Major League Baseball’s postseason continued on Saturday with a four-game slate commencing the League Divisional Series. The winners of these four best-of-five matchups will advance to the League Championship Series, where they’ll play for the pennants and a trip to the World Series.
Saturday’s slate included a lot of notable action: Shohei Ohtani played in his first MLB postseason game and notched his first hit — a monster game-tying home run — as part of a Dodgers victory over the Padres; the Yankees and Royals swapped the lead back and forth a history-making five times as part of a New York win; in a trend dating back to last October, the non-Zack Wheeler members of Philadelphia’s pitching staff continued to let them down as the Phillies blew a late lead against the Mets; and the Tigers’ particular brand of chaos didn’t work so well against the Guardians, resulting in a blowout defeat.
What does a Game 1 victory mean? Historically, a lot. Teams who win Game 1 as part of a best-of-five series have won 72% of those sets dating back to 1995. Will that trend hold up this October? We’ll find out soon enough. For now, here are our expanded takeaways and our preserved running commentary and analysis from the day that was.
Saturday’s ALDS, NLDS scores
Guardians achieve rare playoff feat with first-inning ambush of Tigers
The Guardians’ offense on Saturday buried the Tigers and opener Tyler Holton early and in essence put Game 1 out of reach before even making a single out. In the process, they joined rare postseason company when it comes to doing such levels of first-inning damage.
First here’s how the Guards staked themselves to an as-early-as-possible 5-0 lead:
- Steven Kwan doubled
- David Fry walked
- José Ramírez reached on an error
- Josh Naylor singled
- (Pitching change)
- Lane Thomas homered
- Andrés Giménez singled
All of that made it 5-0 and occasioned these two bits of history.
First, they became just the second team in postseason history to reach base with the first six hitters of the game, joining the 1999 Mets, who did the same against the Braves in Game 6 of the NLCS. They’re also the first team to score five runs before recording an out in the first inning; the Diamondbacks did the same against Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers last year.
So in summary, the Tigers’ use of an opener did not work, but the Cleveland offense in the first inning very much did (as did Tanner Bibee and four Guards relievers, who combined for the shutout). As a consequence of the eventual 7-0 win, the Guardians are now just two wins away from advancing to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2016. They have the longest current World Series title drought, as Cleveland hasn’t hoisted the trophy since way back yonder in 1948. – Dayn Perry
Miracle Mets strike again, steal Game 1 from Phillies
The New York Mets won the World Series in 1969, less than a decade after they debuted with, at the time, the worst season in MLB history — a 120-loss debacle in 1962. It was the ’69 Mets and their penchant for the dramatic that earned the undying love of many in the New York area and also earned them the moniker, The Miracle Mets (or the Amazin’ Mets or simply Amazins).
The 2024 iteration of the Mets still has a long way to go to arrive on that level, but so far it is carving a path worthy of such a nickname. The Mets pulled off another dandy in Game 1 of the NLDS in Philadelphia, trailing 1-0 from the first inning through the seventh. They then went into Miracle/Amazin’ mode to bring it home with a 6-2 win.
So many players got involved. Francisco Alvarez singled and Harrison Bader pinch ran for him. Francisco Lindor walked. Mark Vientos singled and advanced to second on the throw home. Just like that, it was 1-1 and the Mets were in business in a big way. Brandon Nimmo kept the line moving with a single, giving the Mets their first lead of the game. Pete Alonso hit a sac fly to provide the necessary breathing room and later in the inning, J.D. Martinez drove home another run before Starling Marte hit a sac fly of his own and Nimmo singled in the final run of the game. It was relentless. They just kept coming and coming. If it felt like we’ve seen it before, it’s because we’ve seen it just about all week.
This was a team that stormed back not once, but twice to win Game 1 of their doubleheader on Monday to clinch a playoff berth. They scored six times in the top of the eighth and then watched the Braves take the lead back in the bottom half, only to score two more in the top of the ninth. They fell behind, 2-0, in the top of the first in Milwaukee the following day in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, only to eventually prevail, 8-4. They blew Game 2, but responded by stealing Game 3 with a three-run Alonso blast in the top of the ninth.
That first game Monday was basically a playoff game before the Mets’ really ratcheted down for Game 2. If we declare it as such, the Mets have now come back four times — remember, they did it twice Monday — in what is tantamount to five playoff games. Four of those games were gigantic wins. In Game 1 of the doubleheader Monday, Game 3 of the Wild Card Series and then NLDS Game 1 Saturday, the Mets scored an absurd 18 runs in the eighth and ninth innings.
Amazing? Check. Miracle? Yeah, it sure feels like it, especially considering they’ve been doing this against top shelf relievers like Devin Williams, Jeff Hoffman and Raisel Iglesias.
Let’s also keep in mind that the Mets were thought to be one of the biggest sellers before the trade deadline. Only toward the start of June, they just starting winning. They won so much, in fact, that they had the best record in baseball after June 2. They were 24-35 through that date. After? The Mets went a torrid 65-38.
We shouldn’t neglect the Mets’ pitching, even though the clutch, late hitting is absolutely the headline. Their staff, which has been running on fumes all week due to the funky, Hurricane Helene-induced schedule, was tasked with keeping this thing close while Phillies ace Zack Wheeler threw up zero after zero. He worked seven scoreless innings, but as has become a trend, the rest of his pitching teammates let him down. Since 2023 NLCS Game 3, Zack Wheeler has a 0.57 postseason ERA. All other Phillies in that same span? 6.35 ERA.
On the Mets’ end, Kodai Senga pitched for the first time since July 26. He allowed a leadoff homer to Kyle Schwarber — which is pretty par for the playoff course — but that was it. He gave up the one hit and one walk while striking out three in two innings. David Peterson piggybacked and was great, throwing three innings of one-hit ball. Reed Garrett followed with two spotless innings. While dealing with an ace, the Mets had to patch things together and this trio created a beautiful tapestry to rival Wheeler’s work.
Then it was time for late-inning relievers Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek to do their thing. The former flirted with disaster in the eighth, allowing two baserunners but worked out of it. Stanek allowed a run in the ninth but no harm no foul.
The Mets are still two wins away from clinching this series and then they’d need to win eight more games after that to hoist another banner like their 1969 and 1986 banners. That’s a lot of work to be done. At this rate, that’s a lot of miracles that still need to happen. To this point, though, they are doing everything they can to become the Miracle Mets 2.0. – Matt Snyder
Yankees overcome mistakes, get unexpected help in Game 1
It was not the prettiest win for the Yankees, but a win is a win, and the Yankees now have a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five ALDS against the Royals. New York won a back-and-forth Game 1 on Saturday night. According to the CBS Sports research team, the five lead changes were the most ever in a postseason game. That seems hard to believe, but it’s true.
Gerrit Cole was not sharp, allowing four runs and nine baserunners in five innings, and the rest of the Yankees did him no favors. The Yankees made two outs at the plate and shortstop Anthony Volpe threw a potential inning-ending 6-4-3 double play ball into right field, which contributed to two Royals runs. New York also went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position.
The postseason is a clean slate and the Yankees prevailed in Game 1 thanks to two players who were demoted during the season and had wretched runs over the summer. Left fielder Alex Verdugo, in the lineup over top prospect Jasson Domínguez, went 2 for 3 with a walk in Game 1. He singled ahead of Gleyber Torres’ homer and drove in the game-winning run in the seventh.
Verdugo also made a nifty sliding catch along the foul line in left field to save at least one run, and possibly two. He had as big an impact on the game as any Yankee even though, for much of the season, he was a drain on the offense. Verdugo slashed .225/.275/.336 from May 1 through the end of the season. The Yankees stuck with him and he rewarded their faith in Game 1.
Furthermore, the biggest outs of Game 1 were recorded by Clay Holmes, who opened the season as New York’s closer and went to the All-Star Game this summer, but also blew a league-leading 13 saves. He got demoted out of the ninth inning, but the Yankees continued to use him in high-leverage situations. In Game 1, that meant entering in the sixth inning.
Holmes came in with a runner on first and one out in the sixth, escaped that inning, then fired a 1-2-3 seventh. He went right through the heart of the Kansas City lineup too. Holmes took over with the Yankees trailing 5-4 and prevented the Royals from tacking on, giving the offense a chance to get back in the game. He and Verdugo were essential to the win.
For the Yankees, Game 1 almost felt like a stolen win. They opened that many doors for the Royals with their sloppy play in the middle of the game. For Kansas City, it has to sting letting that one get away. Cole did not pitch well and the Yankees gave you all sorts of openings, but in the end it wasn’t enough. Game 2 is Monday at Yankee Stadium. – Mike Axisa
Padres waste golden opportunity
As noted in the introduction, Game 1 holds a lot of significance in determining who wins a best-of-five series. If you view it empirically, close to three-quarters of Game 1 winners end up advancing; if you view it theoretically, well, it just makes sense that the team who needs two more wins has a better chance than the team needing three.
That’s why losing Game 1 — and, in particular, this Game 1 — has to sting for the Padres.
San Diego jumped all over Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, plating three runs against him in the first inning, including two on a Manny Machado home run. The Dodgers would tie the game on Ohtani’s three-run blast in the second, but the Padres would once again touch up Yamamoto in the third to take a 5-3 advantage.
Entering the fourth inning, the Padres had about a 75% win expectancy, according to FanGraphs. And yet, they didn’t.
Starting pitcher Dylan Cease was inefficient; the defense was a little sloppy; and even the dugout made a mistake (Padres manager Mike Shildt issuing an intentional walk of Mookie Betts to load the bases may not appear odd at face value … except it came in a two-strike count). The Padres offense, seemingly primed early on for a bigger crooked number, fell quiet as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts turned to a parade of relievers over the game’s final six innings.
Just like that, the Padres found themselves not only blowing a pair of multi-run leads in quick succession, but also a golden chance to put the Dodgers in a 1-0 hole while stripping them of home-field advantage. Instead, San Diego now must win a game in Los Angeles if they are to take the series and advance to the NLCS.
It’s doable, of course, but “doable” isn’t what the Padres were hoping for heading into Game 1. – R.J. Anderson
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