Browsing: postseason

In the soaking Yankee clubhouse, Cam Schlittler stood talking to reporters, dripping wet — Champagne was his postgame eau de parfum, considering all the celebrating that was going on around him. The championship wrestling belt given by teammates to the Player of the Game was slung over one shoulder and Schlittler was still wearing the high socks he had pitched with, though he had swapped his spikes for flip-flops.

It was a compelling postgame tableau only minutes after Schlittler’s compelling performance led the Yankees past the Boston Red Sox in their AL Wild Card series. Schlittler, a 24-year-old rookie, threw eight shutout innings in the Yankees’ 4-0 victory Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, sealing the best-of-three affair with the best performance of his life.

So far, anyway. Considering his immense talent, which includes a 100 mile-per-hour fastball, that’s an important disclaimer.

Seeing Schlittler soar in such an enormous win also might serve notice to the rest of baseball — the Yankees were banking on their starting pitching going into the playoffs and felt they had a powerful 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation with Max Fried and Carlos Rodón. After Schlittler’s outing, perhaps they have a terrifying trio.

Rodón was not great in Game 2 (six innings, three runs), but both Fried and Schlittler delivered gems. Overall, the Yankee rotation threw 20.1 innings against Boston and allowed only the runs Rodón surrendered. That’s a 1.33 ERA, the kind of pitching that can move a team through playoff rounds.

So if you can’t wait to see what Schlittler can do against the Toronto Blue Jays in the next round, who could blame you after what he did to Boston, the team the Walpole, Mass. native grew up adoring. Schlittler struck out 12 and walked none and allowed only five hits. The Red Sox had exactly one at-bat against him with a runner in scoring position and it ended, perhaps predictably, now that you know his final line, with a K.

The 12 strikeouts are the most ever by a Yankee rookie in a postseason game — he broke Dave Righetti’s 1981 record of 10 — and he was only the second Yankee ever to throw eight scoreless innings in his postseason debut, joining Waite Hoyt, who did it in the 1921 World Series.

Schlittler is also the first pitcher in MLB history to throw at least eight scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts and no walks in a postseason game.

“I mean,” said Aaron Boone, “what a performance.”

“We needed to be perfect tonight because he was perfect,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “I mean, the stuff is outstanding. It was under control.

“He was electric.”

Perhaps unbelievably, Schlittler had never had a double-digit strikeout game as a pro.

“That’s something I did in college,” said Schlittler, who was a seventh-round pick in 2022 out of Northeastern, which is in, um, Boston. “But my professional career, it’s not something I’ve gotten. I get nine a lot. I didn’t always throw 100, so once I got up here, that’s something that I was able to make an adjustment on…Obviously, (double-digit strikeouts) is not the goal, but that’s a good feeling, being able to go out there and dominate a lot.”

In the first inning, Schlittler got three outs on 14 pitches. Six of those pitches were 100 mph or faster. As the night went on, he worked efficiently. He threw his 100th pitch to finish the seventh inning and thought he was finished — seven frames was his season-high in his 14 starts during the regular season. But Boone had other ideas.

Usually, the manager goes down the dugout steps with a pitcher nearing the end of his outing to either have a conversation about the upcoming inning or to tell the pitcher his work is done. Instead, Boone just asked, “You good?” Schlittler was. Boone thought he’d go hitter-to-hitter with Schlittler in the eighth, but Schlittler breezed through on seven pitches, allowing himself a low-key fist pump as he came off the mound after retiring Trevor Storyon a grounder.

“I trust his ability to go fill up the (strike) zone,” Boone said.

“To be able to go out there and put the team on his back, it’s extremely impressive,” Fried added. “I don’t think anyone’s expecting it, but to say that he wasn’t capable of it definitely would be selling him short. He’s got unbelievable stuff and he’s really put it together.”

Schlittler admitted he probably hadn’t fully grasped what he’d just accomplished. He did seem to enjoy it, though. When he came into the post-game interview room — toting towels because he was still drenched from the clubhouse celebration — he brought the wrestling belt and the goggles he had used to protect his eyes as teammates were spraying each other and set them up on the table. He cracked open a Gatorade before addressing questions.

“Sorry,” he said to the room as the can whooshed when he opened it.

Then he started detailing his night. He had felt great all along, he said, because he had gotten great sleep the previous two nights and he quoted some recovery metrics to back up his snooze claim. In his bullpen warmup, his stuff crackled, which made him optimistic about his night. He controlled his breathing well, which is a particular focus because it helps him conserve energy.

When he got to the dugout after the eighth, he knew he was finished and joined raucous teammates in the dugout. “I couldn’t really hear anything going on,” Schlittler said. “But they’re all pumped up and excited for me and that’s just a great feeling.”

This season in the majors, Schlittler got to 100 pitches exactly once. He threw 107 Thursday night and 75 of those were strikes, backing up Boone on his ability to fill up the zone.

“When you throw 100 and command the baseball and land your secondary pitches, you can be a problem for the opposition,” Boone said. “That’s what he’s capable of.”

And if Schlittler can continue this kind of excellence in these playoffs, the Yankees, with their starters, can be a problem for the rest of the teams still playing.

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LOS ANGELES — Roki Sasaki dazzled in his postseason pitching debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers, closing out their sweep of the Cincinnati Reds with a perfect ninth inning in the NL Wild Card Series.

The youthful looking rookie from Japan celebrated with a beer in his hand and goggles on in the teamâ€s batting cage after their 8-4 victory advanced the Dodgers to the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Dodgers partied in the cage, lit up like a surgery center, rather than their remodeled clubhouse featuring high-tech screens that could be ruined by sprays of beer and Champagne.

Sasaki got Spencer Steer and former Dodger Gavin Lux on swinging strikeouts — with 100-mph pitches — before retiring Austin Hays on a lineout to shortstop that started the celebration.

The Dodgers went without a designated closer during the regular season. Did the 23-year-old from Japan earn the role for the postseason?

“I trust him, and heâ€s going to be pitching in leverage,†manager Dave Roberts said. “So the more you pitch guys and play guys, you learn more. I donâ€t think the momentâ€s going to be too big for Roki.â€

It appeared to be too big for Sasaki early in the season. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in January, receiving a $6.5 million signing bonus because he was under age 25 and subject to international signing bonus pool rules. Sasaki spent the last four seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball League

Expectations were high for the pitcher whoâ€s been a dominant force at every other stop in his fast-rising career.

Sasaki made his major league debut with the Dodgers against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, where he walked five in three innings while throwing just 25 strikes among 56 pitches.

His Dodger Stadium debut on March 29 ended in the second inning he again struggled with his control. He issued four walks and got only five outs while throwing 61 pitches to just 12 batters.

Sasaki came off the 60-day injured list on Sept. 24 and made his first career relief appearance against Arizona. It was his first appearance in the majors since May 9 because of a shoulder injury. All eight of his previous MLB outings were starts, though he did make a few relief appearances during his stint at Triple-A Oklahoma City.

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Shohei Ohtani is up first in the NLDS.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed Wednesday that Ohtani will be the starting pitcher in Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies. The announcement came shortly after the Dodgers closed out the Cincinnati Reds 8-4 in Game 2 of their wild-card series, which sent the Dodgers into the divisional round of the playoffs for the 13th straight season.

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Once Ohtani takes the mound Saturday at Citizens Bank Park, heâ€ll make Major League Baseball history by becoming the first player to start at least one game as a pitcher and one as a non-pitcher in a single postseason, according to MLB.comâ€s Sarah Langs.

It will also mark Ohtaniâ€s MLB postseason pitching debut. He did not pitch last season with the Dodgers while recovering from elbow surgery, and Ohtani did not make the postseason in his six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels.

The Dodgers did not need Ohtani on the mound in their first two games this postseason. Yoshinobu Yamamoto had nine strikeouts and zero earned runs in 6 2/3 innings in his start Wednesday. Blake Snell pitched seven strong innings in the team’s 10-5 win over the Reds in Game 1 on Tuesday.

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Ohtani has slowly ramped up pitching this season after a second surgery in September 2023. He made his debut against the San Diego Padres on June 16, pitching one inning. He has gradually increased his outings on the mound since then, and he pitched six full innings in the teamâ€s 5-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sept. 23. He hasnâ€t pitched since.

Ohtani recorded a 2.87 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 47 innings this season. As a hitter, he was almost as dominant as he was last season, when he won NL MVP honors. Ohtani recorded a career-high 55 home runs and 102 RBI this season while recording a slash line of .282/.392/.622. He’s the front-runner to win a second straight MVP award.

The Phillies went 96-66 this season and won the NL East and the league’s No. 2 seed. They trailed only the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL, which gave them a bye out of the wild-card round.

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The Dodgers are the first wild-card team to clinch a spot in the division series this season. There will be three Game 3s across the league on Thursday to wrap up the opening round before the division series starts Saturday.

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OK, Shohei

Shohei Ohtani picked up in the postseason where he left off another likely MVP regular season — with a bang. Ohtani took his usual leadoff spot in the Dodgers’ lineup for Game 1 of their wild-card series against the Reds Tuesday night.

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He worked Reds starter Hunter Greene to a 2-1 count. Greene responded with a 100 mph fastball over the inside corner of the plate. Ohtani turned on it and deposited a laser into the right-field bleachers at Dodger Stadium.

ESPN’s Jon Sciambi barely had time to call the home run before it was over the wall for a 1-0 Dodgers lead.

There’s good reason. The home run was a first-of-its-kind. Or at least a first-of-its-kind in the Statcast era.

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The ball left Ohtani’s bat at 117.7 mph and traveled 375 feet on a line drive. That’s the fastest home run hit off a 100-plus mph pitch since Statcast started tracking such stats in 2015. By a long shot.

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Per MLB Stats, then-Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers previously held the distinction with a 113.7 mph blast off a 100 mph Gerrit Cole fastball against the Yankees on June 27, 2021. Ohtani’s exit velocity Tuesday bested Devers’ by a full 4 mph.

Ohtani’s home run is also one of the hardest hit of any kind in the postseason in the Statcast era. Per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, only Kyle Schwarber, Giancarlo Stanton and Ohtani himself have hit harder home runs since 2015.

It adds up to a stellar start to Ohtani’s postseason. At this point, we shouldn’t expect anything less.

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Sep 29, 2025, 06:27 PM ET

Wow, what an amazing finish to the MLB regular season! Now it’s your turn, October.

The 2025 MLB playoffs start Tuesday (1 p.m. ET on ESPN), and we’re here to get you ready for what is setting up to be a thrilling postseason.

Will Shohei Ohtani’s Los Angeles Dodgers meet Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees in a World Series rematch? Is this the year the Seattle Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers finally get to the Fall Classic? Will the Philadelphia Phillies make another deep run after a strong regular season? Or will the chaos that ruled September continue to reign?

MLB experts Jorge Castillo, Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez, Jeff Passan and David Schoenfield get you ready with odds for every round, why every team could win it all — or go home early — and a name to watch for on all 12 World Series hopefuls.

Note: World Series and matchup odds come from Doolittle’s formula using power ratings as the basis for 10,000 simulations to determine the most likely outcomes. Team temperatures are based on Bill James’ formula for determining how “hot” or “cold” a team is at any given point; average is 72°.

Insider intel | Schedule | Bracket | ESPN BET

Jump to a team:
TOR | SEA | CLE | NYY | BOS | DET
MIL | PHI | LAD | CHC | SD | CIN

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American League

No. 1 seed | 94-68 | AL East champs

ALDS opponent: Yankees (46.7% chance of advancing) or Red Sox (51.3% chance of advancing)

Doolittle’s WS odds: 11.4% | ESPN BET Odds: +750

Team temperature: 91°

Why they can win the World Series: The Blue Jays don’t strike out, and they field as cleanly as any team in the postseason field. Toronto has scuffled lately, yes, and the culprit is a punchless offense. But Toronto has spent much of the season with one of the game’s best units in runs scored as well as wOBA, and although Bo Bichette’s return from a knee injury is questionable, the Blue Jays still have enough to mash their way past teams. They’ll need good pitching, and while there isn’t a clear ace or lockdown bullpen piece, they have droves of arms capable of excellence. There’s a reason the Blue Jays have spent much of the season fighting for the best record in the American League. Excellence isn’t accidental. And not striking out in the postseason is quite the excellent predictor of success. — Passan

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If they win it all, the 2025 World Series MVP will be:George Springer. At age 35, Springer was Toronto’s best hitter this season, changing his approach by focusing more on his “A” swing at all times to generate more consistent bat speed and a higher hard-hit percentage. That resulted in nearly doubling his average launch angle while keeping his strikeout rate stable anyway. Oh, and he’s been a great postseason hitter in his career, hitting .268/.346/.529 with 19 home runs in 67 games and winning World Series MVP honors with the Astros in 2017.— Schoenfield

If they go home early it will be because …the offense doesn’t wake up. The Blue Jays’ recipe for scoring runs this season centered around putting the ball in play and not striking out while still featuring some power. But that pop vanished down the stretch before turning it on the final weekend. Their struggles correspond with Bo Bichette going on the injured list with a sprained knee. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Springer were two of the best hitters in the American League this season, but Toronto clearly missed Bichette, who hasn’t been cleared to begin running. — Castillo

Ready for his October close-up: At some point in these playoffs, the Blue Jays will hold a narrow lead, the ninth inning will arrive, the microscope will zoom in on Jeff Hoffman, and nobody will know what to expect. Hoffman was really bad in May, July and August, pretty good in the other months, and on the whole, has allowed way too many home runs and absorbed way too many blown saves in the first season of a three-year, $33 million deal. How far the Blue Jays advance in this year’s postseason will rest largely on Hoffman’s right arm. A close-up, indeed. — Gonzalez

Why you should root for them:Three true outcomes baseball got you down? Tune in to some Blue Jays baseball to fulfill all of your balls-in-play needs. Toronto put the ball in play in 81.7% of its plate appearances, first in the majors and the highest percentage by an AL team since the 2017 Astros. There’s a connection here, of course: Springer played for both clubs. If that means anything, it bodes well for Toronto because Houston won the 2017 World Series. We won’t get into what came after. — Doolittle

No. 2 seed | 90-72 | AL West champs

ALDS opponent: Guardians (62.8% chance of advancing) or Tigers (50.9% chance of advancing)

Doolittle’s WS odds: 9.7% | ESPN BET Odds: +500

Team temperature: 88°

Why they can win the World Series: They’ve had the best offense in baseball in September. Their rotation is replete with starting pitchers who, on any given night, can throw seven shutout frames. The back end of their bullpen features two of the nastiest relievers in the game. And they’ve got the Big Dumper. Regardless of his might this year, Cal Raleigh himself can’t carry an entire team, which is why it’s nice to have Julio Rodriguez and Randy Arozarena and Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor and Jorge Polanco and Dom Canzone and J.P. Crawford in the lineup, too. And as long as Bryan Woo remains healthy, the rotation with Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Luis Castillo might be the best in the postseason. Finish off with Matt Brash in the eighth and Andres Munoz in the ninth, and you can see why FanGraphs has the Mariners with the best odds to win the World Series of any team in baseball. — Passan

If they win it all, the 2025 World Series MVP will be:Julio Rodriguez. Wait, not Raleigh? Sure, that’s the more obvious choice, but after his historic power season, it’s possible teams will pitch around Raleigh in October and force other hitters to beat them. That would open the door for J-Rod, who heated up the final two-plus months and bats after Raleigh in the lineup. Throw in some spectacular center-field defense and he could join Springer as the only center fielder to win World Series MVP honors since … well, this is pretty shocking: Springer and Reggie Jackson in 1973 are the only center fielders to win since the award began in 1955. — Schoenfield

The Big Dumper … and some magic?

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If they go home early it will be because …Woo’s injury is a real issue. The All-Star, who exited his start on Sept. 19 with inflammation in his right pectoral, did not make his scheduled start Thursday. Mariners general manager Justin Hollander told reporters the club did not believe the setback warranted putting Woo on the injured list and he’s responded well from treatment, but Woo will go into the postseason without having pitched in a game in over two weeks.While Seattle’s rotation is one of the deepest in baseball, Woo emerged as the ace this season with a 2.94 ERA over 30 starts. He is critical to their World Series chances. — Castillo

Ready for his October close-up: Woo didn’t debut until 2023, the year after the Mariners made their last trip to the playoffs. By 2024, he had established himself as one of the game’s best young pitchers. And in 2025, he cemented that by making his first All-Star team, the high point of a regular season in which he won 15 games, posted a 2.94 ERA, compiled 186â…” innings and was the most consistent starter in a Mariners rotation that didn’t find itself until recently. Woo exited his last start with pectoral tightness. The hope is he’ll be good to go for the playoffs. — Gonzalez

Why you should root for them:Behold the historic firsts … or at least the possibility of them. Raleigh’s home run ticker rolls back to zero when the playoffs begin, and while he’ll still attract plenty of attention, that number zero looms large over the Mariners’ franchise as a whole. Seattle remains the only franchise with zero World Series appearances. Three of the Mariners’ five playoff trips have ended in the ALCS, culminating in two losses to the Yankees and one to Cleveland — possible obstacles this year as well. — Doolittle

No. 3 seed | 88-74 | AL Central champs

Wild-card opponent: Tigers (47.4% chance of advancing)

Doolittle’s WS odds: 1.5% | ESPN BET Odds: +2000

Team temperature: 104°

Why they can win the World Series: Well, why can’t they? They couldn’t possibly make the playoffs after a 64-66 start and trading Shane Bieber at the deadline, could they? They could. And though it’s a wild, out-of-nowhere run, its explicability is not the point. Sometimes teams just get hot and win. The Guardians stole the Central from Detroit in historic fashion. During September, the offense was good, led by Jose Ramírez adding to his Hall of Fame case with another power-and-speed masterclass. The Guardians are here, though, because of their pitching. There is no Sabathia, no Lee, no Kluber — and no Emmanuel Clase, out since the probe into alleged ties to illicit gambling. And yet the Guardians, again and again, turn out pitching. And if they can carry a 2.25 ERA for the month, it doesn’t matter what their names are. They’re the ones winning, and that’s the only thing that matters in October. — Passan

If they win it all, the 2025 World Series MVP will be:The correct answer is probably “the bullpen,” but we have to pick an individual, so let’s go with the easy answer here and say Ramírez, even though he hasn’t hit well in his postseason career (.239, 4 HRs in 42 games). He has the type of offensive game that should translate well to October, however, with his power and one of the best contact rates in the game. If the Guardians do win, it’s hard to envision them doing it without a locked-in Ramírez. –– Schoenfield

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If they go home early it will be because …the offense regresses to pre-September form. Just two Guardians finished the season with an OPS+ above league average: Perennial All-Star Ramírez and first baseman/DH Kyle Manzardo. But Cleveland’s offense was better down the stretch, ranking fourth in the AL in runs scored in September to fuel this improbable run into the postseason. Perhaps the momentum will continue into October. If it does, the Guardians are a dangerous ballclub. — Castillo

Ready for his October close-up:The Guardians are a team built on pitching, a truism that has never been more obvious than over this last month. But at some point, they’re going to have to hit. And it can’t just be Ramírez and Steven Kwan. Enter Manzardo, who just wrapped up his first full season in the big leagues and will play a big part in the Guardians’ power production in October. Manzardo emerged last September, solidified a place in the starting lineup and produced in the postseason, collecting six hits in 19 at-bats. It’s critical that he provide something similar this time around. — Gonzalez

Why you should root for them:Everybody loves a Cinderella story, and the Guardians are wearing glass slippers this October. Their low point in my simulations came near the end of August: a 1.5% chance to make the bracket. They were done, with no underlying element suggesting a rebound was likely. Yet here they are, back in the playoffs, with another chance to break baseball’s longest active championship drought. This team was 15½ games out back in July! Readers of the Brothers Grimm know that not all fairy tales end well, but you’ve got to see how this one turns out.— Doolittle

No. 4 seed | 94-68 | AL wild card

Wild-card opponent: Red Sox (58.1% chance of advancing)

Doolittle’s WS odds: 9.1% | ESPN BET Odds: +850

Team temperature: 120°

Why they can win the World Series: They hit home runs. And, no, that’s not going to be the only reason. But it’s the most compelling. The Yankees have the best home run hitter in the game today in Aaron Judge, and he’s bound to show up one of these Octobers and unleash the full extent of his power in the postseason. The mere possibility of that makes New York dangerous. The Yankees complement it with a lineup of hitters who, even taking out Judge’s 53, combined for 221 home runs, which would rank seventh in MLB. That disincentivizes pitching around him. Between Max Fried and Carlos Rodon, the Yankees have one of the game’s best starting pairs, and their relief pitching is showing good signs over the past week. Ultimately, the Yankees will go as far as the long ball takes them. If they keep hitting homers, they’ll be tough to stop, regardless of deficiencies elsewhere. — Passan

If they win it all, the 2025 World Series MVP will be:Look, Judge’s postseason history isn’t great. It’s not even good by his regular-season standards, with a career line of .205/.318/.450 and just .169/.283/.360 over his past three postseasons across 24 games. But he’s the best hitter in baseball, and he’s certainly due for a big October. It helps that, with a team that led the majors in home runs, he has more help around him than some of those other playoff lineups. — Schoenfield

What it’s really like facing Aaron Judge

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If they go home early it will be because …relievers don’t perform to their track records. The names in New York’s bullpen pop: David Bednar. Devin Williams. Luke Weaver. Camilo Doval. All four have been successful closers at the major league level; Weaver, the only one without an All-Star nod, was the closer for the Yankees’ World Series push last year. But the Yankees’ relief corps has been mercurial since adding Bednar and Doval at the trade deadline. Bednar established himself as the closer, but Doval has been sporadic. The group’s ceiling is high. But the second half proved its floor is surprisingly low.— Castillo

Ready for his October close-up: Ben Rice carried the Yankees in their last road game of the regular season, collecting four hits, including the 10th-inning grand slam that sent them to victory in Baltimore. The 26-year-old has emerged as a crucial part of the lineup and will find himself in it often in October, whether he’s at first base or behind the plate. This lineup seems deeper than the one the Yankees fielded in last year’s World Series run, and Rice is a key reason. Said manager Aaron Boone: “I think we’re seeing the emergence of a true middle-of-the-order bat with power.” — Gonzalez

Why you should root for them:Well, let’s face it, you root for them because you’re already a Yankees fan, but other than that, the fun actually lies in rooting against the Yankees. But it’s hard to root against Judge, and sometimes even great players have a negative postseason narrative that follows them around. If the Yankees win, and it’s because Judge finally goes off in October, it’s just good, solid baseball history that, as a baseball fan, you won’t want to miss. — Doolittle

No. 5 seed | 89-73 | AL wild card

Wild-card opponent: Yankees (41.9% chance of advancing)

Doolittle’s WS odds: 4.7% | ESPN BET Odds: +1800

Team temperature: 83°

Why they can win the World Series: As much as the Red Sox have oscillated this season between looking like they’re ready to be fitted for rings one day and likely to spend October watching games on TV another, the good is good enough to get through a relatively porous AL slate and take their chances against the NL. As long as Roman Anthony is out with a strained oblique, the Red Sox will not be at their best, considering they’re 44-27 when he plays and 45-46 when he doesn’t. But with the closest thing to Tarik Skubal in the AL in Garrett Crochet and an underappreciated bullpen that can help win games, Boston’s path to winning narrows. The Red Sox aren’t the best team in the AL but counting them out — particularly if Alex Bregman can get going — would be short-sighted. — Passan

Watch: MLB Wild Card Series

Eight teams will take the field, but only four will move on. Watch every wild-card series matchup through Thursday on ESPN and ABC.

Tuesday’s schedule:

DET @ CLE: 1:08 p.m. on ESPN
SD @ CHC: 3:08 p.m. ET on ABC
BOS @ NYY: 6:08 p.m. on ESPN
CIN @ LAD: 9:08 p.m. ET on ESPN

If they win it all, the 2025 World Series MVP will be:This is a long shot since the last closer to win MVP honors was Mariano Rivera in 1999, but Aroldis Chapman had one of the most unhittable relief seasons of all time and has blown just one save all season, way back in May. Given that most of the other playoff teams have concerns about the reliability of their late-game relievers, Chapman’s ability to lock down leads could be the difference. – Schoenfield

If they go home early it will be because … the lineup doesn’t muster enough runs without Anthony. Postseason teams usually don’t depend on 21-year-old rookies to motor their offense, but Anthony is different. From July 1 through Sept. 2, the day Anthony strained his oblique, the Red Sox ranked sixth in the majors in runs scored and eighth in wRC+. Without him the production tumbled and the Red Sox became a .500 team. Anthony’s return doesn’t appear imminent — he hasn’t resumed baseball activities — so the Red Sox will have to figure it out without him at least to survive the wild-card round. — Castillo

Ready for his October close-up:When Crochet first appeared in October, he was a reliever for the White Sox, not the ace of this Red Sox staff and one of the five best pitchers in all of baseball. Crochet made his 32nd and final regular-season start Wednesday, throwing eight scoreless innings in Toronto to put him at 18-5 with a 2.59 ERA in his second year as a starter. His last four starts saw him allow just six runs in 27 innings. With the season winding down, Crochet only seems to be getting stronger. Next up: a Game 1 start. — Gonzalez

Why you should root for them:This is your chance to possibly see baseball’s newest postseason legend born. Yes, Crochet does already have some postseason history under his belt, having tossed three scoreless innings over four relief outings with six whiffs while with the White Sox. But this is a whole different Crochet, a full-blown ace who has seemingly gotten stronger as the season has advanced even though he has never carried anywhere close to this heavy of a workload. Crochet is going to be must-watch every time he takes the hill in the playoffs.— Doolittle

No. 6 seed | 87-75 | AL wild card

Wild-card opponent: Guardians (52.6% chance of advancing)

Doolittle’s WS odds: 4.8% | ESPN BET Odds: +1800

Team temperature: 42°

Why they can win the World Series: Because once upon a time this was the best team in the American League. It’s easy to forget after their historic collapse, but the Tigers entered May, June, July, August and, yes, September with the best record in the AL. Recent travails notwithstanding, this is a good baseball team, and even with a number of pitchers and infielder Colt Keith on the injured list, the Tigers have the depth — and in manager A.J. Hinch the acumen — to do damage in October. It starts with Tarik Skubal, the best pitcher in baseball the past two seasons and one hell of an assignment for the Guardians in Game 1 of a three-game series. Win that, get the good feeling back, hope the slugging of Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and Spencer Torkelson shows up, find top-level form from Casey Mize and Jack Flaherty and pray the bullpen finds some strikeout elixir. More than anything, remember what it’s like to win after spending too long not knowing the feeling. –– Passan

The extraordinary mystery of Tarik Skubal

“I wasn’t good until I was 26,” the All-Star pitcher says. Here’s how Skubal rose from Little League lore to Cy Young. Tim Keown »

If they win it all, the 2025 World Series MVP will be:Skubal would be the easy answer, but Stephen Strasburg is the only pitcher to win World Series MVP honors in the past 10 years and only he, Madison Bumgarner and Cole Hamels have won the award in the past 20 postseasons. So maybe Greene? He can run hot and cold with the bat and the strikeouts are a concern, but he can also hit some big home runs.— Schoenfield

If they go home early it will be because …the starting rotation around Skubal doesn’t carry its weight. Skubal, the AL Cy Young favorite, recorded a 2.42 ERA in four September starts. And yet the Tigers’ rotation ERA for the month was still a bloated 4.84. That helps explain the team’s near-monumental collapse, though the offense and bullpen didn’t help matters. Flaherty and Mize, the team’s No. 2 and 3 starters, must give the Tigers some effective length to avoid an early exit. — Castillo

Ready for his October close-up:Mize, the first overall pick in the 2018 draft, did not pitch for the Tigers in last year’s wild-card round and was left off their ALDS roster. It marked his first season back from a prolonged recovery from Tommy John surgery, and Mize never truly felt right. This year, he made his first All-Star team and, with help from a solid enough September, established himself as a key member of the postseason rotation. If the Tigers are going to go from nearly blowing a playoff spot to playing deep into October, other starters are going to have to step up beyond Skubal. It’s Mize’s turn to prove he can. — Gonzalez

Why you should root for them: Want to see how bouncy a baseball team can be? Check out the nosediving Tigers, who squeaked into the playoffs largely because they weren’t the only AL contender in a late-season free fall. Detroit’s .291 September winning percentage doesn’t bode well. In fact, if the Tigers can rebound from here to the heights of a title, it would be an unprecedented reversal.. Only 10 eventual champs have sported a last-month winning percentage under .500. The worst was the .414 mark (12-17) of the 2006 Cardinals — who beat Detroit in that year’s World Series. — Doolittle

National League

No. 1 seed | 97-65 | NL Central champs

NLDS opponent: Cubs (55.7% chance of advancing) or Padres (59.2% chance of advancing)

Doolittle’s WS odds: 19.8% | ESPN BET Odds: +800

Team temperature: 67°

Why they can win the World Series: They’ve been the best team in baseball over six months. In the modern game, that takes a blend of depth, player development and fidelity to an ethos that runs through the organization expecting excellence. If the deck is stacked against you, unstack it and restack it to better suit you. It’s easy to say, but how the Brewers play — disciplined and smart and fully bought-in — is an enviable brand of baseball. They’re a fun team to watch because they were better than everyone, sure. But really fun because they bully without the home run, which is something of a novel concept in today’s game. Milwaukee embraced it as it embraces any impediment. There’s always the chance that a consistently winning team never makes the World Series. But the cavalry of live arms, the nine hitters with OPS+ over 111 (and two more over 100), the NL-best 164 steals, the glovework that’s among the best in MLB by every publicly available defensive metric — it makes sense. They’re the best for a reason. So why would that change? — Passan

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If they win it all, the 2025 World Series MVP will be:Brice Turang is no longer just a slick-fielding second baseman with speed. He has added power this season, especially in the second half — during which he’s slugged over .500. He hits righties and lefties, does a good job of not chasing out of the zone and can pound fastballs. Oh, and he hit .364 with runners in scoring position. — Schoenfield

If they go home early it will be because …their lack of power catches up with them. Runs are often scarce in October when teams maximize deploying their best pitchers. And while manufacturing them by any means necessary is the goal, hitting home runs is an indicator of October success. The only team to finish outside the top nine in home runs for a season and reach the World Series over the past five years was the 2023 Diamondbacks. The Brewers, meanwhile, finished this season tied for 21st in home runs with Christian Yelich’s 29 leading the way. — Castillo

Ready for his October close-up: The hype that surrounded Jacob Misiorowski at midseason, prompting a surprising All-Star appearance despite fewer than 30 career major league innings, has since faded. In nine starts since then, his ERA is 5.45. He’s no longer good enough to crack the Brewers’ postseason rotation. Not yet, anyway. The team, though, is considering using him out of the bullpen, and that’s when things could get really interesting. Misiorowski captivated the nation because he possessed some of the sport’s most devastating stuff despite taking on the workload of a starting pitcher. Out of the bullpen, that triple-digit fastball and wipeout slider would certainly play, especially in October. — Gonzalez

Why you should root for them:The Brewers are one of the three teams in this year’s field — along with the Mariners and Padres — hunting for their first title. But this was the best regular season in Milwaukee’s history, and for the first time since 1982, the Brewers will enter the playoffs with the best record in MLB. Intangibly, this is perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing team to watch, featuring flashy defenders, a number of high-volume base stealers and a lot of balls in play. In other words, the reasons to watch and root for the Brew Crew are many. It would be much harder to identify reasons you would not want to root for them.— Doolittle

No. 2 seed | 96-66 | NL East champs

NLDS opponent: Dodgers (51.3% chance of advancing) or Reds (66.0% chance of advancing)

Doolittle’s WS odds: 16.5% | ESPN BET Odds: +400

Team temperature: 90°

Why they can win the World Series: Kyle Schwarber is made for October, and he will hold court, along with Bryce Harper, Cristopher Sanchez, Jhoan Duran and the rest of the cavalcade, in front of the most raucous crowd in baseball at Citizens Bank Park. Those are the featured players, but the Phillies’ run could hinge on their four starters’ capacity to go deep into games. The bullpen is top-heavy, and the top is good, but if they aren’t scared off by the third time through the order like so many others, the Phillies can ride their rotation far. Schwarber and Harper have combined for 38 home runs in 510 career postseason plate appearances and are two of the best playoff performers of their generation. If the Phillies can hit some timely home runs — eight others on the roster reached double-digit homers — their case, already perhaps the most compelling in baseball, gets that much stronger. — Passan

If they win it all, the 2025 World Series MVP will be:We have two logical choices here: Schwarber and Harper. Both have been outstanding in the playoffs. Schwarber has a .906 OPS and 21 home runs in 69 games, and Harper has a 1.016 OPS and 17 home runs in 53 games. Schwarber, of course, had a monster regular season. Let’s go with Harper, though. He knows how to lock in for October better than any other active hitter, and with time possibly running out on this aging Phillies team, it might be now or never for Harper to win a World Series. — Schoenfield

If they go home early it will be because …Trea Turner doesn’t quickly find his rhythm. Turner was placed on the injured list because of a Grade 1 hamstring strain Sept. 8. He was activated Friday and played in Sunday’s season finale. The Phillies’ offense hummed without Turner behind Schwarber’s continued dominance of opposing pitchers, but October is a different beast, and Turner is an elite talent who could change Philadelphia’s playoff fortunes. The shortstop won the NL batting title, led the league with 179 hits and stole 36 bases. A healthy Turner adds another dimension. — Castillo

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Ready for his October close-up:Jhoan Duran got a taste of postseason baseball with the Twins in 2023, but he has never experienced it quite like at “The Bank,” with his walkout song blaring through what is widely considered the loudest, most boisterous ballpark this time of year. The Phillies’ front office beat out a bevy of suitors for Duran at the trade deadline, and he has been everything the team could have imagined, locking down the back end of a leaky bullpen and looking very much like the final player of a title quest. Soon, the ninth inning will come, and “El Incomprendido” will play. Philly will be ready.— Gonzalez

Why you should root for them:Tired of the bullpen parade? The Phillies are your team. Philadelphia far and away paced the majors in innings from starters. It wasn’t just volume either, as Philly logged baseball’s third-best rotation ERA (3.57). And it wasn’t because the Phillies preached pitch to contact: Philadelphia led all of baseball in strikeout rate from starting pitchers, and strikeout-minus-walks percentage. Sure, the loss of Zack Wheeler is a bummer, but the Sanchez-led rotation remains the foundation of the Phillies and their greatest hopes to traverse the bullpen-heavy staffs of the rest of the bracket en route to the World Series.— Doolittle

No. 3 seed | 93-69 | NL West champs

Wild-card opponent: Reds (68.4% chance of advancing)

Doolittle’s WS odds: 10.7% | ESPN BET Odds: +500

Team temperature: 105°

Why they can win the World Series: They did it last year and pretty much everyone who contributed to that team is back — plus a few more. This time, they’ve got to get through the wild-card series, which is no fun, but their starting pitching depth is truly daunting. No matter how they deploy Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, any permutation works. The bullpen is … a work in progress. But if you’re seeking a functional relief corps on the fly, there are worse places to start than with a group of 10 who have thrown out of the bullpen this month, seven at 95-plus (including Roki Sasaki), with Emmet Sheehan and Clayton Kershaw likewise at the ready. As for the hitters: Ohtani will win his second straight NL MVP, Mookie Betts is right again, Freddie Freeman in October is automatic and even if Will Smith is out, what the Dodgers manage better than anyone is depth, and despite the disappointment of the regular season, there exists this truth: If every team plays its best, the Dodgers are better than all of them. — Passan

If they win it all, the 2025 World Series MVP will be:How about Freeman in a repeat performance? Hey, Corey Seager won in 2020 and 2023 (for two different teams), although no player has won MVP in back-to-back World Series. Freeman has played 11 World Series games — and reached via a hit in all 11 with an OPS of 1.171. He never lets the moment get too big, and another big World Series would cement his status as one of the all-time great clutch postseason performers. — Schoenfield

If they go home early it will be because …the bullpen sinks this behemoth. Six different Dodgers relievers finished September with an ERA north of 5.00. Their team bullpen ERA for the month that ranked 26th in baseball. Only three teams blew more saves. Tanner Scott’s first season in Los Angeles was a colossal disappointment. Kirby Yates, their other major free agent bullpen addition, landed on the injured list again during the final week of the regular season. Brock Stewart, the only reliever acquired at the trade deadline, pitched in four games before going on the IL. As a result, the Dodgers will supplement the bullpen with starters; Kershaw, Sasaki and Sheehan all figure to play significant relief roles in October. — Castillo

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Ready for his October close-up: Baseball fans were delighted to see Ohtani grace the postseason stage last October, but that was only half of him. This year, Ohtani will be fully unlocked. He’ll pitch — perhaps as soon as Game 1 of the wild-card round — and he’ll hit, with few, if any, limitations. The Dodgers were very careful in how they handled Ohtani’s pitching return, all with the thought of making sure he was at his best going into October. That goal was accomplished. Ohtani has once again proven he can be as dominant on the mound as he is in the batter’s box. Now, he’ll show it when it really counts. — Gonzalez

Why you should root for them:You like dynasties? Another Dodgers title would further cement L.A.’s dominance over the rest of baseball. The Dodgers looked far more vulnerable than predicted during the season, and their struggles continued into the latter stages of the regular season. But Ohtani will unleash his two-way act in the playoffs for the first time, Betts has turned around his down season, and everyone wants to send Kershaw into retirement on a high note. Dynasties are dynasties because they win even when their plans haven’t unfolded exactly as they foresaw.— Doolittle

No. 4 seed | 92-70 | NL wild card

Wild-card opponent: Padres (55.0% chance of advancing)

Doolittle’s WS odds: 6.2% | ESPN BET Odds: +1400

Team temperature: 83°

Why they can win the World Series:They’re a magnificent defensive team, they’ve got Kyle Tucker back to charge an offense that has been a bottom-quarter run-scoring team in the second half, and Daniel Palencia has also returned with his velocity. Maybe their flashes of excellence when they were healthy get rekindled. The Cubs might not be as talented as the NL elite, but their lineup is filled with hitters willing to take walks and not striking out exorbitantly. That kind of approach — and home run hitting — win in October, and the Cubs have both. Keep the steady performances from Andrew Kittredge and Brad Keller to lengthen the bullpen and hope for a mid-postseason return by Cade Horton, who would immediately make their chances that much better. — Passan

If they win it all, the 2025 World Series MVP will be:Ian Happ. Tucker has battled multiple injuries in the second half, including a calf injury that sidelined him most of September. Pete Crow-Armstrong has dropped off significantly in the second half. Seiya Suzuki has likewise slumped. Happ is the overlooked member of the Cubs’ lineup, but he’s a switch-hitter with power, he gets on base, controls his strikeouts reasonably well, has hit well in the second half and usually bats second or third, giving him plenty of RBI and run-scoring opportunities. — Schoenfield

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If they go home early it will be because …the late injuries pushed them off track. The Cubs’ best every-day player (Tucker), top starting pitcher (Horton) and closer (Palencia) dealt with injuries down the stretch. Though Tucker (calf) and Palencia (shoulder) returned from the injured list during the regular season’s final week, Horton was pulled from his start last Tuesday because of back tightnesss and placed on the injured list Saturday because of a rib fracture, the team announced, eliminating any chance of him pitching in the wild-card round.— Castillo

Ready for his October close-up:Here’s one thing we know about the Cubs going into these playoffs: they’re going to have to score runs, especially with Horton out for at least the first round. Kyle Tucker missed most of September and Pete Crow-Armstrong had the majors’ lowest OPS among qualified hitters after the start of August, which only heightens the pressure on someone like Michael Busch. There’s plenty of reason for hope. The Cubs’ offense hasn’t been clicking on all cylinders lately, but Busch, 27, has been at his best over these last couple weeks and led the team with 34 home runs this season. He’ll be at the top of the lineup against righties and his production will be critical. — Gonzalez

Why you should root for them:An eight-year title drought is small potatoes in Chicago, but 2016 is starting to feel like a long time ago. This version of the Cubs, led by first-title-seeker Craig Counsell, has a chance to carve out its place in the hearts of North Side fans with a deep run this October. When the Cubs have been at their best, they’ve featured an electric offense led by Kyle Tucker, Seiya Suzuki and current fan favorite (P-C-A! P-C-A!) Pete Crow-Armstrong. With Tucker headed for free agency, this might be the Cubs’ best shot at matching their 2016 heights with this group.— Doolittle

No. 5 seed | 90-72 | NL wild card

Wild-card opponent: Cubs (45.0% chance of advancing)

Doolittle’s WS odds: 4.2% | ESPN BET Odds: +1400

Team temperature: 99°

Why they can win the World Series: They’re built to succeed in modern playoff baseball — and if they do, the superpen is going to become even more of a desirable asset than it already is. Just this week, the Padres deployed six relievers who threw 98 mph-plus. Have fun, hitters. The Padres need the dynamic version of their offense that hasn’t shown up this year, when they ranked 19th in runs scored. They were better in the second half, and among Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill, the Padres have three could-be anchors. The hitters around them have potential, and complementing a very good rotation with that bullpen gives San Diego arguably the deepest group of pitchers in the postseason. That tends to be what wins teams championships. — Passan

If they win it all, the 2025 World Series MVP will be:Is it fair to say the Padres will go only as far as Machado will take them? Seems reasonable. You need to hit home runs to win in October and the Padres don’t hit a lot of them, so they will need to rely on Machado, the team’s best power hitter, to hit a few over the wall. In 25 postseason games with the Padres, he has hit just .216/.252/.461, although with seven home runs. He’s a future Hall of Famer still looking for that signature October moment. Maybe it finally arrives in 2025. — Schoenfield

If they go home early it will be because …the volatile starting rotation flounders. Though the ceiling is high for the rotation, the floor is concerningly low going into the postseason. Nick Pivetta emerged as a steady ace in his first year in San Diego, but Michael King, Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish all dealt with varying degrees of inconsistency this season. King probably starts Game 2 of the wild-card series. Cease, whose ceiling includes no-hit stuff, and Darvish, whose postseason history includes great success and prominent failure, round out the talented collection. With one of the best bullpens in baseball, the Padres just need some solid length from their starters. — Castillo

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Ready for his October close-up: The Padres used their best prospect — some would say their only great prospect — to acquire Mason Miller from the A’s in July, all with the hopes that the hard-throwing closer could help put them over the top in October. The Padres head into the playoffs with serious concerns about their rotation and expect to rely heavily on their bullpen, a unit that will be without one of its most important pitchers in Jason Adam. Miller has been called on to record more than three outs various times this season. Expect that to continue in his first taste of October. — Gonzalez

Why you should root for them:You want your team to try — to leverage the present in lieu of punting in hopes of a better future? Then the Padres are your team, with the frenetic A.J. Preller going all-in when it comes to treating each season as a chance to win, no matter what he’s facing in terms of payroll challenges or the fallout from past bouts of hyperaggression. The Padres try, and if they can beat the Cubs in the wild-card round, San Diego will again get a chance to showcase what has become one of the great game-day atmospheres in the major leagues.— Doolittle

No. 6 seed | 83-79 | NL wild card

Wild-card opponent: Dodgers (31.6% chance of advancing)

World Series odds: 1.5% | ESPN BET Odds: +2000

Team temperature: 84°

Why they can win the World Series: Because the Reds believe in starting pitching, and starting pitching — in a world of the bullpenification of October — still has its place. You think the Dodgers aren’t sweating at least a little at the prospect of facing Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott in the first two games of a three-game series? And then what happens when those fears are proven warranted? First Cincinnati backdoors its way into the postseason by overtaking the Mets on the season’s final weekend. Then the Reds follow that by beating the half-billion-dollar defending World Series champions led by the best player in the world? At that point, teams start feeling something, and, no, a special feeling does not a champion make. But the Reds have a little friskiness about them, and even if they’re the last seed in the NL, the Diamondbacks were two years ago, too. With Terry Francona at the helm, underestimate them at your peril. — Passan

If they win it all, the 2025 World Series MVP will be:Pitchers don’t often win the MVP, but the rotation has been the strength for the Reds, and Greene is the starter most likely to reel off a dominant October thanks to his power arsenal. We saw that in a couple of his clutch September starts: A complete-game one-hitter with nine strikeouts against the Cubs and a seven-inning, one-hit, 12-strikeout performance against the Mets. – Schoenfield

If they go home early it will be because …the starting pitching fails to compensate for their weak offense. For the Reds to make a run, they need their starting pitching to carry them. Greene, Abbott and Nick Lodolo should be Cincinnati’s rotation for the wild-card series — unless the groin injury Lodolo suffered in his final regular-season start on Thursday keeps him out — and that trio is one of the best in baseball. The offense, meanwhile, was one of the worst in the majors in the second half, ranking in the bottom third in runs scored, home runs and wRC+\. — Castillo

Ready for his October close-up:Noelvi Marte’s October moment actually arrived in September — on Thursday afternoon, in Game 159 of the Reds’ season, when he leaped against the fence to rob Pittsburgh’s Bryan Reynolds of a ninth-inning, game-tying home run. Marte’s role on this Reds team was muddled when Gold Glove third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes came over before the trade deadline. In hopes of keeping his bat in the lineup, they moved Marte to right field, where his plus arm would play. Marte has handled it well enough to remain a fixture in the Reds’ lineup. That’s what matters most. But the occasional season-saving catch is certainly welcomed. — Gonzalez

Why you should root for them:You like young, exciting players? In terms of pure, unadulterated excitement, there might be no better hitter-pitcher pair on any team than Elly De La Cruz and Greene. Greene can dominate opponents deep into games, making him a true weapon in a playoff context. Meanwhile, with De La Cruz, you get homers and singles, and you get strikeouts and errors. Good or bad, you can’t take your eyes off the guy.— Doolittle

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(Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)

Hello cord-cutting baseball fans, and welcome to the toughest month of the season.

Thanks to MLB.tv, baseball has long been a sport that is extremely friendly to fans who donâ€t pay for cable, satellite or any streaming substitute—so long as you arenâ€t a fan of your local team. With MLB.tv, you can make one lump payment and watch as many as 10+ games per day for six months. And in recent years, fans of their local team(s) can pay to add those games to their live viewing schedule, as well.

There are exceptions—Apple TV+’s Friday games for example—but even in those cases, watching Big Inning helps keep you on top of the important action in games.

But when the playoffs arrive, options for cable-free households become much more difficult to navigate, as MLB.tv doesnâ€t cover the playoffs if you live in the United States. And with the postseason being broadcast across a range of different channels—ESPN (wild card), ABC (wild card), Fox (AL playoffs after the wild card round and World Series), FS1 (AL playoffs after the wild card round) and TBS (NL playoffs after wild card round)—paying for just one networkâ€s app for the month won’t solve the issue, either.

With that in mind, we thought it would be useful to present a variety of options for fans in this sticky situation when it comes to watching the entirety of the 2025 playoffs in a 100 percent legal manner. This is not an ad, and Baseball America is not getting compensated for any of these recommendations. Itâ€s simply a guide to help fans enjoy one of the most exciting times of the baseball calendar.

If You Want The Simplest Approach

If you’re looking for way to get the entirety of the playoffs without having to juggle any long-term subscriptions, YouTubeTV is running a $49.99 a month trial rate for two months. The deal only applies to new YouTubeTV customers, but if thatâ€s you, you can get the entirety of the playoffs for a maximum of $100.

Realistically, most people will pay only $50, as the playoffs run from Sept. 30 until Nov. 1 if the World Series goes to a Game 7. Should the World Series end after Game 5, you can still cancel in time to pay for only one month. And if you have an antenna (either traditional or digital) and can get a Fox signal over the air, you’ll be covered for those World Series games anyway and will have all the channels needed in a one-month subscription.

Not eligible for the first-time subscriber YouTubeTV deal? DirecTV streaming is also having a one-month $50 trial that will cover the channels (ESPN, FS1, TBS) you need to watch playoff games.

If You’re Willing To Work (A Lot) To Save Money

Not everyone will want to pay $50 to watch games this postseason. In that case, if you’re willing to sign up for and cancel various free trials in succession, there are ways to get through the playoffs without paying nearly as much. Again, this process only works if you havenâ€t previously signed up for these before, so be sure to read all of the terms and conditions before signing up.

There are going to be gaps, and itâ€s not going to be nearly as easy, but it is doable.

The first part of this process is making sure you have an over-the-air antenna that picks up your local Fox station. If you are somewhere in the country that canâ€t pick up a Fox broadcast signal, Iâ€d recommend jumping back up to the YouTubeTV option. If you can get Fox, but donâ€t have an antenna, itâ€s worth investing the $30-$40 for a decent antenna with a signal amplifier. Thatâ€s a minor investment that should be part of every cord-cutterâ€s year-round playbook.

Once you’ve picked out a digital antenna, you connect it via the coaxial cable connection on the back of your television and have your TV scan for digital channels. Once itâ€s done, you have your broadcast channels for free 365 days a year (with the blessing of clear weather and no signal blockages).

With that done, buckle up. This is going to be a fun month of baseball, but it will require planning and flexibility. If you already have HBO Max to get you the TBS games, you could, with some luck, get through this entire month without spending a dime. And in the worst case scenario, it would still cost you less than $30 if you can watch a game or two at a friend’s house.

Ok, ready for our free trial game plan?

Week 1: Sept. 30-Oct. 6

Sign up for FuboTVâ€s free one-week trial. This will get you the entirety of the Wild Card round (ESPN/ABC), plus the first two days of the ALDS. You cancel this after Monday, Oct. 6 games. The NLDS games are more of an issue, as Fubo does not have TBS. If you already have an HBO Max subscription on any of the higher tiers, you have TBS games included. But if not, you can sign up for $16.99 for the month, which will get you through the entirety of TBSâ€s NLDS and NLCS coverage. Thatâ€s pretty much a requirement, as you cannot piece together free trials that will cover the entirety of the TBS schedule.

Week 2 (Step 1) : Oct. 7-Oct. 9

Sign up for Hulu Live TVâ€s three-day free trial. It includes FS1 and TBS, and gets you the Games 3 and 4 of the League Division Series. If all four series go four games or less, this takes you through the second round of the playoffs. If not, you have to plan otherwise for the Game 5s on Oct. 10 and 11.

Week 2 (Step 2): Oct. 10-11

Thereâ€s some flexibility required here. The Friday ALDS Game 5s (if necessary) are either going to air on Fox or FS1. If they are on Fox, you have your antenna. If one or both are on FS1, you will need to plan otherwise. These are do-or-die Game 5s, so you’re not going to want to miss these. In the case of a game on FS1, this is a night to find a friend who is watching at their house. Ask them what time you can show up and that you will bring the pizza.

The Oct. 11 games are definitely going to be on TBS if necessary. If these happen, this is again where the HBO Max option mentioned above is needed.

Week 3: Oct. 12-21

Weâ€re now into NLCS/ALCS territory. Flexibility is once again vital.

If the ALCS opener on Oct. 12 is on Fox, you use your antenna, but we have to prepare for the possibility itâ€s on FS1. If so, sign up for FoxOneâ€s seven-day free trial for streaming. The TBS games are going to require you to have HBO Maxâ€s $16.99 option. If there are Games 6-7 of the ALCS, we do not know for sure that they will be on Fox. They could end up on FS1, but weâ€re going to cross our fingers and hope these will be over the air.

It’s important that you not start your free trial of FoxOne until there is a game on FS1. So, if Game 1 of the ALCS is over the air, you do not have to start your seven-day free trial until Oct. 13 (Game 2) or even Oct. 15 (Game 3).

But if FS1 airs both Game 1 and Game 7 (if there is Game 7), you wonâ€t be able to get all the games in a seven-day free trial. In that case, you’re going to have to go somewhere to fill that gap by going to a sports bar/restaurant or watch at a friend’s house. If the ALCS doesn’t go six games or longer, you’re covered with the seven-day free trial even if all games air on FS1.

World Series: Oct. 24-Nov.1

This is the easiest part. The entire World Series is on Fox. Use your antenna to watch the entirety of the World Series for free.

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It’s Sunday, and another round of NWSL action is in the books, which means it’s time for ESPN’s Power Rankings.

Who’s climbing the table? Who’s in free fall? Our writers studied the action from across Matchday 22 to come up with this week’s order of all 14 teams in the league. Let’s dive in.

Previous ranking:1
Next match:Monday Oct. 6 vs. Angel City FC, 10.30 p.m. ET

Kansas City could’ve rested after clinching the NWSL Shield last week, but didn’t in a 4-1 win over the Chicago Stars. That it felt so “ho-hum” is a testament to how excellent the Current have been this season. Debinha started the party in the seventh minute with a finish from near the penalty spot, and the lead was two in the 51st minute when Bia Zaneratto surged forward after a pass from Temwa Chawinga and finished in the box. The Current did concede in the 58th minute, ending an NWSL record 870 minutes without allowing a goal. But they were right back with two more goals and stay 16 points clear at the summit.

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Previous ranking:2
Next match:Sunday Oct. 5 vs. San Diego Wave, 1 p.m. ET (Stream LIVE on ESPN+)

Welcome to the playoffs, Spirit. The D.C. squad clinched their spot in the postseason emphatically with a 4-0 win over the Houston Dash that saw Gift Monday score the fastest hat trick from the opening whistle in NWSL history. The Nigerian forward had goals in the 18th, 21st and 36th minutes. Remarkably, the best goal may have been the fourth, with Sofia Cantore scoring an improbable backheel to cap a gorgeous team move. The Spirit haven’t lost in a dozen matches including in Concacaf W Champions Cup play, which they return to with a midweek trip to Gotham.

Previous ranking:3
Next match:Sunday Oct. 5 vs. Seattle Reign, 4 p.m. ET

Goals from Midge Purce, Rose Lavelle and Katie Stengel paced Gotham to a 3-0 victory over the Portland Thorns on Friday. It was the second week in a row that Lavelle has scored, and she also added an assist, setting up Stengel with a sweet back-heeled pass. It was one of three chances created, hinting at Lavelle approaching her best as we near the business end of the season. The Champions Cup game Wednesday against the Spirit looks enticing.

Previous ranking:4
Next match:Sunday Oct. 5 vs. Washington Spirit, 1 p.m. ET (Stream LIVE on ESPN+)

This is getting concerning for the Wave, whose 2-1 home loss to the Orlando Pride is the sixth match in a row in which they’ve been unable to secure three points. Dudinha struck back immediately after San Diego conceded the opener, but the Wave allowed a soft equalizer. They’re still in the postseason places, but the margin for error is getting increasingly small. Next weekend’s trip to the Washington Spirit doesn’t look any easier, either.

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San Diego Wave FC vs. Orlando Pride – Game Highlights

Watch the Game Highlights from San Diego Wave FC vs. Orlando Pride, 09/27/2025

Previous ranking:5
Next match:Saturday Oct. 4 vs. Bay FC, 10 p.m. ET

Some of the Thorns’ biggest struggles were on display in a 3-0 loss at Gotham FC. The side’s only shot in the box was a 51st-minute header from a corner kick, and the only other shot on target of the night was Deyna Castellanos’ midfield chip attempt in the fourth minute. At the back? Well, it was the first time since April the Thorns conceded three.

Previous ranking:7
Next match:Friday Oct. 3 vs. Houston Dash, 8 p.m. ET

The nine-match winless skid in league play is over, with the Pride beating the San Deigo Wave 2-1 in Friday’s nightcap. With so many injuries in attack, getting record signing Jacquie Ovalle up and running was key. She scored the opener in the match, and Carson Pickett put in the winner on a ball from right back Oihane Hernández that looked like it would beat everyone until it was put into the net. Next up? The Pride head to Mexico City for a showdown with Club América in Champions Cup play.

Previous ranking:10
Next match:Sunday Oct. 5 vs. Gotham FC, 4 p.m. ET

The Reign took a huge jump in the standings with a 2-1 victory over the North Carolina Courage in Sunday’s weekend finale. After conceding first, the Reign scored two unanswered to leap into fourth place and have an inside track not just on the postseason, but a home playoff contest thanks to an own goal and a slick finish from Maddie Dahlien.

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1:19

Seattle Reign FC vs. North Carolina Courage – Game Highlights

Watch the Game Highlights from Seattle Reign FC vs. North Carolina Courage, 09/29/2025

Previous ranking:6
Next match:Friday Oct. 3 vs. Orlando Pride, 8 p.m. ET

The Dash didn’t really answer the bell in Washington D.C., falling 4-0 to the Spirit. Monday scored a hat trick in the first half, while Houston didn’t have its first shot on goal until after the half-time break. Friday’s visit from Orlando will be critical for playoff hopes.

Previous ranking: 8
Next match:Saturday Oct. 4 vs. NC Courage, 7.30 p.m. ET

A 1-0 win over Angel City at home helped Racing Louisville keep pace in the playoff hunt. Sarah Weber slid to connect with Emma Sears’ 66th-minute cross for the winner, ending a four-match winless skid for the hosts. If anyone knows it’s still possible to finish just outside the top eight it’s Racing fans, but three of the final four matches of the season are against teams currently on the outside looking in.

Previous ranking:9
Next match:Saturday Oct. 4 vs. Racing Louisville, 7.30 p.m. ET

Things can turn on a goal, and turn they did for the Courage in a 2-1 defeat in Seattle. Dahlien’s winner for the Reign meant the Courage went from in the top eight to out of the playoff places. Next weekend’s match against Racing Louisville looms mighty large with both teams uncomfortably close to the line.

Previous ranking:12
Next match:Sunday Oct. 5 vs. Chicago Stars, 4 p.m. ET

It may be too little, too late, but the Royals continued their charge up the table — and these rankings — with a 2-0 road win Saturday over Bay FC. It’s the third win in a row for Jimmy Coenraets’ squad and the seventh game undefeated, a club record. Utah sits four points off of last year’s points total thanks to the late surge.

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1:19

Bay FC vs. Utah Royals – Game Highlights

Watch the Game Highlights from Bay FC vs. Utah Royals, 09/28/2025

Previous ranking:11
Next match:Monday Oct. 6 vs. KC Current, 10.30 p.m. ET

Angel City had plenty of the ball in a 1-0 loss to Racing Louisville, they just weren’t able to do much with it when it came to finishing. The visitors ended the night with two shots on target, both taken from just outside the box. It’s the 10th loss of the season and makes a playoff place look very complicated. The next three matches are at home, but the opposition isn’t easy.

Previous ranking:13
Next match: Saturday Oct. 4 vs. Portland Thorns, 10 p.m. ET

It’s an 11th match in a row without a win for Bay FC, falling 2-0 to the Utah Royals. Earlier in the week, the club announced Brady Stewart is no longer the team’s president and CEO, the latest in a number of roles the club needs to fill in the offseason to set up for future success.

Previous ranking:14
Next match: Sunday Oct. 5 vs. Utah Royals, 4 p.m. ET

You’ve had to look hard for bright spots in the Stars’ season, and there was a small one Friday with Nádia Gomes making the most of her starting role by scoring against the KC Current. It came in a 4-1 loss but was the first goal any team scored against the league leaders in almost 900 minutes.

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Now the fun really begins.

After six months of regular-season action and a whole bunch of stunning plot twists over the final couple of weeks, weâ€ve arrived at the 2025 postseason. We can say goodbye to the 18 teams that fell short and shift our focus to the dozen teams still vying for a World Series title.

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The regular season provided plenty of data to help us evaluate these clubs†chances of winning a championship, but the beginning of the postseason is also a reset of sorts. How exactly these teams got to this point doesnâ€t matter as much as who can step up and perform when the stakes are raised. And if recent history tells us anything, predicting which teams are about to embark on memorable runs and which will flame out in a hurry is a nearly impossible task.

With all that in mind, hereâ€s how the 12 playoff teams stack up at the outset of October — with a case for each to be the last team standing.

[Yahoo Sports TV is here! Watch live shows and highlights 24/7]

Jump to a team by clicking on the links below:

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12. Cincinnati Reds (83-79)

Cincinnati seized the opportunity afforded by the Mets†epic, second-half collapse to earn its first postseason berth since 2020. Its reward for qualifying is a trip to Los Angeles to face the defending champions in the wild-card round, with Shohei Ohtani lined up for Game 1 on Tuesday.

As daunting as that opening assignment appears, the good news for the Reds is that they might just have the pitching necessary to pull off the ultimate upset — and perhaps catch fire and play deep into October. That starts with ace Hunter Greene, who will get the ball in Game 1 for Cincinnati. Although injuries limited him to just 19 starts this season, Greene was the best version of himself when healthy and looked especially sharp in September.

Heâ€s the unquestioned headliner here, but Cincinnati also boasts two stellar southpaws in All-Star Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo, a duo who helped the Reds†rotation rank second in MLB in fWAR, behind only Philadelphia. Steady closer Emilio Pagan and workhorse Tony Santillan (80 appearances!) lead an underrated bullpen that also features fireballing rookie righty Chase Burns.

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Itâ€s a much more modest position-player group, but Elly De La Cruz has the kind of star power that could shine especially bright on the postseason stage. Add a manager in Terry Francona who is intimately familiar with success in October, and the Reds might have what it takes to go on a surprise run. But for a franchise that hasnâ€t won a playoff series since 1995 — the longest drought in MLB — itâ€s one step at a time.

11. Detroit Tigers (87-75)

Blown division lead be damned, Detroit is in, and as manager AJ Hinch said during the teamâ€s clinch celebration Saturday, everybody is 0-0 starting on Tuesday. If the Tigers can successfully embrace that symbolic reset and rediscover what helped them build an enormous division lead in the first place, they could become dangerous in a hurry.

It will take more than just Tarik Skubal pitching like the best pitcher on the planet, though thatâ€s an awfully good place to start and not an advantage that should be overlooked. The “pitching chaos†beyond Skubal has been a far less reliable strategy recently, but there are some fresh faces who werenâ€t part of last yearâ€s staff but could play pivotal roles this time around, such as Jack Flaherty and rookie Troy Melton.

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Most importantly, the position-player core of Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson, plus veteran Gleyber Torres, will need to deliver a far more cohesive offense than what weâ€ve seen recently. As evidenced by what this club demonstrated collectively in the first half, the Tigers have the talent to do so, but itâ€s time to flip the switch. The wild-card series in Cleveland offers an incredible mulligan for the Tigers to erase a miserable and embarrassing chapter in the franchiseâ€s history and recapture the momentum to push further into October than they went last year.

10. Cleveland Guardians (88-74)

A 10-game losing streak to fall 15.5 games behind the Tigers on July 6. Losing two key pitchers to a gambling investigation. Dealing away Shane Bieber at the trade deadline. Losing nine of 10 in late August. The lowest team batting average and second-lowest OPS in all of baseball. A minus-6 run differential. Add it all up, and you get … the AL Central champions.

For all the absurdities surrounding Clevelandâ€s improbable run to a division title, the recipe for success has actually been somewhat simple. With a breakout frontline arm in Gavin Williams, a worthy No. 2 in Tanner Bibee, enough moxie from the rest of the rotation to fuel a historic stretch of run prevention, plus a fantastic bullpen and a terrific defense, it is difficult to score against the Guardians. That foundational strength helps compensate for their objectively meager offense, as do the presences of All-Star Steven Kwan and future Hall of Famer José Ramirez atop the lineup. Ramirezâ€s all-around ability, relentless hustle and unwavering confidence have helped elevate the performance of the less-proven position players surrounding him in the lineup.

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If his splendid debut season as skipper wasnâ€t compelling enough, Stephen Vogtâ€s knack for steady leadership and motivation have been on full display during this tumultuous campaign. Defeating Detroit againto put an exclamation point on their advantage in the rivalry would be incredible enough, but the Guardians will have a lot to prove should they advance further and take on the other American League contenders. Letâ€s see if they can keep proving everyone wrong.

How the 12 playoff teams got to this point doesnâ€t matter nearly as much as who can step up and perform when the stakes are highest. (Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports)

9. San Diego Padres (90-72)

A year ago, many pegged the Padres as the most dangerous team entering October, leading to high expectations before San Diegoâ€s disappointing elimination in the NLDS against the rival Dodgers. This yearâ€s club arrives in the postseason with notably less hype — and maybe thatâ€s a good thing. While the 2025 Padres donâ€t possess quite as many statistical markers of a bona fide contender, there are plenty of impressive ingredients that could spark a run to the franchiseâ€s first World Series championship.

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The aggressive trade-deadline acquisition of Mason Miller supercharged an already-loaded bullpen that ranks at or near the top of the league in every major measure and still has an argument as the best relief corps in October, even after the season-ending injury to All-Star Jason Adam. That elite group of arms for manager Mike Shildt to turn to at the end of games lessens the pressure on a talented but volatile rotation; Michael King, Nick Pivetta, Yu Darvish and Dylan Cease each seem as likely to deliver six shutout innings as they are to get bombarded in the early frames. The Padres†upside on the mound across the board is undeniable, but consistency will be key.

On offense, the Padres feature a wealth of recognizable stars sans the commensurate statistics to match. San Diego lags significantly far behind in the slugging department, ranking 28th in MLB in homers with just 152 — far and away the fewest of any playoff team — and its .390 slugging percentage ranks ahead of only Cleveland. Thatâ€s a full-season sample of less-than-stellar production, but there are several hitters in this lineup worth taking seriously, from Manny Machado to Fernando Tatis Jr. to an ascendant star in Jackson Merrill who is finally healthy after an injury-marred summer and has looked outstanding in September. The bones of a truly great team are still intact for San Diego; now itâ€s time to perform when it counts.

8. Boston Red Sox (89-73)

After a drama-filled first half featuring the shocking decision to trade Rafael Devers to San Francisco, Boston gradually found enough stability down the stretch to avoid missing the postseason for a fourth consecutive year, which wouldâ€ve been the longest stretch without playoff baseball in Boston since the early 1990s. Now manager Alex Cora is back in October with a roster that looks nothing like the crew that made it to the 2021 ALCS; reliever Garrett Whitlock is the only participant from that series who remains on the active roster. Well, from the Red Sox anyway: New Boston third baseman and former Astros nemesis Alex Bregman has now made it to the playoffs in nine consecutive seasons, while his old buddies in Houston were left on the outside looking in for the first time since 2016.

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Bregman is a crucial cog for a Red Sox lineup that feels one impact bat short, a glaring reality since the Devers trade but also one that has been felt more acutely with star rookie Roman Anthony on the injured list due to an oblique strain. Perhaps the Red Sox play deep enough into October for Anthony to return at some point, but regardless, Bostonâ€s path to postseason success is rooted in its strengths on the mound, with utterly dominant presences headlining both the rotation (Garrett Crochet) and bullpen (Aroldis Chapman). If the second-level starters (Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello) and relievers (Whitlock, Justin Slaten, Greg Weissert) step up behind the two monsters leading their respective units, the Red Sox could absolutely make some noise. The rival Yankees await in the Bronx for an ultra-juicy wild-card series.

7. Chicago Cubs (92-70)

The Cubs havenâ€t won a playoff game since 2017. That might not sound like an especially long time for a franchise that went 108 years between championships, but itâ€s a fairly substantial drought considering Chicagoâ€s status as one of baseballâ€s marquee clubs. The path to restoring the Cubs†status as relevant postseason characters involves a combination of steady starting pitching and a return to form for an offense that was arguably baseballâ€s best in the first half.

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The latter involves the likes of Michael Busch and Ian Happ continuing to rake like they have recently, with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki rediscovering what made them such dynamic players earlier in the year. Then thereâ€s Kyle Tucker, the wildly talented and fascinating free-agent-to-be whose overall impact coming off a calf injury that cost him most of September is a critical factor to consider and a difficult one to project. But if Tucker and this lineup start to find their groove, watch out.

Itâ€s a bit more complicated on the mound, with the brutal news of rookie Cade Hortonâ€s rib fracture putting substantial pressure on left-handers Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga to deliver quality outings from the get-go. This is not a pitching staff that is going to match up with those of some other contenders in the National League from a stuff standpoint, but you can generally rely on the Cubs†arms to throw strikes and not beat themselves, a mindset empowered by having arguably the gameâ€s best defense playing behind them. San Diego is a staunch first opponent, but donâ€t rule this Cubs team out too quickly.

6. New York Yankees (94-68)

With the best hitter since Barry Bonds in Aaron Judge, two elite left-handers in Max Fried and Carlos Rodón and a deep lineup with an overwhelming amount of over-the-fence power, New York certainly looks the part of a viable contender. The challenge for the Yankees will be overcoming the reputation earned over the past year — in last yearâ€s World Series and throughout a particularly uninspiring run in June and July — that they will falter against top-tier competition when the stakes are high and that their shortcomings in the nuances of the game will resurface at the worst possible time. At the same time, the talent on this roster suggests the Yankees have as good a chance at glory as any, particularly in this yearâ€s wide-open American League field.

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Judgeâ€s outsized presence as a historically great slugger speaks for itself — though itâ€s no secret that Yankees fans will be hoping for a lot more than the .184/.344/.408 slash line he mustered last October — but this position-player group can beat you in myriad ways. Itâ€s Cody Bellingerâ€s rock-solid presence on both sides of the ball, Jazz Chisholm Jr.â€s power-speed dynamism, big swings from Trent Grisham and Ben Riceâ€s bountiful breakout. And donâ€t forget Giancarlo Stanton; he has hit a handful of homers in October, if I recall correctly.

Thereâ€s tremendous talent on the mound as well, albeit far more unpredictable in nature, with rookies Will Warren and Cam Schlittler in the rotation and several volatile pieces in the bullpen (Devin Williams, Camilo Doval, Fernando Cruz). But if those arms lock in and pitch to their potential — and if sketchy defense and baserunning donâ€t become this teamâ€s untimely undoing — the Yankees could find themselves back in the Fall Classic with a shot at redemption and a 28th World Series title.

5. Toronto Blue Jays (94-68)

Toronto fended off a late charge from the Yankees to secure its first AL East crown since 2015, a monumental achievement for a franchise that entered the season with a host of existential questions looming large. Signing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a long-term extension in April quieted some of the noise, but expectations for the season remained modest until the Blue Jays really started to click midsummer and began to look like legitimate contenders.

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Bo Bichetteâ€s ongoing absence due a sprained knee has dampened Torontoâ€s potential somewhat, but this is still a balanced offense capable of doing damage, with Guerrero and a resurgent George Springer leading a lineup that enters October with the highest batting average (.265) and fewest strikeouts of any club in the field. There is real talent on the mound as well, though Torontoâ€s pitching staff has been susceptible to some ugly showings and arrives in October with the highest team ERA (4.19) of any playoff club. That said, ace Kevin Gausman and trade-deadline addition Shane Bieber are capable of trading zeroes with any opposing starter, and closer Jeff Hoffman has looked much sharper in September.

Catch Toronto on the right day, and this team looks unstoppable. But without much recent October success to lean on — the Blue Jays have lost seven consecutive postseason games dating to the 2016 ALCS — they need to go out and prove they belong before planning any parades.

4. Seattle Mariners (90-72)

AL West champions for the first time since 2001, the Mariners earned a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the ALDS, which could prove to be a pivotal launching pad for a memorable postseason run. Seattleâ€s success over the past five seasons has largely been built on its stellar run prevention, and that manifests most obviously at pitcher-friendly T-Mobile Park in the Pacific Northwest. But what makes this yearâ€s Mariners club more formidable than recent iterations is its loaded lineup; no longer does this team need to scrape by, eking out close game after close game.

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Whether or not he wins AL MVP, catcher Cal Raleighâ€s historic campaign will be remembered in Seattle for generations, and now the switch-hitting superstar backstop has the opportunity to create even more memories with a standout October. And Raleigh is not alone in Seattleâ€s run-production efforts. Julio Rodriguez and Randy Arozarena combined for 59 homers and 61 stolen bases in the regular season. Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor, dual deadline additions from the D-backs, have bolstered the offense further, giving the Mariners more than enough firepower to support a pitching staff that also appears to be peaking at the right time.

Indeed, a rotation that was slowed by injuries early on has started to coalesce into a more familiar, reliable form. A bullpen initially led by known quantities Andres Muñoz and Matt Brash has been strengthened by breakouts from Gabe Speier and Eduard Bazardo. Skipper Dan Wilson is no stranger to the postseason, having reached the playoffs four times as a player with Seattle, but navigating the high-stakes scenarios of October baseball as a manager for the first time is no small task. How he handles the challenge remains to be seen, but the roster at his disposal has all the components of a legitimate championship contender.

3. Los Angeles Dodgers (92-69)

The Dodgers enter this postseason much healthier and far more imposing on paper than they did a year ago — but also without a first-round bye. That means Los Angeles is about to be subject to the wild-card round and the ominous randomness that comes with it for just the second time during its dynastic run dating to 2013. No matter how much better this team appears to be than its opponent in Cincinnati, shorter series offer less time for such discrepancies in talent to manifest. That said, there are still a ton of reasons to believe the Dodgers have an excellent chance of retaining their crown.

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First and foremost, Shohei Ohtani has resumed his role as a mind-blowing, singular, two-way presence, reestablishing his brilliance on the mound while continuing to pile up power numbers as L.A.â€s leadoff hitter. While Ohtaniâ€s return to the rotation comes with questions from a roster management and deployment standpoint, he undoubtedly strengthens a unit that is, believe it or not, fully healthy, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto continuing to thrive and Blake Snell ready to make his mark in his first October as a Dodger. The rotation will be relied on to counterbalance the Dodgers†most obvious weakness, which has been a troublingly shoddy bullpen, despite a bevy of highly accomplished arms.

However manager Dave Roberts chooses to deploy his pitchers en route to 27 outs, having a high-powered offense should afford him some breathing room as he makes those difficult decisions. While L.A.â€s modest win total — by its sky-high standards, anyway — is reflective of a team that didnâ€t always play up to its potential over the course of the regular season, it would be foolish to underestimate the Dodgers now that the postseason has arrived.

2. Milwaukee Brewers (97-65)

With a victory over Cincinnati in Game 162, the Brewers finished the regular season with 97 victories and the best record in baseball for just the second time in franchise history. The last time that happened was 1982, which was also the last and only time Milwaukee appeared in the World Series. A defeat in seven games against St. Louis that year means this franchise is still seeking its first championship. So here the Brewers are, in October for the seventh time in the past eight years, with a golden opportunity to do what no Brewers team has done before.

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Having home-field advantage for the entirety of the playoffs is surely a boon, but Milwaukee has also demonstrated comfort away from American Family Field, with baseballâ€s best road record at 45-36. And while the Brewers arenâ€t likely to overpower opponents, they are basically good-to-great at every other facet of the game on both sides of the ball. Their plate discipline is exquisite, they are efficient and aggressive on the basepaths, they play awesome defense, and they have a deep and diverse assortment of arms capable of racking up outs against quality opponents.

This might not be the most star-studded group, but itâ€s no accident that Pat Murphyâ€s ballclub emerged as the best regular-season team over a 162-game sample. Their strengths might not be as stupendously impressive as some other clubsâ€, but these Brewers have very few obvious weaknesses. Now itâ€s time for them to use that sample of success as a springboard for something much more meaningful in October.

1. Philadelphia Phillies (96-66)

Although they couldnâ€t chase down the Brewers for the top overall seed, the Phillies finished the season on a strong note, with an MLB-best 35-19 record since the start of August. Fueled by their early postseason exits the past two years following a trip to the World Series in 2022, this is a motivated and talented group laser-focused on doing whatever it takes to play their best when the lights are brightest.

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Philadelphia was perhaps the only team equipped to take a season-ending injury to a pitcher like Zack Wheeler in stride, as this is a pitching staff that still looks capable of handling the rigors of October with aplomb. From a newfound ace in Cristopher Sánchez to a venerable game-ender in Jhoan Duran to a surprise recent addition with quite the postseason résumé in Walker Buehler, manager Rob Thomson should have no shortage of options to cover the high-stakes innings to come.

Of course, itâ€s the veteran lineup that will need to flush the no-shows of recent Octobers and deliver in the biggest moments. Kyle Schwarber leveling up from impact hitter to world-class force of nature certainly inspires confidence on that front, and Bryce Harperâ€s personal postseason history is immaculate. Getting shortstop Trea Turner — who is having arguably the best all-around season of his career — back from the injured list just before October is another hugely positive development. And perhaps the new guys in the outfield in Harrison Bader and Max Kepler can provide the boost to push this team to new heights.

Everything is in place for Philadelphia to achieve the ultimate goal that has eluded it during this otherwise highly successful era. But as we know, nothing is certain in baseball. The Phillies enter this tournament as the team to beat by my humble estimation, but weâ€ve got quite the month ahead of us to find out who really has what it takes.

Let the games begin.

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CLEVELAND — Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said in the midst of Clevelandâ€s 10-game losing streak in early July that there was light at the end of the tunnel and things would turn around.

Vogt ended up selling his team a little short, as the Guardians made one of the biggest turnarounds in baseball history.

Cleveland clinched a postseason spot in fittingly improbable fashion. C.J. Kayfus was hit in the arm by a fastball from Texas Rangers reliever Robert Garcia with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth inning Saturday night, scoring Petey Halpin with the winning run to give the Guardians a 3-2 victory that put them in the playoffs.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time since at least 1920 that a team won on a walk-off hit by pitch to clinch a postseason spot.

“When they walked (Gabriel) Arias (to load the bases), I knew I had a job to do. I knew I was going to get that job done one way or another, but I definitely didnâ€t think it was going to be like that,†said Kayfus, called up from the minors in early August.

The Guardians (86-74) became the fourth major league team and first in the American League to reach the postseason after having a 10-game losing streak, joining the 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers, 1982 Atlanta Braves and 1951 New York Giants.

“Itâ€s exactly us. Of course weâ€re going to get in on a walk-off hit by pitch†a champagne-soaked Vogt said in the clubhouse as his team was celebrating. “Just to stop and think about where we came from to get here, thereâ€s no words. I couldnâ€t be more proud of these guys. Theyâ€ve earned every bit of this.â€

According to FanGraphs, the Guardians had a 2.9% chance to make the postseason and a 0.2% chance to win the AL Central on Sept. 1.

Cleveland remains tied with Detroit for the division lead after the Tigers also wrapped up a postseason spot Saturday with a 2-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

If Cleveland and Detroit end up tied after Sundayâ€s games, the Guardians would win the AL Central due to an 8-5 advantage in the season series. They would host a Wild Card Series starting Tuesday.

Even though Steven Kwan and José Ramírez have been the Guardians†offensive stalwarts all year, others have picked up the slack in September.

Johnathan Rodríguez, called up Wednesday after David Fry was hit in the face by a pitch Tuesday night, batted cleanup and hit a two-run homer in the first inning to put the Guardians up 2-1. It was the first at-bat for Rodríguez, who had a .167 batting average in 29 big league games, since he was called up for his third stint this season.

“They showed me the lineup last night and I showed it to my wife. She said just to play like you did at Triple-A,†Rodríguez said.

On Wednesday, the Guardians became the first major league team to overcome a deficit of 15 1/2 games and take the lead in either division or league play with a 5-1 win over the Tigers. Cleveland was 40-48 and also 6 1/2 games out of a wild-card spot on July 6 after a 7-2 loss in 10 innings to the Tigers extended the losing streak to 10.

Since July 7, the Guardians are an AL-best 47-26.

The 1914 Boston Braves were 15 games back in the National League on July 4 and rallied to win by 10 1/2 games, according to Elias. Since baseball went to division play in 1969, the biggest deficit overcome was 14 games by the 1978 New York Yankees to win the AL East.

On Sept. 4, the Guardians were 69-70 and 11 games behind the Tigers before going 15-1, including a 10-game winning streak that included a three-game sweep in Detroit. It is the largest September lead overcome to tie or take the lead in the division or league, according to Elias. The previous mark was 8 1/2 games by the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals and 1964 Cincinnati Reds.

Cleveland found its way back to the postseason despite reliever Emmanuel Clase and starting pitcher Luis Ortiz being placed on non-disciplinary leave in July as part of investigations into their possible involvement in gambling during games. Ortiz was placed on leave July 3 and Clase on July 28.

“I give our players and coaches and staff and (Vogt) a ton of credit because it was a really hard mountain to climb to make this a reality,†Cleveland president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said. “There were obviously times during the season where this looked really far away, and our group was never daunted by that. They showed up each day with the same energy, the same focus, the same intensity, to try to figure out a way to win a game that night, and that mindsetâ€s really carried us forward to today.â€

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SEATTLE — Locked in as the National League’s No. 3 seed with the regular season winding down, the Dodgers have been able to spend the weekend series at T-Mobile Park preparing for the NL Wild Card Series.

That has involved resting their regulars — Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández sat out of Saturday night’s 5-3 win, while Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman were out the prior game — and taking a critical look at their roster to decide who should make the cut for the postseason.

“Now you see guys playing, competing for an opportunity to be on the postseason roster and also potentially getting innings,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I like that fight, and they’re leaving it all out there. That’s all I ask. And not be afraid to fail. Leave everything you have out there on the field.”

The Dodgers won’t find out which team — either the Reds or the Mets — will seize the third NL Wild Card spot until after Game 162. That could influence some of their decisions. Here are some of the biggest roster questions facing them before their postseason begins on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium:

Could Tyler Glasnow be available out of the ‘pen?
Friday ended up being a bullpen game, giving L.A. a look at seven arms — including an electric Roki Sasaki — who could be part of the postseason relief picture. Saturday’s starter, Glasnow, had a planned short outing, pitching three scoreless innings. He will likely be on the roster for the Wild Card Series, Roberts said.

“I think that right now, where we’re at, we want to go with our best,” Roberts said. “However that looks, that’s kind of the reason why we shortened Emmet [Sheehan], shortened Tyler.”

The team has not announced its rotation for the Wild Card Series, but Ohtani, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are lined up for the three games. If Glasnow makes the roster, he would be used in relief for the first time since he was with the Pirates in 2018.

“If you boil it down, pitching is pitching,” Glasnow said. “Just try to go out there and treat it like another inning. Maybe have a little bit more adrenaline. But I’m looking forward to it.”

What’s the latest on Will Smith, and could he make the roster?
Roberts said the other day that he was “hoping,” rather than “hopeful,” that Smith would be available in time for the Wild Card Series. Smith hit foam balls in the cage on Saturday, his first time swinging since imaging revealed he had a hairline fracture in his right hand.

The Dodgers could opt to carry three catchers if they feel Smith is close, but time is not on their side.

“It’s a balancing act because, obviously, he’s incredibly talented and we want to do everything that we can to have him in there,” general manager Brandon Gomes said Friday. “But we may get to a point where, hey, it may not make sense that some percentage of Will is worth putting on the roster. So we’ve got a few days. I don’t want to close the door on him yet. But we’ve got to go fast in the next few days to see where we’re at.”

How about others dealing with lingering injuries?
Tommy Edman (right ankle) and Max Muncy (lower body) are both dealing with some lingering discomfort that has limited their playing time recently. Edman returned to the lineup on Saturday, albeit as the DH, while Muncy has not played since Wednesday. Both are expected to be ready to go on Tuesday.

If either Edman or Muncy is compromised during the postseason run, then that could open the door for more playing time for Kiké Hernández, who hit a go-ahead two-run double off Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz in the ninth inning on Saturday.

Either way, Hernández could feasibly earn himself more playing time going forward. He’s a proven postseason performer, with an .875 OPS in the playoffs, compared with .708 in the regular season, in his career.

“We needed to finish the season strong,” Hernández said. “October is all about whoever’s playing the best baseball at the end of the season. And that’s a really good team over there.”

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