The Yankees had a fantastic end to their first foray in the Wild Card Series, getting a historic performance from Cam Schlittler — eight innings of shutout ball with 12 strikeouts and no walks, the greatest start a Yankee rookie has perhaps ever had in the postseason. One inning was enough to get four runs across to support him, and end Boston’s season to set up another AL East clash in the ALDS with the Blue Jays on the docket.
Meanwhile, as the Yankees were wrapping up their game, the rest of the playoff
bracket had already been decided. Two other teams had bucked the Wild Card Series trend and forced a do-or-die Game 3 with victories in Game 2, but as it turned out, only the Yankees managed to come up with a second win to advance.
AL Wild Card Series Game 3
Detroit Tigers 6, Cleveland Guardians 3
(Tigers win series, 2-1)
With their backs to the walls, the Tigers made their September slide irrelevant as they put the Guardians to bed for the rest of 2025. Slade Cecconi got the start for Cleveland and got through the first two innings without incident, but put two on with one out in the third inning prompting Stephen Vogt to go to his bullpen early. Tim Herrin was the first man out, but Kerry Carpenter greeted him with a hard-hit ball right at the first baseman that bounced into the outfield, scoring the lead runner and putting Carpenter at second. Herrin battled to get the next two batters out, but the Tigers were on the board and working on wearing out the Guardians’ relivers already.
Cleveland struck back in the fourth inning against Jack Flaherty, leading off with a George Valera double and scoring him on a José Ramírez single. In the sixth, Dillon Dingler lived up to his name and got Detroit the lead back, hitting a solo homer to straightaway center field. Then in the seventh, Detroit pulled away — the Tigers loaded the bases with one out, and Wenceel Pérez lined a single to right to score two. Spencer Torkelson kept the line moving with another single to make it 5-1, and Riley Greene added on with another hit to push the lead to 6-1.
Flaherty exited with two outs in the fifth with just the one run to his name, and Kyle Finnegan and Tyler Holton put zeroes on the board after him as they tossed a combined 2.1 innings. Tommy Kahnle entered for the eighth, but put two on in scoring position with one out. Will Vest came in to attempt to get the final five outs, and struck out Valera to get close to escaping unharmed.
However, Ramírez was up at the plate and hit a sharp grounder to first. Vest attempted to cover the bag but completely whiffed grabbing the throw, allowing both runners to score. Ramírez initially was ruled safe at second on the play, but replay overturned that to end the frame. It still made it a 6-3 game, but Vest sat the Guardians down in order in the ninth to secure the game and series.
Next up, the Tigers will travel to the Emerald City to face the Mariners, with Detroit looking to make their first ALCS since Miguel Cabrera’s 2013 heyday.
NL Wild Card Series Game 3
Chicago Cubs 3, San Diego Padres 1
(Cubs win series, 2-1)
Old friend Jameson Taillon got the start for Chicago and dished on the mound, giving them four innings with four strikeouts and just two hits. On the other end, Yu Darvish worked around a leadoff single in the first but couldn’t avoid creating a jam in the second, loading the bases on a single, double, and hit by pitch before Pete Crow-Armstrong singled to center to score one. Darvish was pulled and Jeremiah Estrada came in just to promptly walk Dansby Swanson and force a run in. Estrada escaped a far-worse fate by striking out Matt Shaw and inducing a double-play from Michael Busch, but the Padres were facing an uphill battle on the road with elimination around the corner.
The bullpens stepped in for both sides and shut down the offense for a while, but it was Chicago that broke the dam again in the seventh. Busch made up for ending the earlier rally by launching a solo home run to right field, making it 3-0 Cubs, and Nico Hoerner doubled to threaten running away with the game. Ian Happ laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Hoerner ended up getting thrown out in the next at-bat going on a contact play.
In the ninth, San Diego’s bats finally found some purchase. Jackson Merrill led off with a solo shot to cut the deficit to 3-1, and Xander Bogaerts worked a 3-1 count right after Merrill. After taking a close strike two, however, Bogaerts got rung up on a pitch well below the strike zone to the mass frustration of Mike Shildt and the Padres dugout. The next two Padres both got plunked to put the tying run on base, and prompted Craig Counsell to go to Andrew Kittredge, who he started in Game 2. Kittredge got a grounder and fly out to end it, and set up an NL Central clash in the NLDS with the Brewers (which should be a lot of fun given the Counsell of it all).
So that’s it for the Wild Card round! All teams are off today and Division Series play will kick off tomorrow afternoon with Cubs vs. Brewers. Here’s the updated postseason picture.
