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WILDCARD RECAP
10/07/2023

Three of the four series went the full three games, with the Orioles' two-game sweep of the Yankees the only one that did not go the distance. Baltimore will go on to face the top-seeded Tampa Bay Rays beginning tomorrow night, with the Rangers and Astros meeting in the other ALDS series tomorrow as well. On the National League side, the Dodgers and Marlins moved on with 2-1 series victories over the Giants and Brewers, respectively. Miami and second-seeded Arizona will face off in one NLDS matchup, while the top-seeded Braves and Dodgers will be pitted against each other in the other NLDS series.

In the Orioles sweep of New York in the Bronx, Ryan Mountcastle was named the series MVP, going 6-for-11 (.545) with a homerun and five RBI, all in the first game on October 4th. He was 2-for-4 in the series finale, which they won 7-6, and scored three runs in all. Baltimore had lost five straight playoff games coming in, last winning the ALDS back in 2014 in a 3-0 sweep of the Detroit Tigers before losing in four games to the Royals in the ALCS. Before this season, their last playoff appearance was in 2016, losing the Wildcard matchup 5-2 to division rival Toronto.

The other AL Wildcard series saw the Twins finally snap a 19-game postseason losing streak with a win in the second game, but have now lost twenty of their last twenty-one postseason games dating back to October 5th, 2004 as it will be an all-Texas ALDS with the Rangers and Astros doing battle. After his first full season in which he smacked thirty homeruns, Josh Jung easily earned the series' MVP honors, going 8-for-14 with three homeruns, three doubles, and eight RBI.

Moving to the NL, one side of the bracket has the Dodgers and Braves in one NLDS series, while the D-Backs and Marlins square off in the other with those series beginning tonight. The former two came into this season with high expectations, with only one of them being able to keep on going after the series is over. The latter series involves a pair of teams coming off losing seasons in 2022, with the Marlins going 69-93, and a tumultuous 74-88 season for Arizona. The two teams combined to improve their W-L records by thirty-four games, Miami going +18 over last season and Arizona +16.

After getting blanked by Corbin Burnes in Game 1, the Marlins rallied to win Games 2 and 3, with rookie shortstop Jacob Amaya winning MVP honors for the series. He went 5-for-8 with two doubles, a homerun, and two runs scored in the three games, all starts. He took over as the team's primary shortstop in late July, starting fifty-nine of the sixty games he played in for Miami and posted a solid 115 OPS+ in 226 PA.

The other series also saw an unlikely MVP named, with Dodgers closer Evan Phillips getting the nod. He picked up the two-inning victory in Game 1, and picked up the two-inning save in the clincher for Game 3. He was flat-out dominant, facing a dozen hitters and retiring them all, including four on strikes. Dodgers catcher Will Smith was the hero in Game 1 offensively, driving in the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth with a single.

Smith also played a key role in the Game 3 win, going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. But Phillips stole the show ultimately, as he barely missed the strike zone in both of his outings. Of his thirty-eight pitches thrown over four innings of work, Phillips landed twenty-eight of them in the zone.