Postseason baseball: the stakes are high, heroes emerge, the unpredictable happens and memories are made. Every year, 12 out of the 32 MLB teams punch their ticket to the playoffs through hard work, perseverance and consistency. The bracket is split up into Wild Card, Divisional, League Championship and World Series games.
In the Wild Card round, the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Cincinnati Reds in their three-game series, with spectacular performances by two-way player Shohei Ohtani, Shortstop Mookie Betts and Second Baseman Kiké Hernandez, while Reds’ star Elly De La Cruz went quiet, only getting one hit and on base twice. The other three series, the Chicago Cubs vs. San Diego Padres, Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland Guardians, and New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox, all went to three games with the Cubs, Tigers and Yankees advancing to the Divisional round.
All four games of the Divisional round started on October 4. The Phillies, who had a bye, went cold against the Dodgers and ended their season in heartbreak as pitcher Orion Kerkering lost the game with a throwing error for the Dodgers to walk it off in extra innings. The Blue Jays defeated the 2024 American League Champions, the New York Yankees, in four games. The Mariners beat the Tigers and the Brewers beat the Cubs; both teams went into a five-game series. Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh hit two more home runs in this series making his season total, including playoffs, 59 home runs, putting him 3rd all-time to Aaron Judge in 2024 (68) and Barry Bonds in 2001 (76).
Both championship series were on opposite ends of the baseball spectrum, but it provided fans with the exciting postseason baseball that they expect. The Dodgers swept the Brewers in the NLCS, as LA’s pitching staff brought the heat in this series.
Blake Snell pitched eight scoreless innings and struck out ten batters in game one; Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched a successful complete game (only being one out of three complete games in the postseason); Tyler Glasnow played five ⅔ innings and struck out eight batters in game three. Game four’s starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani had one of the most impressive postseason games, striking out ten batters in about six innings and hitting three home runs. These remarkable statistics earned him NLCS MVP.
The ALCS was a best-out-of-seven game series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners. With Seattle up 2-0 coming into game three, the Blue Jays flew back in games three and four, with contributing home runs from first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., second baseman Andrés Giménez, outfielder George Springer, catcher Alejandro Kirk and outfielder Addison Barger. The teams pushed for a game seven, with excellent performances on both sides of the game. The Mariners took an early lead, but in the seventh inning, Springer’s home run cleared the left center wall putting the Blue Jays in front and clinching their World Series berth. Guerrero Jr. won the ALCS MVP for his powerful offensive role throughout the series.
The World Series was nothing short of an emotional roller coaster for fans of both teams. Game one finished with the Blue Jays taking an 11-4 win over the Dodgers. Addison Barger, Dalton Varsho and Alijhandro Kirk all hit home runs in the first game along with shutdown pitching from Trey Yesavage and Seranthony Dominguez.
Game two saw the Dodgers get revenge with a 5-1 win with a MVP performance from Yoshinobu Yamamoto as he pitched all nine innings, striking out eight and giving up only four hits.
Game three was a contender for game of the year as the Dodgers won 6-5 in 18 innings. The game lasted nearly five hours, having a combined 21 different pitchers. A home run from Freddie Freeman ended the bout with a walk-off home run to save the game from going any longer. The Blue Jays answered back in game six with a 6-2 win where Guerrero Jr., hit a home run on MVP frontrunner Ohtani. Ohtani struggled as he got pulled after six innings giving up four runs in his start. The Blue Jays would grab the lead back with a 6-1 win in game five. Trey Yesavage shut down the bats of the Dodgers once again with 12 strikeouts in seven innings. Game six saw the Dodgers tie up the series and send it to game seven with a 3-1 win. Yamamoto came in and cooled off the Jays’ bats, holding them to one run on six strikeouts.
Finally, a championship deciding game seven arrived with starting pitching from Ohtani and Max Scherzer. The game was a shut out until the bottom of the third when the Blue Jays got to Ohtani as he gave up three runs. The Dodgers would answer back with a run in the top of the fourth. Both teams would score one run in the sixth making it 4-2.
The Dodgers would force extra innings after scoring one in the eighth and the ninth making it 4-4. In the top of the eleventh, Dodgers catcher Will Smith hit a home run to put them ahead 5-4. Then in the bottom of the 11th, Yoshinobu Yamamoto came in after pitching just the night before and pitched the final out to end the game to give the Dodgers their back-to-back World Series. Yamamoto won the World Series MVP and sent MLB fans into turmoil as they continued to argue about the MLB salary cap disagreement.
This postseason, fans witnessed triumph and heartbreak; the average viewership of the World Series globally was 34 million people, making it the most-watched World Series since 1992. Spring Training starts on February 20, 2026, but keep up on player moves, as players will start to announce their free agency.
