The 2025 postseason is under way, and it’s already been a wild one. In yesterday’s openers, six teams engaged in hard-fought, closely decided games. In other news, the Reds also played. (Hey, just ribbing ya, Reds. At least you made it to October, which is more than I can say for the Orioles.)
The thing about these best-of-three series is that all it takes is two bad games and your whole season — 162 grueling games just to get to this point — is over in a flash. That’s the reality that’s facing the four
teams who face elimination in today’s Game 2 showdowns.
Today’s schedule of games is identical to yesterday’s, so once again, fans will be able to watch nearly 11 straight hours of baseball if they so choose. Challenge accepted.
Tigers at Guardians, 1:08 ET, ESPN
RHP Casey Mize (DET) vs. RHP Tanner Bibee (CLE)
So much for all that Guardians momentum heading into the postseason, when they whittled away Detroit’s once 15.5-game lead to claim the AL Central on the last day of the season. Turns out that Tarik Skubal doesn’t give a damn about your momentum. The reigning Cy Young winner, soon to win the award for the second straight year, dominated Cleveland in the opener, putting the Guardians’ backs against the wall.
The Tigers have a less intimidating starter going in Game 2, though Mize, a former #1 overall pick, had a strong season with a 14-6 record and 3.87 ERA. Mize faced the Guardians thrice this season and pitched well each time, holding them to four earned runs in 17.1 innings. Cleveland will counter with Bibee, the 2023 AL Rookie of the Year runner-up (to Gunnar Henderson). Overall, Bibee was basically an average pitcher this season, with a 99 ERA+, but he’s capable of brilliance on occasion. He tied for the league lead with two complete games this season. Bibee was particularly masterful against the Tigers this year, beating them all three times he faced them with a 0.95 ERA. Advantage: Cleveland.
Padres at Cubs, 3:08 ET, ABC
RHP Dylan Cease (SD) vs. RHP Andrew Kittredge (CHC)
Quick show of hands: who expected that Andrew Kittredge would be starting a postseason game? The former O’s reliever, traded to the Cubs at the deadline as part of the Birds’ fire sale, will serve as the opener for Chicago. He’ll handle the top of the Padres’ lineup before the Cubs turn to Shota Imanaga for bulk relief. Imanaga’s 2025 season was not quite up to the standards of his All-Star rookie campaign in 2024, but he still delivered a solid season for the Cubs.
Doesn’t it feel like the Padres should be better than they actually are? Every year they load up with star talents, but it never seems to translate into a long postseason run. Now they’re on the brink of elimination again after generating just one run of offense in the opener. They’ll look to veteran Dylan Cease (8-12, 4.55) to keep them alive. The pending free agent had a slightly below average season for the Padres, ERA-wise, but led the National League in strikeout rate (11.5 K.9), so he’ll miss some bats.
Red Sox at Yankees, 6:08 ET, ESPN
RHP Brayan Bello (BOS) vs. Carlos Rodón (NYY)
Yesterday’s opener at Yankee Stadium was an exciting game, if only you can ignore the fact that we don’t want either team to succeed. But somebody has to, and it was the Red Sox, who pulled off a comeback win against the Yankees’ bullpen. Now they’ll attempt to clinch the series behind Bello, who had a breakout season with a career-best 3.35 ERA in 29 games (28 starts). In three starts against the rival Yankees this year, he was outstanding, winning twice and posting a 1.89 ERA.
But the Yankees’ starter is nothing to sneeze at, either. The veteran Rodón is finally making that six-year, $162 million contract look good. He produced a 4.6 WAR this year along with an 18-9 record and 3.09 ERA. He’s extremely difficult to hit, with an AL-best 6.1 H/9 this season. But the Red Sox had his number in three outings this year, tagging him for 11 runs, 11 hits, and 10 walks in just 15.2 innings. Given what we saw from the Yankee bullpen yesterday, Rodón might need to pitch deep into this game.
Reds at Dodgers, 9:08 ET, ESPN
RHP Zack Littell (CIN) vs. RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (LAD)
The Dodgers simply outclassed the Reds in Game 1 of the series, hitting a bunch of dingers and getting an excellent performance from two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell. If the Reds hope to head home with anything more than a participation trophy, they’ll need to somehow find a way to beat Yamamoto, who has been brilliant for L.A. Yamamoto’s 2.49 season ERA was sparkling enough, and he ended the season with a 1.53 mark in his final seven starts. That included his near no-hitter against the Orioles, when he was one out shy from making history before he gave it up on a Jackson Holliday dinger (followed by an epic collapse by the Dodgers’ bullpen).
The Reds will counter with Littell, a trade-deadline acquisition from the Rays who stabilized Cincinnati’s rotation down the stretch. Littell is fine, but on paper this looks like the biggest pitching mismatch of the day. Still, baseball can surprise you sometimes.
