[Tigers-Guardians | Padres-Cubs | Red Sox-Yankees | Reds-Dodgers | Live blog]
After an exciting first day of action, the MLB playoffs were back in full force Wednesday. Eight teams once again took the field, fighting to advance or remain in contention for a World Series title.
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And they delivered a fantastic day of baseball.
Not every series is going to a Game 3. In nearly an exact repeat of Game 1, the Dodgers beat the Reds and advanced to the NLDS, in which they will face the Phillies.
Once again, the Dodgers’ offense knocked around the Reds’ pitching staff. Once again, the Dodgers’ starter pitched into the seventh inning and looked excellent. And once again, the much-maligned Dodgers’ bullpen nearly made it a game again with an unwatchable eighth inning.
In this case, Mookie Betts drove the offense, tying a Dodgers postseason record with three doubles. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was masterful outside of a first inning that saw two unearned runs score off a Teoscar Hernandez error. And then Emmet Sheehan and Alex Vesia combined to allow five baserunners before finally exiting the eighth.
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On the bright side, converted starter Roki Sasaki looked nasty in the ninth inning in his MLB postseason debut after returning from a months-long stint on the IL.
All told, the Dodgers performed like a caricature of themselves. It worked against a team with limited offense in the Reds. We’ll see how it plays against the Phillies.
A back-and-forth game between MLB’s most historic rivals ended with a 4-3 Yankees victory to force a third Game 3 on Thursday.
A matchup between Carlos Rodon and Brayan Bello was ultimately decided by the bullpens, with a two-out single from Austin Wells and a dash to home plate by Jazz Chisholm Jr. scoring the winning run in the eighth off former Yankee Garrett Whitlock. Bello lasted only 2 1/3 innings, getting a quick hook the day after Garrett Crochet’s eight-inning gem in Game 1.
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Ben Rice began the scoring by sending the first postseason pitch of his career into the right-field stands. He’s the sixth player since 2000 to homer on the first pitch he’s seen in the playoffs. Aaron Judge plated another Yankees run with an RBI single in the fifth inning.
Meanwhile, Trevor Story knocked in all three runs for the Red Sox, whom he led in RBI during the regular season, with a bases-loaded single and a solo homer.
The Padres blanked the Cubs in Game 2 to force a deciding Game 3 on Thursday. San Diego came out with its back against the wall, down 1-0 to Chicago in this three-game wild-card series, and answered the call. Dylan Cease got things off to a solid start for the Padres, going 3 2/3 innings while giving up 3 hits and 0 runs and striking out 5 batters.
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The Padres’ offense also did its part, scoring in the first inning on a Jackson Merrill sacrifice fly that brought in Fernando Tatis Jr. and tacking on with a fifth-inning blast from Manny Machado that made it 3-0. The Cubs’ bats had no pop Wednesday, as they managed just four hits in the contest.
Chicago went through six pitchers in the game, with Shota Imanaga relieving opener Andrew Kittredge and lasting 4 innings while giving up 2 earned runs on 3 hits, with 3 strikeouts on 67 pitches.
Mason Miller was brilliant in 1 2/3 relief innings for San Diego, notching five straight strikeouts and the fastest postseason pitch in pitch-tracking history. Robert Suarez finished the game with a four-out save, giving up just one hit on 18 pitches.
In the MLB postseason, an unknown player can become a legend with one swing. Despite being the No. 9 hitter, it was Brayan Rocchio who rose to the occasion Wednesday and lifted the Guardians in Game 2. In what — to that point — had been a game bereft of offense, Rocchio smacked a 99.9-mph fastball from Troy Melton into the right-field bleachers for a go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the eighth.
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That hit sparked a Guardians rally. Steven Kwan added a double, and Daniel Schneemann followed with a double of his own to give the Guardians a late 3-1 lead. A few batters later, Bo Naylor smacked a three-run homer to put the game out of reach. Guardians closer Cade Smith kept the Tigers off the board in the ninth to secure the 6-1 victory.
Until that offensive explosion, it was a tight, low-scoring affair in Game 2. That should make for an excellent winner-take-all Game 3 on Thursday.
Follow along with Yahoo Sports as we cover all the action on Day 2 of the 2025 MLB playoffs.
MLB wild card Game 2 live blog
Follow along with Yahoo Sports for live updates, highlights and more from the wild-card round: