Here’s how it all went down on a day that saw three teams exit and one matchup move on to a Thursday showdown.
Three MLB wild-card series came to an end on Wednesday — and one is headed to a win-or-go-home Game 3.
The Detroit Tigers continued their shocking surge with a wild-card sweep, eliminating the AL West champion Houston Astros with a comeback win. The Kansas City Royals followed suit in the second AL matchup of the day, sweeping the Baltimore Orioles with a 2-1 win in Baltimore. After trailing the New York Mets for the majority of the game, the Milwaukee Brewers had a three-run, two-homer eighth inning to beat New York and force a Game 3 on Thursday. The San Diego Padres ended the night by moving on to the division series with a sweep of the Atlanta Braves.
How did it all go down? We’ve got you covered with live updates and analysis as the games were played, followed by our takeaways after each final pitch.
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Tigers win series 2-0
Perhaps it was fitting that Andy Ibañez, a 31-year-old part-time player who batted .175 over the last two months, delivered the biggest hit of the Tigers’ season. Ibañez was summoned to pinch hit against the Astros’ star closer Josh Hader with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth and laced a three-run double down the left-field line. The hit propelled Detroit to victory in a game that saw it deploy seven different pitchers. The Tigers are young and unheralded, but they continue to find a way. Their latest conquest: snapping the Astros’ streak of seven consecutive trips to the American League Championship Series and advancing to the division series, which begins Saturday. Their unfathomable run continues.
What’s next: The Tigers’ next opponent is a familiar one: their AL Central rivals, the Cleveland Guardians, a team that seems just as scrappy and united as the Tigers are. The Guardians barely won their season series, taking seven of 13. The Astros, meanwhile, enter an offseason of uncertainty, mostly surrounding their star third baseman, Alex Bregman, who is scheduled for free agency.
