be back, bigger and badder, with their big 3 next year, and that'll be...fun. For now, we've got 4 fun looking series scheduled for this weekend. Still a lot of teams I really enjoy in the mix, so I'm enjoying this.
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