Storylines for each 2025 ALDS Game 2

It was quite an eventful Saturday in the MLB postseason, and that included big wins in Game 1 of the American League Division Series by the Blue Jays and the Tigers.

Winning Game 1 of the ALDS is huge — in postseason history, teams to win Game 1 in any best-of-five series have gone on to win the series 113 of 156 times (72.4%).

While Toronto and Detroit will look to seize a commanding 2-0 series lead, the Yankees and Mariners find themselves in dire need of a victory before the scene changes. With those dynamics at play, here’s a look at the big storylines heading into Game 2 of each ALDS on Sunday:

Yankees at Blue Jays (TOR leads 1-0)
4:08 p.m. ET, FS1
SP: Max Fried (NYY) vs. Trey Yesavage (TOR)

Yankees: Can Fried be the stopper?
Over his final seven starts of the regular season, Max Fried was tremendous, looking more like the utterly dominant left-hander we saw over the first three months of the season. He posted a 1.55 ERA in 46 1/3 innings, and as he gets ready to take the ball for Game 2, the question is: Can he be the stopper the Yankees desperately need in what amounts to a must-win game?

The Blue Jays saw a lot of Fried during the regular season, with the slender left-hander taking the mound against Toronto four times. The results were a mixed bag, with Fried pitching well against the Jays in the Bronx (2.08 ERA over two starts), but struggling in two outings at Rogers Centre (6.35 ERA). The Yanks will hope more recent history prevails — following the great finish to the regular season, Fried tossed 6 1/3 scoreless frames in AL Wild Card Series Game 1 against Boston.

Blue Jays: Will Vladdy continue leading a lineup surge?
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is unquestionably the face of the franchise in Toronto, and if the Jays are going to make this a deep October run, heâ€ll need to be at the forefront — much like he was in Game 1, when had three hits, including his first career postseason homer. As catcher Alejandro Kirk said after the 10-1 victory: “He started all this, and we just followed him.â€

The final two weeks of the regular season were rough for Guerrero, who hit just .164/.193/.182 over 14 games. In the same span, the club overall posted a .222/.282/.383 slash line. As goes Vladdy, so go the Jays, it seems. And especially without Bo Bichette in the lineup as he continues to work his way back from a knee injury, the Blue Jays will look to Guerrero to lead the charge at the plate against Fried and the Yankees.

Tigers at Mariners (DET leads 1-0)
8:03 p.m. ET, FS1
SP: Tarik Skubal (DET) vs. Luis Castillo (SEA)

Tigers: A Skubal stranglehold on the series?
With the Tigers outlasting the Mariners in an 11-inning thriller to open the series on Saturday night, Detroit finds itself in a great position: leading a best-of-five series, one game to none, with the league’s best pitcher scheduled to take the mound in Game 2. Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal looms large over this series since he could conceivably return for a decisive Game 5 should the series get that far.

Skubal, of course, is going to do his best to ensure that it doesn’t get that far. The flame-throwing left-hander is coming off a masterpiece in which he struck out a career-high 14 batters over 7 2/3 innings against the Guardians in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series last Tuesday. If Skubal is to give the Tigers a stranglehold over this series before heading home for Game 3 and Game 4 (if necessary), he’ll need to buck a recent trend of not being his typical self when facing the Mariners — in two starts vs. Seattle during the regular season, he had a 5.90 ERA.

Mariners: Will Big Dumper deliver?
Entering the 2025 campaign, the Mariners had a reputation for great starting pitching and not quite enough offense. Then Seattle belted 238 homers, second in the AL only to the Yankees during the regular season. More than a quarter of those home runs came from one man, the man they call “Big Dumper.” Cal Raleigh has become the club’s heartbeat, and after collecting three of the Mariners’ six hits in Game 1, he’ll be looking to do more damage on Sunday than a trio of singles.

Following a historic season in which he belted 60 home runs, Raleigh is seeking his first in this postseason. There would be no better time for it than in Game 2 against the vaunted Skubal (he’s 2-for-9 with a homer in his career vs. Skubal). A Raleigh homer (or two) would send an already raucous T-Mobile Park crowd into a seismic frenzy — one that could help the M’s even the series with the franchise’s first home playoff win in 25 years.

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