4 lessons we've already learned in the MLB Wild Card series — and what's left to come

The first day of the MLB Wild Card Round certainly lived up to the hype, with three of the four games being decided by two runs or fewer. Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, Yankees captain Aaron Judge, and Tigers ace Tarik Skubal all lived up to their All-Star reputations, though only two of the three went home victorious.

What makes the Wild Card Round so simultaneously exciting and frustrating is how little the margin of error is. Each series is a best-of-three set, and all four matchups can theoretically end on Wednesday. Fans woke up Wednesday morning wondering whether Judge and the Yankees would rally from a crushing home loss to the rival Red Sox and pondering if Ohtani, who mashed two homers against the Reds on Tuesday night, is set for a historic postseason.

Ahead of another 36 innings (at least) of baseball, let’s take a look back at what we learned — and were reminded of — on Tuesday.

1. We need to stop doubting the Los Angeles Dodgers

The sportsbooks didn’t doubt the Dodgers, with the FanDuel Sportsbook listing the Reds as +220 underdogs against the reigning World Series champions. The Dodgers did their part on Tuesday night, mashing five homers in a 10-5 victory over the Reds. Ohtani and right fielder Teoscar Hernández went deep twice, and Dodgers lefty Blake Snell struck out nine over seven innings.

“As a player,” Hernández told reporters, “you know what to expect, the emotions, the adrenaline and all those things, so you can control [yourself] better and have a better [understanding] of what you need to do just to perform and do good.”

It became easy for baseball fans to question if the Dodgers were truly title contenders after they barely beat out the Padres for the NL West crown. There are certain teams, though, that find their groove when the postseason hits. The Kansas City Chiefs have done it in recent years, and the San Francisco Giants made a habit of doing so during their mini-dynasty in the early 2010s. Don’t be surprised if we add the Dodgers to that club, too.

2. Garrett Crochet is the real deal, and the Yankees learned it firsthand

Regular-season awards such as MVP and the Cy Young are exactly that: regular-season awards. Crochet’s stellar Game 1 outing, one where he struck out 11 and limited the damage to an Anthony Volpe second-inning home run, won’t impact whether voters check him or Skubal off on their Cy Young ballot. However, let Tuesday night serve as a reminder that Boston has a legitimate, fearsome ace in the 26-year-old Crochet.

“Just wanted to do everything I could to give my team a fighting chance to get back into it. Nothing really changed mindset-wise,” Crochet said after throwing 117 pitches. “Maybe a little more aggressive in the zone. But I think that was just me finding my rhythm as the game went on.”

Tuesday night was nothing new for Crochet, who led the majors with 255 strikeouts in an AL-best 205 1/3 innings. Only the Phillies’ Cristopher Sánchez (8.0), Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes (7.6), and Skubal (6.6) posted a higher pitching bWAR than Crochet’s 6.3. If somehow you didn’t know Crochet’s name or his game entering the Wild Card Round, then we trust that you do now.

3. Aaron Boone’s stubbornness should (but won’t) cost him his job

Unless they’re injured, it’s not often that a player who joined the 30-30 club and posted an .813 OPS in the regular season sits in the postseason. Tell that to Aaron Boone, who sat Yankees star second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. and instead started Amed Rosario, who had six hits in nine career at-bats against Crochet. Unsurprisingly, given the Yankees’ luck, Rosario went hitless in three at-bats before Chisholm replaced him in the eighth.

On its own, the decision to bench Chisholm against a lefty doesn’t reflect well on Boone. However, it’s the latest in a long line of questionable lineup moves that Boone has made in his eight seasons as the Yankees’ manager, and it’s unfathomable to think he did so in a best-of-three series against Crochet, who very well could win the Cy Young. You don’t sit your best players in the postseason. It’s as simple as that.

Some media members, including SNY’s Andy Martino, criticized Chisholm for turning his back on reporters after the game. It was a fitting gesture, though, seeing as Boone figuratively turned his back on Chisholm when the stakes mattered most. If the Yankees fail to win the next two games, Boone should be grateful the Yankees are themselves stubborn and almost certainly won’t make a managerial change.

4. The best-of-three Wild Card Series format is a winner

A significant complaint leading up to the postseason, especially amid the heated three-team race for the NL Wild Card’s third and final Wild Card spot, is the death of one-game playoffs. Major League Baseball opted against keeping a Game 163 when it expanded the playoffs in 2022, instead deciding to permanently rely on tiebreakers.

Regardless, we personally love the intensity that comes with a best-of-three set. Teams can’t afford to make mistakes and brush them off with, “We’ll get them tomorrow,” the way they can in the Championship Series or World Series, both of which still can go as long as seven games. Even a Game 1 loss in the best-of-five Division Series isn’t always the end of the world. 

We can’t say the same for the Wild Card Series, which makes things far more exciting. Ditching the one-game Wild Card Game for a three-game set, especially when teams primarily play three-game series during the regular season, proved to be the smart move, and it ups the ante in a way that should keep fans watching. For all of the controversial moves that Rob Manfred has made in his decade-plus as commissioner, history should look favorably on the revised playoff format.

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