Can you feel it in the air?
The marathon is complete. Each team has played 162 games. Now, it’s time to prove those wins meant something.
After a unique and unpredictable season, the 2026 Major League Baseball Postseason has arrived. Tonight, eight Wild Card teams begin a sprint to win two games, all to survive and advance.
Division contentions, historic rivalries, the end of a dynasty, and the beginning of the next will be determined in a best-of-three.
It’s time to dance.
Is This the Phillies’ Final Shot at a Title?
It took the Philadelphia Phillies 162 games to clinch the postseason. It’s the fifth consecutive year the club’s done so, with no World Series rings to show for it.
Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber are 33. JT Realmuto is 35. Zack Wheeler’s 36.
The Phillies limped into the playoffs and ended with their fewest wins in the last four years. The championship window is closing, and 2026 could be Philadelphia’s last shot.
What awaits Philadelphia is an organization returning to prominence. The Atlanta Braves made everyone quickly forget about 2025’s injury-riddled campaign and returned to the playoffs for the eighth time in nine years. The Braves beat out the Phillies and won the National League East by six games.
This series is a tale of two seasons. Atlanta shot out of the gate hot and were the best team for the first two months. Philadelphia, on the other hand, fired their manager in April. Philly was playing catch-up all season, but Atlanta just sustained wins.
The Braves out-power the Phillies all around the diamond. Atlanta’s pitching, spearheaded by 37-year-old Cy Young candidate Chris Sale, has been deadly consistent. That said, Philadelphia has a candidate to match, in Cristopher Sanchez, who threw 50 ⅔ scoreless innings through May.
The largest gap between the clubs is the bullpen and lineup. Atlanta produced a 3.44 reliever ERA in 2026, good for fourth in MLB. The Phillies had a 4.43, good for 21st.
The Braves offense probably won’t win them a World Series, but the Phillies definitely won’t. Outside of Schwarber and Harper, Philly didn’t have a batter end with an OPS above .740.
This simply isn’t a good match-up for the Phillies. The Braves should advance and tee up to face the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend.
The End of an Astros Era, and the Start of the Next
The 2026 Houston Astros became the worst playoff team in MLB history, outside of shortened seasons, going an even 81-81. Houston crawled out of the poor American League West by one game, also becoming the worst division winner in league history.
The visitors are the darlings of the season: the Chicago White Sox. Although Houston set bad MLB history this year, the White Sox set worse in 2024, becoming the worst team ever with 121 losses. Just two seasons later, they’re in the playoffs.
The White Sox nearly won the AL Central, but had a poor September and lost it to the Cleveland Guardians by one game. The Astros are slowly exiting their dynastic period of the last decade, winning the AL West for the eighth time in the last 10 years.
Both organizations are on a different trajectory, and this best-of-three could catapult those paths.
Separated by three wins in the regular season, the White Sox and Astros are actually very similar teams. Both squads produced incredible offensive seasons, but have multiple weak spots around pitching.
Expect a high-scoring, energetic three-game series in Houston’s Daikin Park. The outcome of this series will likely be decided by who out-slugs the other.
The Chicago White Sox had three batters hit over 30 home runs: Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas, and Colson Montgomery. However, one thing the White Sox don’t have is an MVP.
Houston’s Yordan Alvarez had an immaculate season that nearly gave him the first Triple Crown in 14 years. He ended with 42 home runs and slashed a .316 average, .432 OBP and .601 SLG, all of which led the majors.
The White Sox have been so much fun, but the Astros have years of postseason experience. Alvarez has shown he can live up to the moment, and in such a short series, that experience could prove vital.
100 Years of Hatred — Yankees-Red Sox Returns
Get your popcorn ready.
Yankees-Red Sox, in the playoffs. What else needs to be said?
For the second year in a row, Boston and New York meet for a best-of-three in Yankee Stadium. Last season, the Yankees came back after losing Game 1 in a slow-burning three-game series highlighted by star pitching.
New York’s Cy Young, Cam Schlittler, will toe the rubber tomorrow night. Schlittler, who grew up a Red Sox fan, made four starts against Boston this season with a 0.74 ERA and 27 strikeouts. He started last year’s win-or-go-home Game 3 in the Bronx. He threw eight scoreless innings.
What makes New York terrifying is the pitching support around Schlittler. The Yankees had three starters end with a sub-three ERA, building an MLB-leading 3.24 team ERA.
This doesn’t match up well for the Red Sox. Their strong suit is also pitching, and Boston’s lineup outside of Wilson Contreras didn’t deliver anything special. Contreras suffered a right-hand injury on Sept. 17 that sidelined him until Sunday, but he is now active and ready to go.
On the topic of injuries, the Yankees will miss their much better, Hall of Fame version of Contreras. Aaron Judge missed all of June, July, and August this year with a rib fracture. Once he returned on Sept. 8, a week later, he suffered a right calf strain and hasn’t seen the field since. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he didn’t expect Judge for the Wild Card series, but Judge, days later, disagreed and told ESPN he plans to play. Unfortunately for the Yankees, he will not play tonight.
With all of this said, the Yankees should win this series. Boston’s had so many great moments all year, but there’s a shot the Red Sox don’t score in each game until the eighth inning.
Two of MLB’s Best Rematch in San Diego
There’s a good chance the best Wild Card series isn’t one we’ve covered yet. The San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs are locked and loaded for what baseball fans wished was a seven-game series.
This is by far the most evenly matched contest of the week. Both squads have high-intensity offenses that live for the dramatic, fly around the basepaths and play incredible defense.
This best-of-three is also a rematch from last year, but with a different setting. Last September, the Cubs defeated the Padres in three games at Wrigley Field. Now, the Padres get to flex one of the best environments in the sport at Petco Park.
Both teams have had their ups and downs this year, but both have been two of the best teams in the second half. San Diego ignited after the All-Star break and won two of every three games through August and September.
A lot of the recharge has been led by Fernando Tatis Jr., who didn’t hit a home run for the first 57 games of the season. He finished with 25.
A Cub on the other side has had one of the best seasons by a center fielder ever. Pete Crow-Armstrong, the soon-to-be NL MVP, became the first center fielder to have a 40-40 season in baseball history. Crow-Armstrong tied Schwarber in home runs at 45, but led the majors in WAR and total bases.
This series will come down to winning in the margins. There’s no doubt that each game will be close.
The Padres win more one-run games, but the Cubs have more home runs and a higher OPS in high-leverage at-bats. Chicago also executes better in late innings.
That said, there’s something about momentum. San Diego’s the hottest team in baseball and should ride to the NLDS.
It’s Called Wild Card for a Reason
No matter what happens, the next three days of playoff baseball will be a treat.
There are endless storylines and player legacies on the line. Eight teams have played 162 games, and it all comes down to these three.
Every advanced statistic and team analysis can tell you who will win, but at the end, baseball finds a way. Its beauty lies in how unpredictable it can be, and the postseason is always a prime example of that.
With a dreadful and political offseason ahead, soak up the postseason and enjoy every pitch.
All four series begin tonight, with the first pitch of Phillies-Braves at 2 p.m. ET.
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