Stay updated on everything baseball with our morning MLB News & Moments articles. We’ve got you covered to keep you in the know.
Did you notice the intensity pick up? I sure did. Even coming off three elimination games, the atmosphere seemed to be ratcheted up a few levels as the Division Series got under way. Maybe that is because the top two teams in each league are now on the dance floor with the four teams that survived the Wild Card Series.
Don’t forget to watch every game with the Pitcher List community on Playback!
Division Series Digest
McKinstry, Tigers Upend Mariners In 11
Final score: Tigers 3, Mariners 2 (11 innings)
Series: Tigers lead 1-0
Next game: Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal vs. Mariners RHP Luis Castillo, today, 8:03 p.m. ET at T-Mobile Park (FS1)
No one would have thought twice if the Detroit Tigers had checked out in the AL Wild Card Series after slumping at the end of the regular season and losing the AL Central title on the last day. But they took advantage of new life to oust the team that overtook them in the Cleveland Guardians to advance to the AL Division Series against the Seattle Mariners. Now, they are looking like the Tigers from the midseason, when they had MLB’s best record. Zach McKinstry’s 11th-inning single to center with two outs scored Spencer Torkelson from second base as the Tigers took Game 1 of the ALDS 4-3 at T-Mobile Park. Now the Tigers send reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal out for Game 2 with a chance to go up 2-0 on the road.
The Mariners took a 1-0 lead on Julio Rodríguez’s homer to center field in the bottom of the fourth. The Tigers then went up 2-1 in the fifth inning when Kerry Carpenter hit a two-run bomb on a 1-2 pitch to right field off George Kirby. It was the third straight sinker that Kirby had thrown to Carpenter, who absolutely owns the Mariners pitcher. Carpenter is now 5-for-11 with five homers and nine RBIs in his career vs. Kirby. But the Mariners came back in the bottom of the sixth. Randy Arozarena walked and went to third on Cal Raleigh’s single. Rodriguez added to his big night with an RBI single to center.
From there, it was a bullpen game, highlighted by each closer, Will Vest of the Tigers and Andrés Muñoz of the Mariners, each going two innings (the ninth and 10th). Mariners right-hander Carlos Vargas took over in the top of the 11th, walking Torkelson on a full count and then uncorking a wild pitch to put him on second. Vargas struck out the next to batters when McKinstry attacked the first pitch he saw and grounded it up the middle, easily scoring Torkelson. Keider Montero, a starter in 29 of his 42 career appearances, then picked up his first career save.
ZACH MCKINSTRY GIVES THE @TIGERS THE LEAD IN THE 11TH! #ALDS
Teoscar’s Blast Helps Dodgers Steal Game 1
Final score: Dodgers 5, Phillies 3
Series: Dodgers lead 1-0
Next game: Dodgers LHP Blake Snell vs. Phillies LHP Jesús Luzardo, Monday, 6:08 p.m. ET at Citizens Bank Park (TBS)
It was another day of MLB firsts for two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani. But it just wasn’t in the same fashion we have come to expect. Making his first career postseason start, Ohtani was touched for three early runs by the NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies. And while Ohtani went hitless at the plate, his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates were there for him. Teoscar Hernández hit a go-ahead three run homer with two outs in the top of the seventh inning as the defending World Series champion Dodgers knocked off the Phillies 5-3 in Game 1 of their NL Division Series at Citizens Bank Park.
Hernandez’s homer came as Phillies reliever Matt Strahm was on the verge of getting out of a huge jam. With Philadelphia clinging to a 3-2 lead after the Dodgers scored twice in the sixth, Andy Pages singled and Will Smith was hit by a pitch by Phillies right-handed reliever David Robertson to open the seventh. That brought on Strahm to face Ohtani, the probable NL MVP. Strahm was up for the challenge, striking out Ohtani on four pitches, then getting Mookie Betts to pop up for the second out. Only Hernandez stood between Strahm and a scoreless seventh. But Hernandez drove a 1-0 four-seamer the opposite way to right-center for the game-flipping three-run homer.
The Phillies had grabbed a 3-0 lead against Ohtani when J.T. Realmuto hit a two-run triple and scored on Harrison Bader’s sacrifice fly. But the Dodgers battled back in the sixth, again with two outs. Freddie Freeman walked and Tommy Edman singled when Enrique Hernández, who always seems to come up clutch in October, delivered a two-run double to left.
Ohtani, meanwhile, had settled down and allowed only one hit after Realmuto’s triple, finishing with one walk and nine strikeouts in six innings. He picked up the win as Tyler Glasnow, Alex Vesia and Roki Sasaki, a rookie starter who missed much of the season, allowed two hits over the final three innings. Ohtani’s win and Sasaki’s save made them the second Japanese duo to accomplish those feats in a postseason game, when relievers Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara did it for the Boston Red Sox did it in Game 6 of the 2013 AL Championship Series. Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez struck out eight while allowing two runs on four hits and two walks in 5⅔ innings.
One injury to watch: Bader, the Phillies’ center fielder, left the game with what was called a strained left hamstring. Postgame, manager Rob Thomson said it was a groin injury.
Brewers Stomp Cubs, But Chourio Injured
Final score: Brewers 9, Cubs 3
Series: Brewers lead 1-0
Next game: TBA vs. TBA, Monday, 9:08 p.m. ET at American Family Field (TBS)
Manager Pat Murphy said he wanted the Milwaukee Brewers to be ready at first pitch. His meaning was that teams that have had a first-round by in the previous three years with the Wild Card Series have been ambushed in the Division Series. Well, Brewers hitters were certainly ready in Game 1 of the NL Division Series vs. the rival Chicago Cubs. Jackson Chourio had two hits, including one of three consecutive doubles, as part of a six-run first inning as the Brewers erupted for a 9-3 victory at American Family Field. Chourio then capped a three-run second inning by beating out an infield chopper deep to third base, but that play may prove costly to the NL Central champs. The second-year outfielder was removed from the game with a strained right hamstring, the same injury that sidelined him all of August. While Chourio said postgame, “Physically, I feel good,” the results of an MRI were unknown, as is Chourio’s status for Monday’ Game 2.
While there is concern over Chourio, the same can’t be said over the Brewers’ performance in Game 1 — although there was a moment of doubt at the beginning. That is because Cubs leadoff hitter Michael Busch hit right-handed starter Freddy Peralta’s fourth pitch of the game for a home run to right, sending doubt into Brewers fans whether their team could win a postseason series after five straight first-round exits over the last six seasons. But Chourio opened the bottom of the first against Cubs left-handed starter Matthew Boyd with a double to left, followed by Brice Turang’s first-pitch double to right and William Contreras‘ first-pitch double to left-center past a diving left fielder Ian Happ for a 2-1 Brewers lead. After a groundout and an Andrew Vaughn walk, Sal Frelick hit a grounder to 2023 Gold Glove second baseman Nico Hoerner, who booted the ball, allowing Contreras to score. Boyd got a strikeout and had a chance to get out of the inning down 3-1, but Blake Perkins worked an 11-pitch at-bat before singling to center to make it 4-1, the final pitch Boyd would throw. Reliever Michael Soroka walked No. 9 hitter Joey Ortiz, then Chourio lined a single to left, his second hit of the inning, scoring Frelick and Perkins and the Brewers were up 6-1, with American Family Field rocking. After Peralta had a shutdown inning, the Brewers tacked on three more runs, with Caleb Durbin’s two-run single and Chourio’s RBI infield hit, making him the first player in MLB postseason history with three hits in the first two innings of a game. Following Durbin’s one-out hit, just four outs into the game, every Brewers hitter had reached base at least once.
Peralta was in control from there. The NL leader in wins allowed just four hits, including two solo homers, over 5⅔ innings, walking three and tying a club record with nine strikeouts. While the Cubs hit three homers, the good news is that the early Brewers onslaught did not destroy their bullpen. With just a day of rest following their three-game Wild Card Series win over the San Diego Padres, the NL Central runner-up got a yeoman’s effort from Brewers castoff Aaron Civale, who went 4⅓ innings, and then two innings from Ben Brown to keep the bullpen in working fashion following a day off today before Monday’s Game 2.
Guerrero, Kirk Help Jays Crush Yankees
Final score: Blue Jays 10, Yankees 1
Series: Blue Jays lead 1-0
Next game: Yankees LHP Max Fried vs. Blue Jays RHP Trey Yesavage, today, 4:08 p.m. at Rogers Centre (FS1)
Ever since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. signed his contract extension in mid-April, this season has been different for the Toronto Blue Jays. Even though it took until the final day of the regular season for the Jays to secure the AL East title over the New York Yankees, this team has had a different aura about it. That aura carried over to the Jays’ first postseason game of 2025, where they rode early homers by Guerrero and Alejandro Kirk before exploding for eight late runs to dispatch the Yankees 10-1 in the AL Division Series opener at Rogers Centre. Kirk added a second solo homer as the Jays posted their first postseason win since losing the 2016 AL Championship Series, having gone 0-2 in each of their previous three playoff appearances.
Guerrero was 3-for-23 with no homers and one RBI in those three trips to the playoffs, but changed that narrative in his first plate appearance vs. the Yankees. With two outs in the bottom of the first, Guerrero drove a 2-1 pitch from Yankees right-handed starter Luis Gil out to left field for a 1-0 lead and his first postseason homer. Kirk made it 2-0 in the second when he hit Gil’s first pitch of the inning for a no-doubt homer.
Jays right-handed starter Kevin Gausman held thing down from there, surrendering four hits and one run with two walks and three strikeouts over 5⅔ innings. Gausman got into a jam to start the sixth as the Yankees loaded the bases with no outs and AL MVP candidate Aaron Judge coming to the plate. But Gausman struck out Judge on a full-count splitter, then walking Cody Bellinger to drive in a run before getting Ben Rice to pop out. In came reliever Louis Varland, who struck out Giancarlo Stanton to end the threat. Varland, Seranthony Domínguez, Brendon Little and Jeff Hoffman combined to allow just two hits and no walks the rest of the way.
Toronto broke it open in the seventh and eighth innings against the Yankees’ bullpen, scoring four in each frame, including Kirk’s second homer in the eighth. Guerrero ended up with three of the Jays’ 14 hits.
By The Numbers
⚾ Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers became the first pitcher in MLB postseason history to hit higher than sixth in the batting order when he led off for Los Angeles. Ohtani is also the first player to start at least one game as a pitcher and another as a position player in MLB postseason history.
⚾ Alejandro Kirk of the Blue Jays became the first Mexican-born player to have a two-homer game in the postseason.
⚾ Right-hander Aaron Civale’s 4⅓ scoreless innings was the longest such relief outing in Cubs postseason history.
Best Moments From Yesterday
It’s The Reflex
Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz has good instincts, snagging this comebacker from Parker Meadows to end the top of the ninth.
He Has A Glove, Too
Yeah, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. can hit. But every once in a while, he reminds us he can field a little, too. The third baseman-turned-first baseman turned an unassisted double play when he snared a liner from the Yankees’ Ryan McMahon and then hustled to beat Jazz Chisholm Jr. to first.
They Remember Me!
Cubs manager Craig Counsell was warmly greeted by the fans who used to cheer him on.
They have not forgotten their pal Craig in Milwaukee, it seems
— Curt Hogg (@cyrthogg.bsky.social) 2025-10-04T17:55:54.961Z
Pregame Pagentry
Pregame introductions take on a whole new persona when it comes to the postseason.
One More Phillies Fan
Phillies star first baseman Bryce Harper and wife Kayla announced the birth of their fourth child, Hayes Three Harper, just hours before first pitch. Hayes, a boy, was born Thursday. The Harpers now have two sons and two daughters.
Noteworthy News
Woo Injury Among Biggest Roster Decisions
Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo was still being bothered by right pectoral inflammation, which led to Seattle not including him on the 26-player roster for the Division Series. He had bullpen session and sim game Thursday, but was deemed not ready.
Among the notable players left off their team’s roster for the Division Series were first baseman Rhys Hoskins (Brewers), right-hander Max Scherzer (Blue Jays), right-hander Chris Bassitt (Blue Jays) and shortstop Bo Bichette (Blue Jays). Bichette is still battling a strained left PCL injury, so missing the Division Series isn’t unexpected.
Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw, a three-time NL Cy Young Award winner who announced he will be retiring after the season, was on Los Angeles’ roster after not being included for the Wild Card Series following his start in the regular-season finale. Kershaw is expected to fill a relief role.
Extra Bases
⚾ Catcher Curt Casali retired in spring training after being released by Atlanta and joined the Cincinnati Reds‘ front office.
Articles You Should Read
What’s next for the Red Sox? Kennedy contemplates path forward — Alex Speier, Boston Globe
In Milwaukee, where connections endure, even family enjoys booing Counsell — Patrick Mooney, The Athletic
Atlanta’s Anthopoulos doesn’t have candidate list to replace Snitker — Charles Odum, Associated Press
Fantasy Baseball Coverage
