[Tuesday’s wild-card schedule | Wild-card live blog | Cubs-Padres | Tigers-Guardians]
The 2025 MLB playoffs began Tuesday, with eight teams taking the field to get things started. Here’s the recap of what has happened so far.
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Through four innings, San Diego’s bats were active, while Padres starter Nick Pivetta was keeping the Cubs’ bats at bay.
That all changed in the fifth. Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly tagged Pivetta for back-to-back solo home runs to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead. And Chicago’s bullpen did the work from there in a 3-1 win.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell pulled starter Matthew Boyd in the fifth inning after just 58 pitches and entrusted the rest of the game to his bullpen. The Chicago relievers delivered, as Daniel Palencia, Drew Pomeranz, Andrew Kittredge and Brad Keller combined to throw 4 2/3 no-hit innings to secure the victory and a 1-0 series lead.
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The Padres had multiple chances early to build on a 1-0 lead. But they left Xander Bogaerts stranded after he reached third base with no outs in the second. In the fourth, they put runners on the corners with one out and didn’t score a run. A nice play in shallow center field by Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson robbed Ryan O’Hearn of a potential hit and held Manny Machado at third with two outs.
The Padres never threatened again, as Chicago’s bullpen shut them down for the final 4 2/3 innings of the game.
— Jason Owens
As the first game of the day proved, when Tarik Skubal is on the mound, the Detroit Tigers don’t need much else. Skubal dazzled Tuesday, striking out 14 in a dominant performance against the Cleveland Guardians.
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But the win wasn’t comfortable until the final out. For most of the contest, Skubal and Gavin Williams were locked in a pitchers’ duel. At the end of the sixth inning, the score sat at 1-1, and Skubal and Williams had each notched at least eight strikeouts.
Williams ran out of steam in the seventh, allowing two baserunners before he was pulled. The Tigers then scratched across another run, and that proved to be the difference. Skubal struck out the side in the seventh and managed two outs in the bottom of the eighth before he left the contest.
Although the Guardians threatened in the bottom of the ninth, Tigers closer Will Vest got the job done, preventing Jose Ramirez from scoring from third with no outs and securing a 2-1 Tigers victory.
— Chris Cwik
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MLB playoff bracket, wild-card schedule and results for Game 1
No. 6 Detroit Tigers 2, No. 3 Cleveland Guardians 1
No. 4 Chicago Cubs 3, No. 5 San Diego Padres 1
No. 5 Boston Red Sox vs. No. 4 New York Yankees, 6:08 p.m. ET on ESPN
No. 6 Cincinnati Reds vs. No. 3 Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:08 p.m. ET on ESPN
MLB wild card Game 1 live blog
Follow along with Yahoo Sports for live updates, highlights and more as the wild-card round begins: