One oddity about the Division Series: many of the best individual performances — especially on the mound, but also at the plate — came in losing efforts. The round’s offensive leader in OPS was eliminated. As was the pitcher who had the most strikeouts.
That dynamic was at play in each Game 5. In Friday night’s thriller in Seattle, Tarik Skubal was dominant, and Kerry Carpenter was momentarily a hero, but the Tigers still lost in extra innings. On Saturday, Seiya Suzuki’s second home run of the series was a game-tying blast, and Daniel Palencia yet again escaped trouble out of the bullpen, but the Cubs, too, were sent home.
Without meaning to — and without manipulating the results to make it happen — our All Division Series team includes at least one player from each of the eight teams that made it this far. The victors, though, are most prominent.
C William Contreras, Brewers (6-for-20, 2B, 2 HR, 5 R, 3 RBIs)
Maybe this choice is recency bias after seeing Contreras hit that early home run on Saturday night. Fact is, this is basically a three-way toss-up among Contreras, Cal Raleigh and J.T. Realmuto. All three had similar offensive numbers. Raleigh called that 15-inning epic for the Mariners on Friday, and Realmuto hit for the series cycle while having his best night in the Game 3 victory that momentarily kept the Phillies alive. Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk also had that two-homer game. Just pick one. It’s hard to go wrong.
1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays (9-for-17, 3 HR, 9 RBIs)
It was a four-game series, and Guerrero homered in each of the first three. In the clincher, he reached base twice and drove in the first run. Guerrero led the round in RBIs, and his Game 2 grand slam was one of the great moments of the past week. Spencer Torkelson, Michael Busch and Andrew Vaughn were also plenty productive, but Guerrero was over-the-top.
Good morning, @BlueJays fans!
The French call of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s grand slam was electric ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/MrpVxXAk8P
— MLB (@MLB) October 6, 2025
2B Nico Hoerner, Cubs (9-for-20, HR, RBI, SB)
He made a rare defensive mistake in Game 1, but Hoerner was otherwise terrific this round (including a really nice play in Game 5). He was tied for the division series lead in hits, with three of them coming in the must-win Game 4 when he also stole a base. Tigers second baseman Gleyber Torres also had a good division series, and Jorge Polanco made himself a Mariners icon in Seattle.
3B Ernie Clement, Blue Jays (9-for-14, 5 R, 2B, HR, 5 RBIs)
Clement has to make this team somewhere. He started three of four games at second base, but he ended all four games at third, so we’ll stick him there. He led all lineup regulars with a .643 batting average this round, and that was after going 0-for-3 in Game 1 (he was 9-for-11 the rest of the way). It otherwise wasn’t a huge round for third baseman. Alec Bohm got on base a lot for the Phillies, as did Matt Shaw for the Cubs, while Ryan McMahon had one big homer for the Yankees, and Zach McKinstry had some good moments for the Tigers.
SS J.P. Crawford, Mariners (5-for-19, HR, 2 RBIs)
The offensive numbers are pretty similar between Tigers’ shorstop Javier Báez and Crawford, and both had singular games (Game 3 for Crawford, Game 4 for Báez). There’s a pretty compelling argument that Báez was the better of the two, but let’s just say the tie goes to the shortstop who actually won the series. Not up for consideration: Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, who struck out 11 times in 15 at-bats.
LF Jackson Chourio, Brewers (7-for-18, 2 2B, HR, 6 RBI)
He went 3-for-3 in Game 1 but left with a hamstring injury. He returned in Game 2 and hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning. He contributed hits in Games 3 and 4, then drew a walk in Game 5. Cubs left fielder Ian Happ hit a couple of homers, and Tigers left fielder Riley Greene hit a really long one, but Chourio stood apart this round.
CF Daulton Varsho, Blue Jays (7-for-16, 3 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBIs)
Julio Rodríguez had some big moments for the Mariners, but this otherwise was not a great round for center fielders (even J-Rod had an OPS below .600). Varsho, though, was the exception. Known mostly for his glove, he had an excellent — albeit abbreviated — season at the plate and carried that into the Division Series, especially Game 2 when he had two doubles and two home runs to drive a Toronto slugfest.
RF Aaron Judge, Yankees (9-for-15, 5 R, 2 2B, HR, 6 RBIs, 4 BB)
So much for that narrative. Judge came into this postseason with a spotty track record in October, but he had a good wild card round — he was our All Wild Card right fielder, too — and then led this round in OPS while delivering multiple hits in every game. The Yankees had many problems in the end, but their best player wasn’t one of them.
With one monster October, Judge erased any narrative about him falling short in the biggest games of the season. (Al Bello / Getty Images)
DH Kyle Schwarber, Phillies (2-for-11, 2 HR, 3 RBIs, 2 BB)
This feels like this should be Carpenter, right? He was excellent for the Tigers and got on base six times in Game 5, including a two-run homer that nearly won the series, but Carpenter actually played nothing but right field in the division series. So, the choice is down to guys who were more good than unquestionably great. Maybe Kyle Tucker? George Springer? We’ll go with Schwarber for his two homers that kept the Phillies alive in Game 3. It certainly was not Shohei Ohtani, who went 1-for-18 with nine strikeouts.
SP Tarik Skubal, Tigers (13 IP, 22 Ks, 2.08 ERA, 0.62 WHIP)
Skubal struck out 13 in Game 5, one of the great winner-take-all pitching performances of all time. Yet, the Tigers lost. He struck out nine in Game 2, and the Tigers lost that one, too. Skubal was not invincible, but he was incredible, showing all the overpowering dominance we’ve come to expect from the American League’s best starting pitcher.
SP Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies (12 IP, 13 Ks, 2.25 ERA, 1.00 WHIP)
In a four-game series, Sánchez started twice. He threw nearly a third of the Phillies’ innings, capably filling Zack Wheeler’s shoes as a legitimate Game 1 ace. Remarkably — just like the Tigers did with Skubal — the Phillies lost each of Sánchez’s starts.
SP Trey Yesavage, Blue Jays (5 1/3 IP, 11 Ks, 0.00 ERA, 0.19 WHIP)
Drafted last summer and called up in September, Yesavage made three regular season starts before getting the ball in Game 2 ahead of veteran teammates Max Scherzer and José Berríos. He then delivered 5 1/3 no-hit innings to help the Blue Jays take a commanding lead in the series. It was such a singular, standout performance that we’ll choose Yesavage to round out our All-DS rotation with deepest apologies to George Kirby (who was excellent in Game 5 for the Mariners), Blake Snell (who pitched six scoreless in Game 2) and teammate Kevin Gausman (who set the tone in Game 1).
SP/RP Logan Gilbert, Mariners (8 IP, 9 Ks, 1.13 ERA, 1.00 WHIP)
We don’t always include a swingman on our All-Postseason teams, but this round demanded it. Gilbert, Troy Melton (Tigers), Tyler Glasnow (Dodgers), Luis Castillo (Mariners), and Jesús Luzardo (Phillies) were all impactful as both starters and relievers. There’s a strong case for singling out either Melton or Glasnow, but we’ll go with Gilbert who pitched six strong innings as the Game 3 starter then handled the 10th and 11th innings of that epic Game 5.
BRP Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers (7 IP, 1.29 ERA, 7 Ks, 0.86 WHIP)
BRP stands for bulk relief pitcher, and the role was featured prominently in the division series. It was occasionally done out of late-in-the-round necessity — see some of the SP/RP mentioned above — but others were used in this role by design. Look no further than Saturday’s Game 5 when both the Cubs and Brewers used an opener followed by a bulk reliever, and rookie Misiorowski stole the show with his four strong innings to help the Brewers advance. The Miz had previously thrown three scoreless innings in the same role in Game 2 and was the only pitcher to be credited with two wins this round. Colin Rea played this role twice for the Cubs (with a 1.50 ERA), and Ranger Suárez did it well for the Phillies in their only division series win.
RP Will Vest, Tigers (5 IP, 7 Ks, 0.00 ERA, 0.20 WHIP)
We typically keep these relief pitcher spots for setup men and long relievers, but closers really did a lot of heavy lifting in this round, and so we’re singling out three of them. Vest slammed the door in lopsided Game 4 and twice pitched multiple scoreless innings to preserve late-game ties, including crucial back-to-back strikeouts of Raleigh and Rodríguez in the eighth inning of Game 5.
RP Andrés Muñoz, Mariners (5 1/3 IP, 5 Ks, 0.00 ERA, 0.38 WHIP)
Muñoz got only one save, but he pitched four times, and in his first four innings faced 11 batters and got 12 outs (he retired an inherited runner on a double play). In that tense Game 5, he was called into the eighth inning to face the top of the Tigers’ lineup and pitched around two walks, then he set the side down in order in the ninth.
CL Roki Sasaki, Dodgers (4 1/3 IP, 3 Ks, 0.00 ERA, 0.23 WHIP)
Win Probability Added says Sasaki — followed by Muñoz and Vest — was the most impactful pitcher, period, in this round. He got the save in Games 1 and 2 — his two-pitch escape in Game 2 was huge — but had his best outing in Game 4, setting the side down in order in the eighth, ninth and 10th innings to keep the score tied. Sasaki was yet another erstwhile starting pitcher who made his division series impact out of the pen.