MLB Division Series Roundup: Brewers’ Wild Win, Yankees Get Blanked

It’s now October and the playoff baseball really begins as the final eight teams all kicked off the division series. Munetaka Murakami hit his first career postseason homer in a 3-0 White Sox win over Cleveland, Tarik Skubal and Kyle Tucker led the Dodgers past the Braves, and Drew Rasmussen nearly no-hit the Yankees in a 1–0 Rays win before the Brewers outlasted the Padres in Milwaukee, 3-2. Here is what stood out from Day 1 of the MLB Division Series: Biggest Moment William Contreras picked the right moment to break out of a slump. With the score tied 2-2 and two outs in the seventh inning of NLDS Game 1, the Brewers catcher took one of the best relievers in baseball the other way, lifting a solo homer to the opposite field off Padres left-hander Adrián Morejón to give Milwaukee a 3-2 lead that wound up being the difference. The Brewers, who hit the fewest homers in the NL, needed two to beat San Diego. Chourio tied the game with a two-run shot off Robbie Ray in the third inning, his fifth career postseason homer, a franchise record. Then came the wildest play of the postseason so far. With one out in the ninth and Dustin Harris on first, Ty France launched a ball to left field that appeared headed for the seats, but it scraped a beam on the retractable roof at American Family Field and dropped in for an out on the warning track, where Chourio caught it. The umpires confirmed the call, and the Padres challenged whether the ball was fair or foul, but the ruling on the field stood. Contreras has Milwaukee one step away from a 2-0 series lead heading into Game 2 tomorrow. Honorable mention goes to Munetaka Murakami, who hit a two-run homer, the first postseason home run of his career, to lead the White Sox over the Guardians, 3-0 in Game 1 of the AL Division Series. Best Hitter Kyle Tucker’s first season with the Dodgers was a disappointment, but he looked like a star again in Game 1 of the NLDS. Tucker went 2 for 3 with a stolen base and a two-run homer, his 10th career postseason home run. After singling in the fourth inning and swiping second, Tucker crushed a two-run shot into the visitors’ bullpen off AJ Smith-Shawver in the sixth to make it 4-1. The last time Tucker homered at Dodger Stadium before Saturday was Sept. 4, a solo shot against the Nationals. In mid-August, manager Dave Roberts benched Tucker after he went 0 for 19 on a seven-game homestand and was booed by the home crowd. He was hitting .189 at home, with two home runs, compared with .275 and nine homers on the road. By early September, Tucker was batting eighth, the lowest he’d hit in a lineup since 2020. Now that the calendar’s flipped to October, Tucker’s making the difference in the postseason. Best Pitcher Drew Rasmussen was within four outs of the first postseason no-hitter since 2022 in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Yankees. The Rays right-hander retired 15 straight Yankees and didn’t allow a hit until Austin Wells doubled with two outs in the eighth inning. Wells was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple, ending the inning, and Bryan Baker closed out the 1-0 win in the ninth. Rasmussen finished with 10 strikeouts and two walks over eight innings, tying a franchise record for a postseason game set by Tyler Glasnow in 2020. Jonathan Aranda’s third-inning solo homer off Gerrit Cole was all the support he needed. His counterpart, Gerrit Cole, was nearly as good, giving up one run on five hits over five innings with five strikeouts, but the Yankees’ offense had only one hit all night. The Rays lead the series 1-0. Rasmussen had competition for best ptiching performance, as Dodgers’ Tarik Skubal, who allowed one run on two hits with seven strikeouts over six innings in the Dodgers’ Game 1 win over the Braves. What’s Next The division series continues with the NLDS Game 2s on Sunday and the ALDS Game 2s on Monday. Here’s how it will play out: