MLB Playoff Takeaways: Wild Card Round

Photo by Ray Stubblebine from UPI

The Wild Card round is finished, and the divisional round begins Thursday.

We saw teams come back to form, find another gear, and still some lingering issues that are worth keeping an eye on.

Here’s what we learned from the Wild Card series.

Tigers defeat Guardians 2-1

The Tigers were always the better team than the Guardians.

Sure, they were slumping like crazy, and the Guardians were red hot, but the talent gap was always significant towards the Tigers.

Even still, the Guardians pitching staff did an excellent job in games 1 through 3, but the bullpen fell apart late, and that was all she wrote.

Small ball and a little bit of magic got them into the postseason, but it couldn’t get them far.

And man, Tarik Skubal is just a freak.

He is going to be a problem this postseason.

Yankees defeat Red Sox 2-1

I can’t lie.

I thought the Yankees lost this series after Game 1.

Aaron Boone pulling Max Fried at 102 pitches despite a masterclass seemed like a mistake at the time, and it was proven right as the Yankees immediately gave up two runs once Fried was out.

I know 102 pitches is a lot, but this is the postseason. This is where you empty the tank.

That moment alone felt like the writing on the wall.

But they powered back with a huge game 2 win, and then an absolute masterclass from starting pitcher and rookie Cam Schittler who went 8 shutout innings.

If that was a sign of what’s to come, the Yankees might not miss Gerrit Cole so much.

Cubs defeat Padres 2-1

The Cubs got pitching!

The Cubs were league average in wOBA (wOBA is an advanced stat that measures contact rates plus strikeouts and walks. The lower the wOBA, the better), but in the series against the Padres they gave up 5 total runs in three games.

When you have the bats the Cubs have, that run support will definitely get the job done, even against a great pitching team like the Padres.

As for the Padres, I appreciate their effort to go all in every single year, but if you’re going to do that, you need to wear the fact that it continuously fails over, and over again.

It hasn’t paid off.

Dodgers defeat Reds 2-0

The Dodgers were always going to win this series. They’re just so much better than the Reds are.

But even though games 1 and 2 were both pretty out of hand by the time the Dodgers bullpen came in, they struggled in both games in a big, big way.

That doesn’t matter against the Reds.

It’s going to matter like crazy against the Phillies, and I saw absolutely no signs of it getting better.