[Tuesday’s wild-card schedule | Wild-card live blog]

The MLB regular season is a grueling affair. Teams experience plenty of bumps and bruises and highs and lows along their 162-game schedule. But it’s all worth it to hoist a World Series trophy.

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The 2025 MLB playoffs began Tuesday, with eight teams taking the field to get things started. And

Cubs 3, Padres 1

Through four innings, San Diego’s bats were active while Padres starter Nick Pivetta kept Cubs bats at bay.

That all changed in the fifth. Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly tagged Pivetta for back-to-back solo home runs to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead. And Chicago’s bullpen did the work from there in a 3-1 win.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell pulled starter Matthew Boyd in the fifth inning after just 58 pitches and entrusted the rest of the game with his bullpen. Chicago relievers delivered as Daniel Palencia, Drew Pomeranz, Andrew Kittredge and Brad Keller combined to throw 4 2/3 no-hit innings to secure the Chicago win and a 1-0 series lead.

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This post will be updated.

Tigers 2, Guardians 1

As the first game of the day proved, when Tarik Skubal is on the mound, the Detroit Tigers don’t need much else. Skubal dazzled Tuesday, striking out 14 in a dominant performance in a Game 1 win over the Cleveland Guardians.

But the win wasn’t comfortable until the final out. For most of the contest, Skubal and Gavin Williams were locked in a pitchers’ duel. At the end of the sixth inning, the score sat at 1-1, and Skubal and Williams had each notched at least eight strikeouts.

Williams ran out of steam in the seventh, allowing two baserunners before he was pulled. The Tigers scratched across another run, and that proved to be the difference. Skubal struck out the side in the seventh and managed two outs in the bottom of the eighth before he left the contest.

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Although the Guardians threatened in the bottom of the ninth, Tigers closer Will Vest got the job done, preventing Jose Ramirez from scoring from third base with no outs and securing a 2-1 Tigers win in Game 1.

-Chris Cwik

MLB playoff bracket, wild-card schedule and results for Game 1

No. 6 Detroit Tigers 2, No. 3 Cleveland Guardians 1
No. 5 San Diego Padres vs. No. 4 Chicago Cubs, live on ABC
No. 5 Boston Red Sox vs. No. 4 New York Yankees, 6:08 p.m. ET on ESPN
No. 6 Cincinnati Reds vs. No. 3 Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:08 p.m. ET on ESPN

MLB wild card Game 1 live blog

Follow along with Yahoo Sports for live updates, highlights and more as the wild-card round begins: