Takeaways from all 4 of Friday's division series games

Every playoff team was in action on a four-game Friday. It was a glorious onslaught of postseason ball as intensity ratchets to an unbelievable fever pitch - pun definitely intended - with every out.

Here are some storylines you may have missed if you found yourself unable to watch 11 hours of uninterrupted baseball.

ALDS: Rays vs. Astros

Altuve continues to amaze

Now that Alex Bregman is a legitimate MVP threat over Mike Trout, Jose Altuve has kind of faded into more of an unsung hero role for the Astros. So what did the 2017 AL MVP do during Game 1? The same thing he's done in the two previous ALDS Game 1s: He homered. His two-run shot in the fifth inning represented the first runs of the game and was the beginning of the end for the Rays. Altuve is now 8-for-18 with five homers in ALDS openers.

Tampa had a good run

No five-game series ends after Game 1, and the Rays still have a chance. But taking three of the next four games against this Astros club seems about as impossible a task as any team has ever faced in the postseason.

Consider the fact that Tyler Glasnow went toe-to-toe with Justin Verlander for four full innings - one of the best-case scenarios for the Rays - and it gets even bleaker. Verlander didn't even look like he was working with his best stuff for the first couple of innings, and still ended up with eight strikeouts while carrying a no-hitter into the fifth. It's not going to get easier for the Rays, as they get to face Gerrit Cole on Saturday.

NLDS: Cardinals vs. Braves

Both teams rest bullpens

Game 1 saw both clubs set fire to their bullpens just to get through nine innings. The Cardinals used six relievers and the Braves used seven - including Chris Martin, who never actually pitched but left with an oblique injury as he was warming up - leaving both sides in desperate need of strong outings from Friday's starters.

With Jack Flaherty and Mike Foltynewicz each completing seven innings, both squads were able to rest their relievers as the series moves to St. Louis tied at one game apiece.

Snitker rolls dice on Duvall, wins

With a one-run lead in the bottom of the seventh and the pitcher spot coming up, manager Brian Snitker replaced Foltynewicz with outfielder Adam Duvall. The decision brought vehement boos from the SunTrust crowd, only for Duvall to put the game on ice with a monster two-run home run.

Duvall heard the boos, and understood the gravity of his situation.

"The fans let me know that they wanted (Foltynewicz) to stay in," Duvall said, according to David O'Brien of The Athletic. "Which, we all did. I just wanted to have a good at-bat. I just wanted to go out there and try to make it worth it, because he was grooving out there."

Snitker looks like a genius after Duvall justified the move, though opting to go with Mark Melancon in the ninth caused heart rates to surge throughout Atlanta. Melancon escaped danger - allowing two hits a day after blowing a save in a big way - and preserved Duvall and Foltynewicz's heroics. Not only that, but Foltynewicz wasn't forced to overtax his arm at a time when fresh hurlers are going to be increasingly hard to come by.

ALDS: Twins vs. Yankees

Boone's bullpen management

After allowing CC Sabathia to fumble through Game 4 of last year's American League Division Series and subsequently unravel before calling upon the league's best bullpen, manager Aaron Boone knew how he had to improve this time around. And yet, allowing James Paxton to stay in for the fifth - one out away from becoming the pitcher of record - to face Jorge Polanco after he'd already hit a home run against the southpaw was suboptimal and wound up being costly.

Of course, it went unnoticed thanks to the Yankees' hitters getting to the Twins' bullpen, but it's something to monitor going forward, particularly if the Yankees wind up facing the Astros.

However, after finally jumping off the Paxton bandwagon, Boone wasn't sentimental in his bullpen carousel. He yanked Adam Ottavino after he issued a walk to his lone batter and rattled through Tommy Kahnle, Chad Green, Zack Britton, J.A. Happ, and Aroldis Chapman.

Can the Twins keep up?

The Twins did what they do, and it wasn't enough. They mashed three home runs but got railroaded by patient Yankees hitters who drove up starter Jose Berrios' pitch count to a whopping 88 over his four innings. This forced manager Rocco Baldelli to go to his relievers early, exposing the club's biggest weakness.

Zack Littell, Tyler Duffey, Cody Stashak, and Kyle Gibson labored in relief and the game got out of hand, culminating in a Brett Gardner home run in the bottom of the sixth. Minnesota is too one-dimensional and has the most questionable relief corps among the remaining playoff teams.

The only Twins reliever who didn't surrender at least two baserunners was Brusdar Graterol, who was the only bright spot in Minnesota's pitching staff in the 10-4 loss. He routinely hit 99 mph with his fastball, and sat down the Yankees in order for one of only two clean innings in the game for Twins pitching.

Rubbing salt into the wound, this also served as the Twins' MLB-record 14th consecutive postseason loss.

NLDS: Nationals vs. Dodgers

A tale of 2 postseason pitchers

Clayton Kershaw's playoff career has long been under scrutiny for failing to live up to his sterling regular-season numbers. Entering Friday, he had a 4.32 ERA over 152 postseason innings dating back to 2008. The Nationals worked him, but he recovered. After allowing three runs in the opening two frames, Kershaw threw four scoreless innings before being lifted.

On the other side of things, Stephen Strasburg looked unbeatable. He was perfect through four, and allowed only one run through his own six innings while working on two days rest. After dropping Game 1 on Thursday, the Nationals had no choice but to turn to the vet, and now they head back to Washington with the series tied at one and a puncher's chance at finally winning a whole postseason series.

Please, stop bunting (redux)

As we established after Thursday night's games, bunting is the worst.

Nationals shortstop Trea Turner led off the game with a double, immediately applying pressure to Kershaw and the Dodgers. Adam Eaton tried to bunt him over to third (twice) and popped up. This was a boneheaded decision. Turner is one of the fastest players in baseball. He doesn't need the extra 90 feet to score on a single, and if you really want him on third to account for a potential sac fly, let him steal. Bunting the runner over in that situation is only justifiable if he's a catcher with no foot speed, or if Eaton thought he could catch the defense by surprise and end up with a hit.

The failed bunt became a moot point as the Nationals took the lead and shortly expanded upon it in the second, but it could have been much more. If you're not a pitcher, don't bunt.

Desperate times ...

With the Nationals' bullpen a known issue, Dave Martinez turned to ace starter Max Scherzer in the eighth inning with a one-run lead. After Sean Doolittle served up a home run in the seventh - and the Fernando Rodney experience was out of the question in such a high-leverage position - Mad Max had to enter the game. He paid immediate dividends by striking out all three batters he faced. The problem is Scherzer and Strasburg can't pitch every inning for the rest of the postseason.