Because of the double tiebreaker round in the AL Central, OOTP pushed back the start of the playoffs to Thursday for NL Wild Card Game and Friday for the AL Wild Card Game, meaning the NLDS should start on the Saturday and the ALDS on Sunday. This is great news for the Rays as Brandon Marsh should be ready to play in at least Game 2, if not Game 1, and Chris Paddack's back spasms will be long gone by the time Game 3 is played.
Here's the NL game:
It was a great pitchers' duel between a 20-game winner from this year (Michel Baez) and one from last year (Sandy Alcantara). Baez went 7 3 1 1 3 6 and Alcantara 7 6 1 1 1 8. Taylor Trammell led off the game with a HR for San Diego and then the Mets equalized on a Pete Alonso RBI single in the 4th. It stayed that way until Rhys Hoskins, thrown out at 3rd in the 7th trying to stretch a double into a triple (and seeing the next batter double), atoned for his earlier mistake by hitting a 2-run HR off Corey Knebel and closer Jose Castillo locked it down to send the Padres off to the NLDS to play Atlanta. It marked the second time in four years these teams met in the NL Wild Card game, with San Diego also winning in 2020. It was also the third NL Wild Card game in four years for the Mets; they won the 2021 game against Washington, and were division winners in 2022.
And here's the AL Wild Card Game:
It will be the Seattle Mariners and former Ray utility infielder-turned-superstar Michael Brousseau coming to St. Pete in a couple of days' time for the ALDS after a tense 1-0 win over Houston. Touki Touissant was electric, pitching a 4-hit shutout on 119 pitches, walking 3 and striking out 8 against a tough Astros lineup. Forrest Whitley had a 2-hitter of his own going into the 8th, but Evan White doubled, bringing on reliever Matt Barnes who gave up a single to Brosseau to put runners and 1st and 3rd, and then Yairo Munoz's sac fly to left scored White for the game's only run.