Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, All Teams Unveil Wild Card Rosters in MLB Playoff Bracket

Ahead of the first day of the MLB postseason, rosters for the wild card round have officially been set.

All eight teams unveiled the 26-man squads they will be rolling with for the best-of-three series beginning on Tuesday.

Here are the rosters that have been released for seven teams organized by the matchup.

Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland Guardians (Game 1 starts at 1:08 p.m. ET)

San Diego Padres at Chicago Cubs (Game 1 starts at 3:08 p.m. ET)

Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees (Game 1 starts at 6:08 p.m. ET)

Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles Dodgers (9:08 p.m. ET)

There are no major surprises on most of the teams. It was already known that Lucas Giolito wouldn't be available for the Boston Red Sox due to an elbow injury.

Giolito likely would have been in line to start a potential Game 3 against the New York Yankees. Instead, Red Sox manager Alex Cora will likely decide between Connelly Early and Kyle Harrison if the series goes the distance.

Since the wild-card round is only a best-of-three with no off days, teams can employ more strategy than they typically would later in the postseason.

For example, seven of the eight rosters unveiled will utilize 12 pitchers and 14 position players. The lone outlier are the Cleveland Guardians, who probably made the most interesting move of the day.

Given the general lack of punch in their lineup, the Guardians included prospect Chase DeLauter as one of seven outfielders on the roster.

DeLauter, the 16th overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft, has yet to play in the big leagues due to a series of injuries that have limited him to 138 games in the minors since 2023.

MLB.com has DeLauter ranked as Cleveland's second-best prospect and No. 54 overall. Even though his development has been slowed down by injuries, he has hit at every level of professional baseball. The 23-year-old has a .302/.384/.504 slash line in 583 career plate appearances in the minors.

In 34 games at Triple-A this season, DeLauter posted a .278/.383/.476 line with five homers. The left-handed hitter isn't in the starting lineup for Game 1 with Tarik Skubal on the mound for the Tigers, but he could be used later in the game as a pinch-hitter or potentially as a starter in Game 2 on Wednesday if there's a righty on the mound.

Per FanGraphs, the Guardians had the lowest weighted on-base average (.277) from their outfield in MLB during the regular season.

If DeLauter does play against the Tigers, he would be just the sixth player in MLB history to make his big-league debut in a postseason game. It most recently happened in 2020 when three players did it, including Alex Kirilloff (Minnesota Twins), Shane McClanahan (Tampa Bay Rays) and Ryan Weathers (Padres).

The other big story, which isn't a surprise, is that Roki Sasaki's late-season turn in the bullpen earned him a spot on the Dodgers' roster. He endured a difficult rookie season, but has been terrific in four relief appearances dating back to Sept. 18 at Triple-A.

In those four games, Sasaki has allowed just one hit with seven strikeouts and one walk in four innings. The bullpen has been the primary issue for Los Angeles throughout the season, so potentially finding a use for one of the most talented arms in the entire organization so late in the year could be a huge difference-maker as the Dodgers look to repeat.

Every game in the wild card round is hosted by the higher-seeded team, unlike subsequent series that require off days for travel.

The four teams that win in the wild card round will advance to the division series, which will begin on Saturday.