#mlb-playoffs

#mlb-playoffs

The ZiPS game-by-game odds give the Mariners-Blue Jays series about a 20 percent chance of going to seven games at this point; the Dodgers-Brewers series is at 37 percent for going the distance.

Both Championship Series will be in action this weekend, as the Blue Jays will be hoping to head to Seattle with a split against the Mariners, while the Brewers will be looking to assert dominance with home field advantage against the Dodgers. Trey Yesavage set the baseball world on fire after he managed to keep the Yankees extremely quiet during his Postseason debut.

Another day, another win-or-go-home Game 5 in the 2025 MLB playoffs! The Brewers entered the series as the favorite -- and the NL's top overall seed. But after taking a commanding 2-0 lead, their NL Central rival Cubs evened the series with two wins at Wrigley Field. Now we're back in Milwaukee -- with the winner moving on to face the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL pennant.

As the playoffs continue to roll on for the 8 remaining MLB teams, the off-season is off and running for other teams. Not yet in terms of action but more in terms of preparation. Many decisions have to be made, especially early in the off-season. One of the bigger decisions facing all MLB teams is who, of their controllable players, will they tender contracts too.

We're one week into the 2025 MLB playoffs, with two games having now been played in all four division series matchups. In the small-sample-size world of October baseball, it might seem like that means we've seen enough to know a lot. But the reality for a sport that combines 162-game seasons with the chaos of short playoff series is: Things can change in a hurry this time of year.

Manager Terry Francona was Ken Macha's bench coach in 2003, and his first base coach is former Oakland outfielder Collin Cowgill. As for players, the Reds had utilityman Miguel Andujar (acquired in mid-season from the Sacramento A's, so he'll go down as the first Oakland/Sacramento Athletic to appear in a playoff game) and reliever Emilio Pagan, appeared in 55 games with the A's in 2018 after being acquired from the Mariners for Ryon Healy.

The playoffs started this week, and you have questions. Who's the best team? Can I, a casual, start calling Aaron Judge a choker? Wait, they let a CANADIAN team take the one-seed in the AMERICAN League? Is that legal? And which team has the wettest guys on its roster, and why is it the Phillies? Those questions, and more, are the subject of the week's Distraction episode.

This, citizens, is why you put your kids into youth sports and then spent all those extra hours yelling at other parents' children. This is why you bought all those unnecessary rounds at the tavern and needed to leave your car behind to get home. This is why you blocked out all those Sundays and didn't attend family gatherings because there were games into which you needed to immerse yourselves. All for this, a day with three win-or-go-golfing games in succession.

Over the previous six months for 162 games you know who will be calling your games when you tune in that night, by and large. Yes, you'll run into an occasional national TV game with a crew that lacks the day-in and day-out knowledge of your team, but you can get through one regular season game with a subpar announcing crew.

It'd be kind of dumb for the Guardians' cosmically-blessed season to end this way, but dumb is what the playoffs are all about. Imagine the epic, undeserved ascent to the division, in the context of a wholly undeserved season, getting smashed on the rocks of "haha you had to play a three-game series." ZiPS actually has the matchup as slightly tilted towards Cleveland today, so maybe their season will end tomorrow and not today.

CLEVELAND -- Tarik Skubal tied a franchise postseason record with 14 strikeouts and the Detroit Tigers defeated the Cleveland Guardians 2-1 on Tuesday in Game 1 of their AL Wild Card Series. Will Vest recorded the final four outs for Detroit, surviving a tense ninth inning after Cleveland star Jose Ramirez got hung up between third base and home for the second out.