Scoreboard Watching: NLWC Chaos (Oct 2, 2025)

Thankfully, the Dodgers can launder their beer-soaked shirts today, before flying on a plane to Philadelphia for the NLDS. But the six other teams in Wild Card games are still alive, so we can keep tabs on these while we wait for the dryer cycle to finish:

• Tigers at Guardians, 12n. Harvard-Westlake's own Jack Flaherty (8-15, 4.64), who helped the Dodgers hoist their 2024 World Series Championship trophy, now tries to stop Detroit's late-season collapse. He faces off against the resurgent Guardians' Slade Cecconi (7-7, 4.30), who has the same first name as Deathstroke.
• Padres at Cubs, 2p. 2017 Dodger Yu Darvish (5-5, 5.38) tries to lead the upstart Padres, the four seed, against the #5 seed Cubs' Jameson Taillon (11-7, 3.68). The Padres' bullpen has been formidable in Games 1 and 2, but both Mason Miller and Adreian Morejon have thrown a lot of pitches in both games (Robert Suarez was only used in Game 2). The Cubs had three runs Tuesday and were shut out yesterday (the only team to be shutout so far this postseason); do they have enough offense to fromage the Friars?
• Red Sox @ Yankees, 5p. Better get up (Connelly) Early (1-2, 2.33), who had only four career starts and 19.1 IP this season (his MLB debut), yet takes the mound against the Yankees' Cam Schlittler (4-3, 2.96). Not exactly the big-name matchup we'd expect in a winner-take-all game between storied rivals, but here we go anyway. There's been a lot of talk about Alex Cora's overuse of the bullpen yesterday, but Yankees manager Aaron Boone will be right with Cora in the dissection about his in-game decisions, if the Yank-Mes lose tonight.