2025 MLB Wild Card Game 3 Winners and Losers
In the first three years of the expanded MLB playoff format, 10 of the 12 series in the Wild Card Round ended in sweeps.
This year, baseball fans were treated to three win-or-go-home Game 3s to kick off the 2025 postseason festivities, and a full day of high-stakes baseball was on tap on Thursday to see who would join the Los Angeles Dodgers in advancing to the Division Series.
Ahead, we've highlighted the biggest winners and losers of a busy day of baseball, highlighting the biggest takeaways for each of the six teams in action and fighting for their playoff lives.
When the dust settles on Thursday night, the playoff field will be trimmed to eight teams still vying for a World Series title.
Wild Card Game 3 Results
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AL Wild Card: No. 6 Detroit Tigers @ No. 3 Cleveland Guardians
- Thursday Result: Tigers 6, Guardians 3
- Series Status: Tigers win 2-0, advance to face Seattle in ALDS
NL Wild Card: No. 5 San Diego Padres @ No. 4 Chicago Cubs
- Thursday Result: Cubs 3, Padres 1
- Series Status: Cubs win 2-1, advance to face Milwaukee in NLDS
AL Wild Card: No. 5 Boston Red Sox @ No. 4 New York Yankees
- Thursday Result: Yankees 4, Red Sox 0
- Series Status: Yankees win 2-1, advance to face Toronto in ALDS
Detroit Tigers Winners
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Winner: The Dormant Offense Finally Wakes Up
At their best this season, the Tigers were a team that scored runs in bunches. They averaged over five runs per game during the first half of the season while sprinting out to an 11.5-game lead in the AL Central standings at the All-Star break.
That dipped to 4.24 runs per contest during the second half and 4.04 per game during a 7-17 month of September that saw them squander that huge division lead and settle for a wild-card berth.
The Tigers were a staggeringly awful 2-for-22 with runners in scoring position through the first two games of this series.
However, during a five-run eighth inning on Thursday, the Tigers once again looked like that top-to-bottom offense that gave teams fits early in the year. They tallied five hits and two walks while sending 10 batters to the plate in the inning, and the only extra-base hits in the bunch was a leadoff double from Javier Báez, as they went station to station and strung together base runners.
It was one game against what amounted to a bullpen day for the Guardians, but this is the type of performance they can build off as they get set to square off against a stacked Seattle Mariners rotation.
Winner: A.J. Hinch Pushes All the Right Buttons Again
A.J. Hinch has proven time and again to be one of the best managers in baseball, making the most of his entire roster from utilizing platoons to masterfully pulling the strings of his bullpen.
Game 3 was another one for the highlight reel.
He shook up the starting lineup, moving leadoff hitter Parker Meadows down to the No. 9 spot and bumping Wenceel Perez up to the No. 3 spot. Meadows went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored, and Perez delivered a two-run single to blow things open in the five-run seventh inning.
He squeezed 4.2 innings of three-hit, one-run ball out of Jack Flaherty, then turned things over to his bullpen, starting with 1.1 scoreless frames from Kyle Finnegan, who spent much of the year pitching the ninth inning for the Nationals.
Outside of Tarik Skubal, the biggest weapon wearing a Tigers uniform right now might be Hinch in the manager's seat.
Cleveland Guardians Losers
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Loser: Steven Kwan, Kyle Manzardo Fail to Pull Their Weight
The Tigers spent most of the series doing their best to make sure Jose Ramirez didn't beat them, and that's the approach teams have taken all season with a Cleveland lineup sorely lacking in impact talent beyond its star third baseman.
Steven Kwan has been the closest thing to a second star offensively the last few seasons, and he hit .272 with a .330 on-base percentage and 81 runs scored while logging almost as many walks (55) as strikeouts (60) during the regular season out of the leadoff spot.
Meanwhile, Kyle Manzardo turned in a breakout season of sorts, hitting behind J-Ram in the middle of the lineup, posting a 110 OPS+ while finishing second on the team in home runs (27) and RBI (70).
Both players were invisible in the Wild Card Series.
Kwan finished 2-for-12 without drawing a walk, while Manzardo went 1-for-11 with zero RBI.
Loser: A Premature White Flag from the Cleveland Front Office
A tip of the cap to Slade Cecconi, who tossed 2.1 innings of two-hit, one-run ball as the Game 3 starter for the Guardians, but what if that was Shane Bieber toeing the rubber for the decisive game of the series?
Or what if, instead of trying to save a few bucks when the team was hovering on the fringe of wild-card contention, they had actually traded for some outside help and added to the roster?
Few teams prioritize pinching pennies as much as the Guardians, and this year, it cost them when there were no reinforcements to bolster their chances after they went on an impressive run and played their way to a division title.
A year after watching Matthew Boyd and Alex Cobb start playoff games for lack of a viable alternative, they were in a remarkably similar spot in Game 3, and now they're watching the rest of the postseason from home.
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Chicago Cubs Winners
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Winner: Dansby Swanson and An Elite Defense
By almost any metric, the Cubs had one of the best defensive teams in baseball this season, ranking among the MLB leaders in Defensive Runs Saved (83, second), Outs Above Average (31, fourth) and Defensive Runs Above Average (34.9, second).
That can often go overlooked in a world of 60-homer seasons and 100 mph fastballs, but it was on full display Thursday and throughout the series, with two-time Gold Glove winner Dansby Swanson leading the way at shortstop with multiple highlight reel snags.
Second baseman Nico Hoerner had a leaping grab and center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong made a nice catch in center field early in the game, and there is a strong case to be made that both of those players are the cream of the crop defensively at their respective positions.
Bats can go cold and even the best pitchers have an off day, but a good defensive team will generally show up with those gloves day in and day out, and that's something the Cubs will be able to lean on throughout their playoff run.
Winner: A Resurgent Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker
Pete Crow-Armstrong was a bona fide NL MVP candidate during the first half of the season, but he seemed to run out of gas a bit down the stretch, which is not surprising considering this is his first full season in the big leagues.
Even with a pair of home runs against the St. Louis Cardinals in the final series of the regular season, he still hit just .224/.264/.382 with 22 strikeouts in 88 plate appearances in September. That was followed by a 0-for-6 performance with five strikeouts in Game 1 and Game 2 of the Wild Card Series, and it looked like he might be a non-factor in October.
However, it's a whole new ballgame after he went 3-for-4 in Game 3 while showing a level of confidence in the batter's box he has not displayed in weeks.
Meanwhile, Kyle Tucker awakened from his own offensive slumber after injuries limited him to just five games in September. He went 1-for-7 with a single in the first two games of the series. Tucker flipped the script in Game 3, hitting 2-for-4 with a run scored and looking the closest he has to his All-Star self in weeks. However, he is still searching for his first extra-base hit since Sept. 2.
Looking at the bigger picture, the Cubs got contributions from up and down the roster throughout the Wild Card Series, and after coasting to a 35-31 record in the second half after going 57-39 before the All-Star break, they are suddenly looking like a legitimate title contender once again.
San Diego Padres Losers
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Loser: An Over Reliance on the Home Run Ball
The Padres hit just 152 home runs during the regular season, a total that ranked 28th in the majors, ahead of only the St. Louis Cardinals (148) and Pittsburgh Pirates (117).
A two-run home run from Manny Machado in Game 2 and a solo shot from Jackson Merrill in Game 3 ended up accounting for three of the five runs they scored in the series, as a team that spent all season stringing together hits and manufacturing runs suddenly became over-reliant on the home run ball.
Luis Arraez (2-for-11), Machado (1-for-11), Fernando Tatis Jr. (1-for-12), and Jake Cronenworth (0-for-11) all struggled mightily, making it difficult to put together innings with multiple base runners and to cash in the few guys who did reach base.
The Padres hit .252 as a team during the regular season, the seventh-highest mark in the majors.
They hit .189 in the Wild Card Series, and now it's back to the drawing board with multiple needs to address in the lineup this winter.
Loser: An Overtaxed Bullpen
The Padres had the best bullpen in baseball this season, leading the majors in ERA (3.06), WHIP (1.15) and opponents' batting average (.209), and an already elite unit only got better following the blockbuster deal to acquire Mason Miller at the trade deadline.
However, an abridged outing from Dylan Cease in Game 2 meant Adriam Morejon (33 pitches), Mason Miller (27 pitches) and Robert Suárez (18 pitches) were all asked to get more than three outs in San Diego's Game 2 victory.
When Yu Darvish was chased in the second inning on Thursday, it became a bullpen game, and manager Mike Shildt did not have a fresh contingent of relievers to turn to as he looked to navigate 24 outs.
Starter Michael King pitched the fourth, but was pulled after just one inning of work, when he could have been the pitcher to give them some length in the middle innings. As a result, Suárez found himself in the game three innings sooner than his usual closer's role. He allowed four hits and a big insurance run when Michael Busch took him deep for a solo home run.
It's not even about Suárez having a bad outing. It's more about the fact that when everyone was pushed so far the day before, someone from that group was bound to scuffle on zero rest with the season on the line.
Darvish dug them a hole early, but it's fair to second-guess the early hook for Cease after 3.2 scoreless innings in Game 2.
New York Yankees Winners
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Winner: A Breakout Moment for Cam Schlitter
One of the biggest question marks for the Yankees entering the postseason was whether they would be able to rely on anyone behind Max Fried and Carlos Rodón in the starting rotation.
A team can get by with punting Game 4 with a bullpen game in a best-of-seven series, but it's tough to succeed in October without three starters who can pull their weight and take some pressure off the bullpen.
After Fried (6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER) and Rodón (6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER) both recorded quality starts, the ball was handed to rookie Cam Schlitter to start the win-or-go-home game, and he answered the call with an absolutely epic postseason debut.
The 24-year-old made 14 starts during the regular season, posting a 2.96 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 84 strikeouts in 73 innings to help stabilize the rotation after Clarke Schmidt was lost for the season to Tommy John surgery.
Three or four strong innings would have been a respectable outing given the circumstances of an elimination game, but Schlitter twirled eight scoreless innings, allowing just five hits and racking up 12 strikeouts while throwing in the upper 90s right up until his 107th and final pitch.
In a bubble, it's a huge start to get the Yankees through to the next round, and there's no faster way to endear yourself to the fan base than by ousting the Red Sox.
Looking at the bigger picture, it gives them a rotation that stacks up to any in the remaining playoff field if he can be viewed as a third candidate to provide a quality start the rest of the way this postseason.
Winner: Catastrophe Averted
It took an eighth-inning RBI single from Austin Wells and a mad dash around the bases from Jazz Chisholm Jr. for the Yankees to pull out a victory in Game 2, after they were shut down by Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet in Game 1.
There would not have been a more devastating way for the Yankees' season to end than falling to an injury-plagued rival Red Sox club at Yankee Stadium.
It might have been the final straw for manager Aaron Boone, and could have led to some sweeping roster changes this winter, which would have been impossible to view as anything but a step backward from last year's World Series appearance.
Instead, it's onward to the ALDS and a matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Boston Red Sox Losers
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Loser: Injury What Ifs
Is the Red Sox season over if they had a healthy Roman Anthony batting leadoff and playing right field, and a healthy Lucas Giolito on the mound in Game 3?
Anthony completely transformed the offense after making his MLB debut on June 9, hitting .292/.396/.463 for a 140 OPS+ in 303 plate appearances while emerging as an impact leadoff hitter. The Red Sox went 44-27 in the 71 games he played this year, but he was sidelined on Sept. 2 with a strained oblique that ultimately ended his season.
Giolito went 10-4 with a 3.41 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 121 strikeouts in 145.0 innings, and he had a 2.70 ERA in 63.1 innings over his final 11 starts. However, he was unable to make his final start of the regular season and was eventually ruled out for the entire playoffs with flexor and bone issues in his throwing arm.
Wilyer Abreu (0-for-5, 3 Ks) ended up starting in right field, Jarren Duran (1-for-11, 4 K) and Rob Refsnyder (0-for-5, 2 K) split leadoff duties and rookie Connelly Early (3.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER) was handed the ball for the Game 3 start.
What could have been…
Loser: A Playoff Dud From Star and Trade Candidate Jarren Duran
Duran posted a 114 OPS+ with 41 doubles, 13 triples, 16 home runs, 84 RBI, 86 runs scored and 24 steals during the regular season, filling up the stat sheet once again after putting together a breakout 2024 campaign.
He was also the subject of trade rumors at the deadline due to Boston's abundance of outfield talent and need for starting pitching help, and while he stayed put, it was not out of the question to think those talks could resurface this winter.
After going 1-for-11 with four strikeouts at the plate, along with a costly defensive miscue in Game 2, it was a postseason to forget ahead of what could be another loud offseason of trade rumblings.
Does the poor playoff performance make it more or less likely he is dealt this winter?
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