{"id":269878,"date":"2025-10-01T18:55:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/269878\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T18:55:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:55:19","slug":"yankees-red-sox-loads-up-drama-skubal-strikes-again-ohtanis-829-ft-of-homers-mlb-playoffs-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/269878\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees-Red Sox loads up drama, Skubal strikes again, Ohtani\u2019s 829 ft. of homers: MLB playoffs Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 MLB Wild Card series.<\/a><\/p>\n

Happy Wild Card Day \u2014 one of the coolest days in North American sports. I don\u2019t know how you spent your day Tuesday. But I know how I spent mine \u2026 by watching postseason baseball for 11 hours and eight minutes, just so you didn\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n

I was paying rapt attention when Parker Meadows\u2019 fly ball to center kicked off these festivities at 1:08 p.m. in Cleveland. I was still keeping my eyeballs open when Miguel Andujar chopped one last groundball to third in L.A. \u2014 at 12:16 a.m. where I live.<\/p>\n

Maybe you had other stuff on your plate. But not me. I was on the case because hey, somebody had to do it. So what did I see? Let me tell you all about it.<\/p>\n

We had bunts, bloops and a busted camera in Cleveland. We had the first postseason rendition of \u201cGo Cubs Go\u201d in Chicago\u00a0in eight years.<\/p>\n

We had heart-palpitating, bases-loaded showtime in the Bronx. And then, for the nightcap, we had a more familiar Shoh Time at Dodger Stadium.<\/p>\n

Maybe you weren\u2019t lucky enough to catch all that. Sorry! But someone needs to let you know what you missed while you were catching up on \u201cThe Golden Bachelor.\u201d So the postseason Weird and Wild Department is here for you. Ready or not, here come my favorite developments from Wild Card Day in America.<\/p>\n

Another Netflix moment for the rivalry\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Aroldis Chapman and Carlos Narv\u00e1ez celebrate Boston\u2019s dramatic Game 1 win. (Ishika Samant \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

It was epic October theater \u2014 and it wasn\u2019t even October yet.<\/p>\n

It was the ninth inning in the Bronx. And there were two of baseball\u2019s most humongous humans \u2014 Giancarlo Stanton and Aroldis Chapman \u2014 glaring at each other as Yankee Stadium shook.<\/p>\n

The bases were juiced. The sweatballs rolled down Chapman\u2019s forehead. The drama was what makes October the greatest baseball month of them all.<\/p>\n

And have I mentioned it wasn\u2019t even October yet?<\/p>\n

We were reminded again Tuesday night that Yankees versus Red Sox never runs out of scripts. Not even Steven Spielberg has more spectacular plot lines up his sleeve than Yankees-Red Sox on the big postseason screen. But this one? This was an all-timer.<\/p>\n

Bases loaded. No outs. The Yankees trailing, 3-1. A game, a series, a rivalry \u2014 all teetering with every pitch. If this had been any moment in this rivalry from 1920 to 2003, we know exactly how this would have turned out.<\/p>\n

Stanton launches a walk-off slam off the Empire State Building? Chapman walks in all three runs? A 47-hopper clanks off Nathaniel Lowe\u2019s glove and caroms into Spike Lee\u2019s lap? Something like that.<\/p>\n

But the universe is different now. So that isn\u2019t what happened at all.<\/p>\n

Stanton whiff \u2026 soft Jazz Chisholm Jr. fly ball to right \u2026 Trent Grisham K. Oh \u2026 my \u2026 goodness. What just happened?<\/p>\n

Well, Red Sox 3, Yankees 1<\/a>. That just happened. And a Weird and Wild finish for the ages. That also just happened. So we dug into exactly how incredible this was, with the help of our friends from STATS Perform. And that answer was: Just as incredible as you\u2019d think.<\/p>\n

\n

The @RedSox<\/a> take Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series! #Postseason<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/je3bkbSwbD<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 MLB (@MLB) October 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

They didn\u2019t score?\u00a0<\/b>The first question I asked STATS was (what else): How many times in postseason history has a team loaded the bases with nobody out, in the ninth inning of a game it was trailing by three runs or less, and then not scored a run?<\/p>\n

And that answer is \u2026 exactly one other time in history. If it\u2019s any consolation for the Yankees, at least the only other team to do it wound up winning the World Series!<\/p>\n

That team was the 2008 Phillies. They rolled into the ninth inning of Game 3 of the 2008 NLDS, trailing the Brewers, 4-1. But Ryan Howard, Greg Dobbs and Shane Victorino all singled with no outs. So they were just one long ball away from a sweep of that series.<\/p>\n

Instead, Brewers closer du jour Salomon Torres wriggled out of it. But even that escape was different from this one, because the Phillies actually had a run taken\u00a0off\u00a0the board, on an interference call against Victorino in the middle of a 5-4-3 Pedro Feliz double-play ball.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s it \u2014 in all 121 postseasons in the World Series era. It had happened just once in history \u2026 until this game broke out.<\/p>\n

Has this ever happened in a Yankees-Red Sox game?\u00a0<\/b>That was my next question. Think about the hundreds of times these two teams have played each other in the last half-century or so, in October and all those other months. Has there ever been an inning like this?<\/p>\n

Well, kind of.<\/p>\n

STATS found three other games since 1974 when one team loaded the bases with nobody out in the last\u00a0inning, while trailing, and then didn\u2019t score. But none of those were quite like this one, either.<\/p>\n

In two of them \u2014 July 17, 2005, and July 5, 2008 \u2014 the Red Sox actually scored a run\u00a0before loading the bases \u2026 and before Mariano Rivera then escaped all that trouble. So it\u2019s not accurate to say they didn\u2019t score in the ninth. But you have to love that in that 2005 game, the Red Sox hitter who bounced into a bases-loaded, no-out double play was a fellow named \u2026\u00a0Alex Cora!<\/p>\n

And in the other game, on Aug. 17, 2021, the final inning wasn\u2019t the ninth. It was\u00a0the seventh,\u00a0because it was the first game of a doubleheader in the 2021 post-pandemic season \u2014 and all doubleheaders at that time featured seven-inning games. But for the record, Jonathan Lo\u00e1isiga did squirm out of a bases-loaded, no-out mess to end it.<\/p>\n

So were any of those games really just like this game? Let\u2019s go with no!<\/p>\n

How\u2019d those bases get loaded?\u00a0<\/b>We remind you that Chapman had a stretch late this season in which he faced 50 straight hitters without allowing a hit. So naturally, he then gave up a hit\u00a0to three hitters in a row\u00a0(Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger) to start the ninth in this game.<\/p>\n

So how rare was that? Never, at any point all season, did Chapman allow hits to three hitters in the same game, according to Inside Edge. But hey, it\u2019s \u2026 baseball! So of course it happened, in the very first game he pitched in this postseason.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s this: Since arriving in the big leagues, Chapman has pitched in the ninth inning, or an extra inning, 672 times in the regular season. Only twice, in all those outings, has he ever allowed three straight hits to start that inning, according to Baseball Reference.<\/p>\n

Once was May 3, 2013, against the Cubs. That wasn\u2019t even a save situation. The other turned into a blown save \u2014 in an inning that began single-homer-single-homer \u2014 on June 10, 2021, against the Twins. But there are other ways to load the bases with nobody out. So how could I not ask \u2026<\/p>\n

Had he ever done\u00a0this\u00a0before?\u00a0<\/b>Only 11 relievers in history have saved more games than the Cuban Missile. So you\u2019d think that somewhere along the line, Chapman would have wormed his way out of a few bases-loaded, no-out crises before, right?<\/p>\n

Nope! In 907 previous trips to the mound, counting the postseason, he\u2019d done this only once.\u00a0And that was 10 years ago, in a June 21, 2015, game against the Marlins.<\/p>\n

That inning opened: error, single, walk. Want to guess how the next three hitters made out? Strikeout \u2026 strikeout \u2026 strikeout. Classic Chap-mania!<\/p>\n

Did he still have 100 mph in him?\u00a0<\/b>All right, one more thing. Before the bases filled up in the ninth, Chapman had thrown just one pitch in this game at 100 mph or faster. But what happened after\u00a0the bases were loaded? That\u2019s when the show began.<\/p>\n

Chapman would launch 10 more fastballs in this game. Here are the velo readings:<\/p>\n

100.3
100.3
101.1
100.5
101.3
100.7
101.4
100.2
101.3
101.2<\/p>\n

The only surprise there was that he didn\u2019t throw one 112!<\/p>\n

But that was about the only thing missing in an unforgettable show in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

Forever (Cy) Young\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Tarik Skubal accomplished something he hadn\u2019t done in his 137 prior starts. (Nick Cammett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

There were 2,430 regular-season baseball games played this year. You know how many left-handed pitchers struck out 14 hitters (or more) in any of them?<\/p>\n

Zero, as always, is the perfect educated guess when you\u2019re reading a Weird and Wild column.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right. Not a single left-handed pitcher did all year what Tigers ace Tarik Skubal did Tuesday afternoon\u00a0in the very first game of this postseason.\u00a0Because of course he did. He\u2019s Tarik Freaking Skubal.<\/p>\n

So he fired up a certified postseason masterpiece<\/a>: 14 strikeouts, just three hits, 26 swings-and-misses, the only run scoring on a thunker over the mound in the Tigers\u2019 massive 3-1 win<\/a> in Cleveland. In many ways, it wasn\u2019t Weird \u2026 or Wild. It was what Cy Youngs do.<\/p>\n

Except that even this Cy Young Award winner has never done this.<\/p>\n

This was the 138th start of Skubal\u2019s big-league career, counting the postseason. How many times, in all those trips to the mound, had he ever piled up 14 K\u2019s (or more)? You probably know the answer, because once again, it\u2019s zero.<\/p>\n

So think about this. The reigning AL Cy Young just set his career high in strikeouts in a postseason game. Does that seem like just another day at the postseason office to you? It didn\u2019t to me.<\/p>\n

Naturally, it was time to investigate. So I asked STATS to look into this. Here was the question:<\/p>\n

How many starters, who had already won a Cy Young, set their career strikeout high\u00a0in a postseason game at any point in their career (after winning that Cy Young)?<\/p>\n

I was ready for a handful of legendary names to come floating back at me. Bob Gibson maybe? Sandy Koufax possibly? Anyone else thinking we might get a fun little Christy Mathewson mention?<\/p>\n

Nah. None of those names came up. That\u2019s because\u00a0nobody else\u2019s name is on that list.\u00a0Just the man who did it Tuesday in Cleveland.<\/p>\n

According to STATS, Skubal was the first former Cy Young in history to set his career strikeout high (at the time) as a starter in a postseason game. And the only other close call was Cliff Lee, who merely tied his career high in Game 3 of the 2010 ALCS, with a 13-strikeout gem in Yankee Stadium.<\/p>\n

So I think this one was actually Weirder \u2026 and Wilder \u2026 than you would have guessed! And on that note, why not award you two more bonus Skubal tidbits:<\/p>\n

Most strikeouts in Game 1 of any team\u2019s postseason \u2014 <\/b>OK, now here come some of those fun names we were dreaming on. It\u2019s the six pitchers in history to strike out 14 hitters or more in their team\u2019s first game of that postseason:<\/p>\n

15 \u2014 Sandy Koufax, 1963 Dodgers<\/b>
17 \u2014 Bob Gibson, 1968 Cardinals<\/b>
14 \u2014 Mike Scott, 1986 Astros<\/b>
16 \u2014 Kevin Brown, 1998 Padres<\/b>
14 \u2014 Tim Lincecum, 2010 Giants<\/b>
14 \u2014 Tarik Skubal, 2025 Tigers<\/b><\/p>\n

Most strikeouts by a left-hander \u2014 <\/b>And did you know only two other left-handed pitchers had K\u2019d 14 or more in a postseason game before Skubal did it? True!<\/p>\n

15 \u2014 Koufax (Game 1, 1963 World Series)<\/b>
14 \u2014 John Candelaria (Game 3, 1975 NLCS)<\/b><\/p>\n

Tarik Skubal. He\u2019s officially special.<\/p>\n

On with the Shoh\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Shohei Ohtani decided to double-dip in the Dodgers\u2019 Game 1 rout of the Reds. (Ronald Martinez \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s he going to do in\u00a0this\u00a0postseason?<\/p>\n

C\u2019mon, I know you\u2019re wondering, too. His name is Shohei Ohtani. He\u2019s a Marvel superhero who\u2019s come to life on a baseball field near you. So when this postseason began, I knew something Oh-tanic was coming. I just wasn\u2019t sure what.<\/p>\n

A six-homer game? Seven no-hit innings on the mound, with 21 strikeouts? A game with a leadoff homer and then a strike-out-the-side-in-the-ninth save?<\/p>\n

Something like that is over the horizon, don\u2019t you think? But on Tuesday night, in the Dodgers\u2019 10-5 mashing of the Reds<\/a>, Ohtani\u2019s first act was cool enough. It was 829 feet worth of majestic home runs<\/a>, disappearing into the haze, soaring off toward the San Gabriel Mountains.<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s so Weird and Wild about that? How about this:<\/p>\n

Want to take a stab at how many players in history have hit 50 homers (or more) in the regular season and then pounded two more long balls in their\u00a0first\u00a0game of that postseason?<\/p>\n

What do you think? Four? Six? Eight? Wrong! How about one. It\u2019s just that man they call Ohtani, who did it in this game.<\/p>\n

\n

SHOHEI OHTANI DESTROYS HIS SECOND HOME RUN #POSTSEASON<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/J9ALjsTXQg<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 MLB (@MLB) October 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But let\u2019s drop the requirement that this had to happen in the first game of the postseason. According to STATS, only two players have ever hit at least 50 home runs in a season and then erupted for a multi-homer game at any point in that postseason:<\/p>\n

Babe Ruth, Game 4, 1928 World Series \u2014 3 HR<\/b>
Greg Vaughn, Game 1, 1998 World Series \u2014 2 HR<\/b><\/p>\n

But both Vaughn and the Babe forgot to also pitch in that postseason. So once again, history has brought us many sluggers, stars and legends. But it has brought us only one Ohtani.<\/p>\n

Hey, it\u2019s that song again\"\"<\/p>\n

\n The Cubs had Wrigley Field singing in the sunshine. (Michael Reaves \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s America\u2019s catchiest ballpark anthem \u2014 and no, we\u2019re not talking about \u201cSweet Caroline.\u201d It\u2019s \u201cGo, Cubs, Go\u201d \u2014 warbled only in 41,000-part harmony at Wrigley Field after the Cubs have done that thing they don\u2019t do nearly enough. By which I mean win a baseball game this time of year.<\/p>\n

The Cubs played their first postseason game at Wrigley a mere 96 years ago, in 1929. It seems hard to comprehend, but what we\u2019re about to tell you is 100 percent true. What happened at Wrigley on Tuesday has occurred just 16 other times in all those years: namely \u2026\u00a0Cubs win!<\/p>\n

So did those people sing that song Tuesday afternoon? Oh, yes they did.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Go @Cubs<\/a> Go! What a game! #FlyTheW<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/aPzvz1yp9M<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Scarsdale Marketing (@ScarsdaleMktg) September 30, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Cubs\u2019 17-31 record at the \u201cFriendly\u201d Confines is historic. Just not in a good way. It\u2019s the worst record of any team that has played more than 10 postseason home games at\u00a0any\u00a0park. So how friendly is that?<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s keep going. Isn\u2019t it a little hard to believe that this is only the fourth time the Cubs have won a game at Wrigley since they kept their curse-busting dreams alive by winning Game 5 of the 2016 World Series? That seems impossible, but hey, they\u2019re the Cubs!<\/p>\n

And finally, here\u2019s our musical daily double. Did you know Tuesday\u2019s 3-1 triumph over San Diego<\/a> was the first time the Wrigley Chorus has gotten to sing its favorite Wrigley Anthem after a postseason game since Game 4 of the 2017 NLCS \u2026 a mere 2,904 days earlier?<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s so Weird and Wild about that? Thanks for asking. It\u2019s a chance for us to let you know that in between Cubs wins at Wrigley \u2026<\/p>\n

The Dodgers\u00a0<\/b>won 27 postseason games at Dodger Stadium.<\/p>\n

The Astros\u00a0<\/b>won 26 postseason games at Enron\/Minute Maid\/Whatever It\u2019s Called Now Park.<\/p>\n

And 20 different teams\u00a0<\/b>won at least one postseason game in their home park \u2026<\/p>\n

All while the Cubs were waiting and waiting and waiting to hear one more spirited rendition of \u201cGo, Cubs, Go\u201d \u2014 in perfect, only slightly sloshy, 41,000-part harmony. But now that wait \u2026 is \u2026 over!<\/p>\n

Party of Five\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Masataka Yoshida, left, channeled Big Papi in Boston\u2019s comeback win. (Ishika Samant \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Finally, here are five more Weird and Wild morsels from Tuesday\u2019s wild-card marathon.<\/p>\n

Just call him Big Yoshi!\u00a0<\/b>Let\u2019s circle back to that Yankees-Red Sox classic. Don\u2019t forget that there would never have been a bases-loaded Chapman moment if it weren\u2019t for the electrifying Masataka Yoshida moment that preceded it.<\/p>\n

The Yankees were eight outs away from taking Game 1 of this series before Yoshida rocketed the first postseason pitch he\u2019d ever seen up the middle \u2014 for a lead-flipping two-run pinch single. It was suddenly, shockingly, Red Sox 2, Yankees 1. And Yoshida no doubt had no idea the company he had just joined.<\/p>\n

The last go-ahead postseason hit by a Red Sox hitter against the Yankees in the seventh inning or later? Close your eyes. You\u2019ll remember it. It was David Ortiz\u2019s 14th-inning walk-off single in Game 5 of the history-rewriting 2004 ALCS \u2014 in the 349th minute of that game.<\/p>\n

And that was the first hit like that by any member of the Red Sox since \u2026 the night before, when Ortiz lofted a home run that changed everything \u2013 a 12th-inning walk-off in Game 4 of that series that landed at 1:22 a.m.<\/p>\n

But now back to Yoshida. Here\u2019s the entire list of Red Sox hitters who have ever had a go-ahead postseason hit against the Yankees that late in a game:<\/p>\n

Masataka Yoshida
David Ortiz<\/p>\n

And that, my friends, is it!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Zach McKinstry and the Tigers squeezed out a win in Game 1. (Nick Cammett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

A tight squeeze!\u00a0<\/b>Then there was the Weird and Wild way the Tigers manufactured their winning run, in the seventh inning Tuesday \u2014 with a Zach McKinstry squeeze bunt. And what\u2019s so Weird and Wild about that? Oh, man.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start here. Only one team in the whole sport dropped fewer sacrifice bunts this season than the Tigers (five). None of those bunts came with a runner on third. And they last laid one down in the late innings\u00a0in April.\u00a0So who saw this one coming?<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not even the Weird and Wild part. Ready for this?<\/p>\n

According to Baseball Reference, this was the first go-ahead squeeze bunt, in the seventh inning or later of any postseason game, in which the run didn\u2019t score on an error.<\/p>\n

There had only been six previous go-ahead late-inning squeezes \u2014 by the Giants in the 2014 NLCS, the Nationals in the 2014 NLDS, the Yankees in the 1996 ALDS, the Mets in the 1969 World Series, the Red Sox in the 1918 World Series and the Braves in the 1914 World Series. And somehow, not one of them was handled cleanly. They led to five errors by pitchers and one by a third baseman.<\/p>\n

So at least the Guardians got an out on this one. Unfortunately, they also got a loss.<\/p>\n

All Arraez!\u00a0<\/b>In the third inning of the Padres\u2019 loss to the Cubs, a truly bizarre thing happened: The un-whiffable Luis Arraez struck out! But that wasn\u2019t even the Weird and Wild part.<\/p>\n

What made this our kind of postseason moment was this: Arraez swung and missed\u00a0at two pitches in a row\u00a0from Matthew Boyd \u2014 on a changeup for strike two and then on a slider for strike three.<\/p>\n

On ABC, play-by-play genius Kevin Brown was all over this shocking moment. So of course, I looked into it.<\/p>\n

It turned out that only twice all year did Arraez swing-and-miss at strike two and three in any at-bat: July 13, versus Cristopher S\u00e1nchez, and May 25, versus Spencer Schwellenbach. But then it happened again in a postseason game \u2014 against a pitcher who struck out only one other hitter all day? How wacky is \u2026<\/p>\n

Baseball!<\/p>\n

Cleanup in aisle four!\u00a0<\/b>Hitting cleanup for the Guardians today was a rookie outfielder named Johnathan Rodr\u00edguez. And why, you ask, would he get dragged into one of these Weird and Wild columns?<\/p>\n

Oh, only because his batting average in the big leagues this year was \u2026 um \u2026 .197!<\/p>\n

Granted, that was in just 77 major-league plate appearances \u2026 and he did have a .912 OPS in Triple A. Nevertheless, do you remember many .197 hitters batting fourth for a team in its postseason opener? I didn\u2019t. So of course, I needed to find if this was a record.<\/p>\n

The answer? It\u2019s a little tricky, because STATS tells us there were three cleanup hitters with lower averages in Game 1 following the shrunken 60-game 2020 pandemic season: Kyle Schwarber (.188), Max Muncy (.192) and Matt Olson (.195). But I hate to compare anything to what happened in that season. So \u2026<\/p>\n

What about in full seasons? Here are the only two men in history to bat cleanup in Game 1 of their team\u2019s postseason following any\u00a0full\u00a0season:<\/p>\n

Joey Gallo, 2021 \u2014 <\/b>.199
Johnathan Rodr\u00edguez, 2025 \u2014 <\/b>.197<\/p>\n

Sounds like a historic development to me!<\/p>\n

He Hedges his bets!\u00a0<\/b>Finally, how Weird and Wild is baseball? We present to you this fascinating postseason duel from Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Austin Hedges was the No. 9 hitter for the Guardians. He batted .161 this year, the second-lowest average of any American League hitter who got to the plate at least 150 times. His lifetime average is .185. That\u2019s the lowest of any active position player.<\/p>\n

He dug into the box in the second inning to face Tarik Skubal \u2014 a man who threw a higher percentage of pitches in the strike zone this season (48.5 percent) than any full-time starter in baseball.<\/p>\n

So what happened? Hedges drew a four-pitch walk,\u00a0from baseball\u2019s No. 1 strike-thrower! What? How even? According to one of my favorite researchers, Jessica Brand, Hedges drew exactly one four-pitch walk all season \u2014 and it was on April 9!<\/p>\n

Have I ever mentioned that some things in baseball you just can\u2019t explain? But you should always remember the fundamental truth that clears up everything. It doesn\u2019t have to make sense. It\u2019s \u2026<\/p>\n

Baseball!<\/p>\n

(Top photo of Aroldis Chapman: Ishika Samant \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n