The first day of the 2026 MLB Postseason is in the books. It was an eventful day, one that saw late-inning comebacks, masterful pitching performances, and a first in playoff history: two teams using openers to start a game.
Riley leads comeback for Braves
The Braves took Game 1 of their NL Wild Card Round series versus the Phillies 5-3.
Both Chris Sale & Jesús Luzardo pitched well, with the two combining to strike out 15 batters. Sale had nine but he was tagged for three earned runs. Two of those came via a J.T. Realmuto triple that made it 3-2 Philadelphia in the seventh.
The Phillies then tasked Jhoan Duran to pitch multiple innings. Duran was fine in the seventh. But in the eighth, he allowed two on before Austin Riley belted a three-run shot to make it 5-3.
Raisel Iglesias shut things down in the ninth for the save.
White Sox defeat Astros in Game 1
The White Sox defeated the Astros 6-3.
Chicago put three on the Astros between the first & second innings. Then, in the fourth, Colson Montgomery hit a solo home run to give the White Sox a 4-0 lead. Randal Grichuk, Chase Meidroth, and Braden Montgomery had two hits in the game.
Hagen Smith started and tossed three scoreless innings. Jordan Hicks wound up getting the win in a game in which the Sox used five pitchers. The Astros, also using an opener, used eight pitchers.
Schlittler rolls against Boston
The Yankees won 9-0 to take Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Round against the Red Sox.
Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice, the two Massachusetts boys, were the ones who did the big damage. Schlittler struck out 10 over 6.1 IP, a masterful performance in which he tossed 117 pitchers. Ben Rice hit two home runs, one of which was a grand slam that put the game firmly out of reach in the eighth.
Boston had just three hits in the loss.
Padres blow out Cubs
The Padres won 8-0 over the Cubs in San Diego take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three.
San Diego’s offense got to Matthew Boyd fast. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado went back-to-back to start, before Xander Bogaerts hit one off the lefty in the fourth. The combo of Tatis Jr., Machado, Bogaerts, Ty France, and Jackson Merrill picked up 10 hits. As for the pitching, Michael King carried a no-hitter into the seventh.
Nico Hoerner picked up two hits for the Cubs.
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