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2025 MLB Wild Card Game 1 Winners and Losers
There goes the first day of the 2025 MLB playoffs, which required no time at all to get wild.
The Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers had the honor of starting off a four-game slate of Wild Card Series games, and they gifted everyone a tight one highlighted by an electric performance from Tarik Skubal, who broke his career high for strikeouts in a winning cause.
Thus was the tone set for the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees on the American League side, as well as the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers on the National League side. By the end of the day, the theme that had emerged was one of dominant starting pitching.
Along the way, we tracked the results for Tuesday's games and pinpointed winners and losers for all eight clubs.
Wild Card Game 1 Results
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AL Wild Card: Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland Guardians
- Result: Tigers 2, Guardians 1
- Status: Tigers lead 1-0
NL Wild Card: San Diego Padres vs. Chicago Cubs
- Result: Cubs 3, Padres 1
- Status: Cubs lead 1-0
AL Wild Card: Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees
- Result: Red Sox 3, Yankees 1
- Status: Red Sox lead 1-0
NL Wild Card: Cincinnati Reds vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
- Result: Dodgers 10, Reds 5
- Status: Dodgers lead 1-0
Detroit Tigers Winners and Losers
2 of 10
Winner: Tarik Skubal's Reputation
Honestly, all one has to do here is gesture in the direction of Skubal's line score for Game 1: 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 14 K.
Ridiculous, but not exactly unexpected for a guy who's on the verge of winning his second straight AL Cy Young Award.
Tuesday's game was a master class in what makes Tarik Skubal, well, Tarik Skubal. He hit the strike zone with 73 of his 107 pitches and averaged 99.1 mph on the fastball, at one point fanning three in a row on triple-digit heat after the Tigers grabbed a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh inning.
The short version is that the best pitcher in baseball did best pitcher in baseball stuff, and the result for the Tigers is a crucial 1-0 lead in a best-of-three series.
Loser: Tarik Skubal's Defensive Highlight Reel
Sorry, Tarik, but you knew we just had to rib you over how the Guardians got their one run in the game:
Skubal had every Tigers fan holding their breath just by going after that ball, as anything that requires negotiating the back of the mound like that smacks of an ankle injury waiting to happen.
The worst was thankfully averted there, but it was for naught as Skubal struggled to field the ball cleanly and throw home in time to get the runner. The initial call was safe, but it was rightfully overturned upon review.
It wasn't an error, nor did it cost the Tigers in the end. Even still, it surely gave Tigers fans a pang of familiarity after Skubal's ill-fated between-the-legs toss in Cleveland last week.
Cleveland Guardians Winners and Losers
3 of 10
Winner: The Pitching Did Its Job
Pitching is what got the Guardians into the postseason. As they were rallying for a 24-8 finish after August 26, their 2.63 ERA was the lowest in MLB.
To this end, another win hypothetically should have followed on Tuesday. Led by Gavin Williams and his six innings of eight-strikeout ball, Guardians hurlers allowed zero earned runs and fanned 13 Tigers hitters.
For Williams in particular, this feels like a coming-out party. He's been on the periphery of stardom since his debut in 2023, and he pretty much made the leap in the latter half of this season. He finished the year with a 2.21 ERA in his last 14 outings.
If he'd been opposed by literally anyone else besides Tarik Skubal, he might have gotten a win on Tuesday.
Loser: The Guardians' Margin for Error
Here's the thing about the Guardians: Though they won 88 games this year, they weren't actually that good. They allowed six more runs than they scored.
They basically outplayed their margin for error, a theme they did not keep up on Tuesday. Both of the runs they gifted the Tigers were unearned, courtesy of errors by Johnathan Rodriguez and Jhonkensy Noel.
Errors were a problem for Cleveland throughout the year, with only three clubs making more. Evidently, a new month does not mean their defense turned over a new leaf.
It's a lesser sin in the scheme of things, but José Ramírez running on contact off third base with one out in the ninth inning also cost the Guardians. That resulted in him getting tagged out in a pickle, erasing a crucial runner in scoring position.
You need to play cleaner baseball than this in the postseason, especially when you're up against the best pitcher in the game.
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Chicago Cubs Winners and Losers
4 of 10
Winner: Craig Counsell's Bullpen Wizardry
The Cubs tabbed Matthew Boyd as their Game 1 starter, and he mostly looked the part in allowing one run through his first four innings.
But then, with one out on the fifth, Craig Counsell lifted the lefty after only 58 pitches. Too early...or right on time?
The end result naturally points to the latter, and there's no lie there. Four Cubs relievers allowed neither a hit nor a walk in the last 4.2 innings of the game, bookended by brilliant work by Daniel Palencia and Brad Keller.
For those in the know, Counsell showing a knack for bullpen management is a tale as old as time. In this case, the process would have been justified even if the outcome had not been favorable. Boyd does tend to lose effectiveness after 50 pitches, and this Cubs bullpen was a strikeout machine in the second half.
Loser: Pete Crow-Armstrong's Sinking Stardom
In what was otherwise a good day for the Cubs, their dynamic center fielder had a game he'd like to forget.
Crow-Armstrong struck out in all three of his trips to the plate, and he helped contribute to the Padres' lone run of the game. He threw slightly off-target on Xander Bogaerts' RBI double in the second inning, for which he was charged with an error.
All's well that ends well as far as the Cubs are concerned, but this is merely the latest step down for PCA. After an All-Star first half in which he had a 131 wRC+ and 4.8 fWAR, he cratered with a 72 wRC+ and 0.8 fWAR in the second.
San Diego Padres Winners and Losers
5 of 10
Winner: Mason Miller Takes Center Stage
This is one of those losses without much in the way of silver linings, but at least the Padres got to show off MLB's most electric reliever in the seventh inning.
Miller faced three batters and fanned all three with a dizzying array of stuff. Notably, he got Seiya Suzuki swinging on a 103 mph fastball and made Pete Crow-Armstrong short-circuit on a slider that darn near landed in the batter's box.
For Padres fans, this was another case of Miller being Miller. He allowed two runs in his second appearance as a Padre after coming over from the A's, and then none in his next 20. Overall, he fanned 54.2 percent of the batters faced as a Padre.
If you, on the other hand, had never seen Miller pitch before, now you know what all the fuss is about.
Loser: An Offense That Can't Blame the Shadows
The Padres only got four hits on Tuesday, and none after Boyd departed in the fifth inning.
Blame it on the shadows at Wrigley Field if you want, and they were indeed a factor in the middle portion of the game. And yet, dare we say that a performance like this was always a dire possibility for this Padres offense in the playoffs?
It ended up below the league average with an output of 4.3 runs per game, with only three teams hitting fewer than its 152 home runs. It also wasn't particularly good in the clutch, ranking 19th out of 30 teams with a 100 wRC+ with runners in scoring position.
Clearly, the last thing this offense needs is bad strategy. As if for good measure, the Padres also mixed in a bit of that on Tuesday when All-Star center fielder Jackson Merrill gave away an out on a sacrifice bunt with nobody out in the fourth. An infield single and two harmless flies later, it went for naught.
Boston Red Sox Winners and Losers
6 of 10
Winner: Craig Breslow's Offseason Haul
The Red Sox would not have made the playoffs if Breslow hadn't added Garrett Crochet, Alex Bregman and Aroldis Chapman last winter. And right now, they wouldn't be a win away from advancing without them either.
As dominant as Tarik Skubal was earlier in the day, Crochet nearly one-upped him in Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. He fired 7.2 innings of one-run ball, striking out 11 batters and hitting 100 mph for his 117th and final pitch of the night.
With the Red Sox nursing a 2-1 lead after Crochet's departure, Bregman added crucial insurance with an RBI double in the top of the ninth. Chapman nailed it down, getting the last out in the eighth and then three in the ninth after the Yankees loaded the bases on three straight singles.
The Red Sox have now won 10 out of 14 against the Yankees this season, not to mention nine of the last 10 postseason matchups between the two franchises. The team and Breslow therefore share one thing in common: bragging rights.
Loser: Alex Cora's Weird Righty-Heavy Lineup
Most left-handed pitchers have drastic platoon splits against right-handed hitters, so it typically makes sense to stack righties in a lineup against southpaw starters.
Even still, Cora leaned a little too far into the bit with his starting lineup for Game 1. Jarren Duran was the only lefty in it, and it also featured such oddities as Rob Refsnyder batting leadoff, Romy Gonzalez batting cleanup and Nate Eaton batting sixth.
To boot, Max Fried is no ordinary lefty. He has reverse splits for his career, with righties only posting a .598 OPS against him this season.
Granted, the Red Sox won in large part because Cora worked some pinch-hit magic with Masataka Yoshida for Refsnyder in the seventh, resulting in a go-ahead single. But if the question is whether Cora's Franken-lineup worked, Fried's 6.1 innings of shutout ball have us leaning no.
New York Yankees Winners and Losers
7 of 10
Winner: Max Fried Continues to Be Worth Every Penny
Even if he was the second-best lefty starter on the mound at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, Fried is at a point now where his $218 million contract feels like an underpay.
He was the guy holding the rotation together in Gerrit Cole's absence this season, and especially at the end when he finished with a 1.55 ERA in his last seven starts. And on Tuesday, he was simply brilliant over 6.1 shutout innings.
Even though he barely threw his four-seamer and sinker, Fried still had Red Sox hitters on the defensive as a result of 19 first-pitch strikes in 25 tries. And when he left, the Yankees had a 1-0 lead and nobody on base.
The hope now is that he'll get to pitch again before the end of this year. But for that to happen, the Yankees need to rally for two more wins.
Losers: That Danged Bullpen (and Aaron Judge's Elbow)
The Yankees lost Game 1 due to their bullpen, which is unfortunately an outcome that every one of their fans could have predicted.
The bullpen was supposed to be fixed at the trade deadline, but instead devolved even further to post a 4.74 ERA in the last two months of the season. It immediately added to its legacy of infamy on Tuesday, as Aaron Boone's call to replace Fried (who was at 102 pitches) with Luke Weaver resulted in him giving up two runs on two hits and a walk without recording an out.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox also reminded everyone that Judge doesn't have a healthy throwing arm out in right field. Nick Sogard made that clear when he challenged Judge on a ball into the gap in the seventh inning, resulting in a hustle double that preceded Masataka Yoshida's go-ahead knock.
Look, there's no shame in getting shut down by Garrett Crochet and Aroldis Chapman. But whereas the Yankees don't have to worry about that again in Game 2, they do have to worry about their pen and Judge's arm.
Los Angeles Dodgers Winners and Losers
8 of 10
Winner: The Dodgers' World Series Blueprint
The Dodgers did not win 117 games this year, which is significant only because they were supposed to after sandwiching a World Series championship in between $1 billion offseasons.
But if it wasn't before, it should now be clear why the Dodgers are still arguably the favorite to represent the NL in the World Series: They hit tanks and they have great starting pitching.
The Dodgers used the home run ball to overpower the Reds, with Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández each hitting two and Tommy Edman adding one. For Ohtani in particular, this is pretty much exactly how the Dodgers hoped he would begin his revenge tour after mostly going AWOL in the 2024 playoffs.
Yet the star of the game for the Dodgers was two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, who narrowly missed what would have been the third seven-inning, 10-strikeout game of the day. He had to settle for nine strikeouts over seven innings, a new career best for the postseason.
This is clearly the same offense that led the NL with 244 home runs, and clearly the same rotation that led MLB with a 2.06 ERA in September. Both things overwhelmed the Reds on Tuesday, and should have every other team on notice.
Loser: The Bullpen (Unfortunately) Entered the Chat
The Dodgers do have an Achilles heel, and the top of the eighth inning reminded everyone what it is: the bullpen.
The Dodgers had a 10-2 lead when Edgardo Henriquez relieved Alex Vesia in the eighth, yet he and Jack Dreyer still managed to make things interesting. Between them, they served up three runs on two bases-loaded walks and an RBI single.
Henriquez throws over 100 mph and Dreyer has a slider and fastball that both had averages in the 100s this year, so stuff wasn't their problem. In this way, they served as a microcosm of a Dodgers bullpen that was fifth in Stuff+ but tied for 20th in ERA in the regular season.
Cincinnati Reds Winners and Losers
9 of 10
Winner: The Reds Didn't Get Completely Embarrassed
To be clear, the Reds did get mostly embarrassed. That tends to be the predominant feeling in blowout losses in which five balls leave the yard.
That said, the Reds were getting one-hit and shut out by Snell through the first six innings of the game. The five runs they put on the board in the seventh and eighth were too little, too late, but they did add a little bit of dignity for the away team.
Even still, what we have here is a David that is one loss away from getting thoroughly stomped by Goliath. Everyone loves an underdog story, but sometimes the little guy just plain loses.
Loser: The Mets, Who Must Be Wondering If They Could Have Done Better
This is not an apology for the Mets. They deserved to lose the NL's third wild-card to the Reds, who stayed consistent as the Mets collapsed in the last three months of the season.
And yet, the Mets did win two against the Dodgers in last year's NLCS, plus four out of seven between the two clubs this season. And given that they out-homered the Reds by 57 this year, they might have at least hoped to hang with the Dodgers in a slugging contest.
Again, the Mets should be sitting in their corner and thinking about what they've done. But if they're also thinking they could have done better than this, they may be right.
Bonus Winner: How About Those Lefty Aces?
10 of 10
The AL Cy Young Award can only go to one pitcher, which ordinarily isn't a problem.
But in a year where Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet both lit up the American League in nearly equal measure? Yeah, it is a darn shame.
The two lefties were mesmerizing from start to finish in the regular season, with both finishing with ERAs in the low 2.00s and heaps of both innings and strikeouts:
Tarik Skubal: 31 GS, 195.1 IP, 141 H (18 HR), 241 K, 33 BB, 2.21 ERA
Garrett Crochet: 32 GS, 205.1 IP, 165 H (24 HR), 255 K, 46 BB, 2.59 ERA
It will probably be Skubal who wins the AL Cy Young Award, but Crochet would be a hands-down winner in pretty much any other year. The two of them almost seemed to feed off each other all season, up to and including Tuesday.
Each emptied the tank, with Skubal throwing 107 pitches and striking out 14 against Cleveland and Crochet getting to 117 pitches with 11 strikeouts against the Yankees. Both dug deep for triple digits when they needed it on the fastball. Skubal did so 11 times. Crochet only did it once, but it was on his final pitch of the night.
Not that anyone should need further context to appreciate these two southpaw aces, but here's some anyway: After only one pitcher went seven-plus innings with 10-plus strikeouts in a playoff start between 2022 and 2024, two did so in a matter of hours on Tuesday.
Given that Max Fried also came through with 6.1 innings of scoreless ball and Blake Snell barely missed a seven-inning, 10-strikeout performance, Tuesday painted a clear picture of what an ace looks like in 2025: he's left-handed and made of iron.
Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
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