What to watch during MLB's best-of-three Wild Card Series this week

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PHOENIX (AP) — Major League Baseball's postseason has delivered some spicy matchups for this week's Wild Card Series, particularly in the American League.

The four series begin Tuesday, highlighted by a matchup between the archrival Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. All games of the best-of-three series will be at Yankee Stadium since they have the higher seed.

Elsewhere in the American League, the Detroit Tigers travel to face their AL Central rival Cleveland Guardians. The Tigers have a chance to get revenge after blowing a huge September lead in the division, which allowed the Guardians to clinch.

In the National League, the high-dollar Los Angeles Dodgers host the Cincinnati Reds, who edged the New York Mets on the final day of the regular season for the last NL wild card. Also, the San Diego Padres host the Chicago Cubs.

The AL's Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners, along with the NL's Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies, round out the 12-team field. All four teams earned a bye to the Division Series because they had the best records in their respective leagues.

1. A Yankees-Red Sox series is always an event, particularly when it comes in the postseason. The Yankees are led by Aaron Judge, who had another monster season with an AL-leading .331 batting average, 53 homers and 114 RBIs. The Red Sox bounced back from a rough first half and have a balanced lineup led by Trevor Story, Alex Bregman and Jarren Duran. Ace Garrett Crochet led the AL with 255 strikeouts.

2. The Tigers might have blown a big lead in the AL Central, but that's largely because the Guardians have been the hottest team in baseball with a 20-5 record since Sept. 3. Detroit is still a formidable team with ace lefty Tarik Skubal leading the way. He paced the AL with a 2.21 ERA. Cleveland's lineup is led by the All-Star duo of Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan.

3. The defending World Series champion Dodgers looked like they might be one of the best teams in league history back in April. Now that fall is here, it turns out they were just very good with a 93-69 record. That was enough to win their 12th NL West title in 13 seasons. Shohei Ohtani will get his first postseason opportunity on the mound after an elbow injury limited him to DH duty last October.

4. The Cubs are back in the postseason for the first time since 2020 and are led by a deep lineup that includes Pete Crow-Armstrong, Nico Hoerner, Kyle Tucker, Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson. The Padres are led by All-Stars Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, along with ace Nick Pivetta, who had one of the best under-the-radar seasons with a 13-5 record, 2.87 ERA and 190 strikeouts.

There are 12 teams that qualify for MLB’s postseason, including six teams from both the AL and NL. The three division winners in each league get seeds No. 1 through No. 3, ranked by win-loss record. Then the three wild-card teams get seeds No. 4 through No. 6, also ranked by win-loss record.

The top two teams with the best record in both the AL and NL automatically advance to the Division Series. The other eight teams play in the Wild Card Series, which is a best-of-three format beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 30. In both the AL and NL, the No. 6 seed will travel to face the No. 3 seed while the No. 5 seed goes to No. 4. The higher seed hosts all three games.

The winners then advance to the best-of-five Division Series, followed by the best-of-seven League Championship Series and a best-of-seven World Series between the winners of the AL and NL.

Wild Card Round: Sept. 30-Oct. 2 (ESPN)

Division Series: Oct. 4-11 (NL on TBS, AL on FOX/FS1)

Championship Series: Oct. 12-21 (NL on TBS, AL on FOX/FS1)

World Series: Oct. 24-Nov. 1 (FOX)

The Phillies (+425) are the favorite to win the World Series, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. After that, it’s the Mariners (+500), Dodgers (+550), Yankees (+700), Brewers (+800) and Blue Jays (+950).

The Blue Jays opened the season at +6000 odds.

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