Chasing October: Wild-card series takeaways for Game 3

theScore provides running analysis and insights throughout the 2025 MLB wild-card series, continuing Wednesday and running through Thursday if necessary. Keep checking back for updates as the opening round unfolds and check out our Game 1 and Game 2 takeaways.

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DET vs. CLE I SD vs. CHC

Final: The Yankees get the best of their rivals by taking the last two games of the wild-card series to advance to the ALDS against the Toronto Blue Jays. Cam Schlittler was incredible, completely shutting down the Red Sox offense in the clincher. New York went 5-8 against the Blue Jays this season but took two of three in September. Boston now faces another critical offseason in which it'll need to add more starting pitching and determine the long-term future of Alex Bregman. The wild-card round was great. Bring on the LDS.

8th inning: Cam Schlittler is making a name for himself on the biggest stage. The Yankees right-hander absolutely dominated the Red Sox, striking out 12 -the most by a Yankee rookie ever in the postseason - over eight shutout innings. Boston has managed five singles and just one runner in scoring position. If only the Red Sox had Rafael Devers for a game like this. Schlittler might have even pitched himself into a job on the Lumon softball team.

4th inning: The Yankees are putting the ball in play and good things are happening. New York finally gets to Connelly Early as the rookie isn't getting a lot of help from his defense or the BABIP gods. The Yankees score four runs in the inning courtesy of a double, three singles, and an error. Early is lifted with two outs, though you have to wonder why Alex Cora left him in there so long without even a mound visit. Boston's been plagued by its poor defense all season, so it should come as no surprise that it led to its undoing here.

2nd inning: Giancarlo Stanton's "hustle" double (lol) is stranded at second base. The Yankees DH rips a 114.5-mph rocket to the gap in left-center field that he thinks is launched over the wall. Stanton looks into his dugout in celebration before quickly realizing the ball is landing well short. He does somehow make it to second base, but Connelly Early buckles down to retire the next three batters to end the threat. It's been impressive how composed these young starters have been in the early going.

1st inning: After an incredibly entertaining undercard, we've reached the main event. Cam Schlittler is gassed up, topping out at 100.5 mph as he breezes through Jarren Duran, Trevor Story, and Alex Bregman with relative ease. Six of the 24-year-old's 14 pitches in the opening frame registered triple digits. Fellow rookie starter Connelly Early also looked unfazed in his first taste of postseason work, retiring the Yankees in order on just eight pitches.

Final: Hey, Chicago, whaddya say? The Cubs hang on - with a little help from home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn - to knock off the Padres to clinch their first postseason series since 2017. The win sets up an NLDS clash with the Milwaukee Brewers. Chicago scored only six runs over the three games, but pitched well and played excellent defense to secure the series victory. An encouraging development is that Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker combined to go 5-for-8 in Game 3. For the Padres, it's just another disappointing playoff finish for a club that faces a lot of questions this offseason.

7th inning: That's an enormous insurance run off the bat of Michael Busch. The Cubs first baseman, who hit a career-high 34 homers this season, is 3-for-4 in Game 3. It's just the second run the Padres' relievers have surrendered in 14 1/3 innings this series.

6th inning: Mike Shildt is pulling every lever to keep this game close in hopes his offense can finally wake up. Yu Darvish, Jeremiah Estrada, Michael King, Wandy Peralta, and now closer Robert Suarez have already appeared as we head into the seventh. The Padres are 0-for-2 with RISP in Game 3 and 3-for-20 in the series. Can they finally break through?

5th inning: It's certainly been a series to forget for Fernando Tatis Jr. The Padres star is 0-for-3 with two strikeouts on the afternoon and 1-for-11 over the three games. In Tatis' defense, facing Daniel Palencia can't be easy. Craig Counsell is using his once-closer in a fireman role in the mid-innings this series, and the flamethrower's been electric. Palencia threw 1 2/3 perfect innings in Game 1, and he came out firing 100-mph four-seam fastballs in the fifth to retire Tatis with a runner in scoring position.

4th inning: If you haven't watched a lot of the Cubs this season, you might not have known how good Jameson Taillon's been. The big right-hander posted a 1.57 ERA over his final six regular-season starts and looked fantastic today, tossing four shutout innings with four strikeouts before being lifted to start the fifth. The Padres have had only one runner in scoring position early on.

2nd inning: Not having a fully healthy Michael King is a major blow for the Padres, and they're paying for it early in Game 3. The right-hander threw just 15 2/3 innings in September and is a big reason why Yu Darvish started this contest. Darvish faces seven batters and doesn't record an out in the second inning after allowing a single, double, hit-by-pitch, and RBI single. Mike Shildt is forced to go to former Cubs reliever Jeremiah Estrada, who gets out of the inning by surrendering only one inherited run. San Diego has already used its bullpen for 8 1/3 innings this series and will need to ask for at least 24 outs today.

Final: The Tigers move on, winning the right to face the Seattle Mariners in a best-of-five ALDS matchup starting Saturday. Tarik Skubal will likely go in Sunday's Game 2. Let's be honest, this result is probably for the best. The Guardians entered the postseason as the only club with a negative run differential. They wind up scoring 10 total runs over the three-game series against a Tigers pitching staff that ranked 17th in the majors by ERA despite playing half its games in the spacious Comerica Park. Cleveland showed some late life, but Ramírez once again got caught advancing to second base by a great tag from Báez to end the eighth-inning rally.

7th inning: So ... why is Sabrowski still out there? Instead of counting himself lucky that he managed to get an out from Sabrowski in a third straight game, Vogt rolls the dice on giving him another clean frame. The lefty coughs up a very loud double to Báez and then allows Parker Meadows to reach on a dribbler that he played a little too lazily. Vogt goes to the bullpen and signals for Hunter Gaddis, who's also working in his third straight game. The Guardians do, in fact, employ other relievers. I'm sure of it. He gives up a two-run single from Wenceel Pérez, and it's all Tigers. Sabrowski and Gaddis end up combining to allow four runs on five hits and one walk while retiring only two batters. Matt Festa mercifully gets the final two outs of the inning, but the damage is done. Why is this the first time the Guardians have used Festa in this series? Vogt will have to answer for this.

6th inning: Call it the Dillon Dingler Game. There's no telling how that Guardians rally could've gone in the fourth inning if Dingler didn't catch Ramírez stealing. And now, he's hit the go-ahead homer into the left-field bleachers of Progressive Field. It feels like this contest will come down to the wire, but the Tigers are 12 outs away from heading to the ALDS. Meanwhile, on the Guardians' side, Vogt does end up calling upon Sabrowski for a third straight game, and the southpaw gets Zach McKinstry to ground out. His workload will surely end there.

4th inning: Nothing can ruin a rally quite like the collective defense of Dillon Dingler and Javier Báez. The Guardians tie it up, thanks to a Ramírez single that cashes in George Valera. However, Ramírez gets a bit greedy and tries to steal second base. The throw and tag to get him are simply a thing of beauty.

There's no one better in the game. Dingler caught nearly 32% of would-be base-stealers this year. And Báez? He's not nicknamed El Mago for nothing. We're back to even at 1-1.

3rd inning: Stephen Vogt is once again showing his managerial acumen. A quick hook for Cecconi after he gives up back-to-back singles with one out in the third, and the skipper calls upon lefty Tim Herrin with Kerry Carpenter as the assignment. Herrin winds up allowing an RBI double to Carpenter but settles in to retire Wenceel Pérez for the second straight day and then strikes out Spencer Torkelson. Cleveland has only one other usable lefty remaining in the 'pen in Kolby Allard. Erik Sabrowski is also in there, but the fact that he worked Games 1 and 2 likely makes him unavailable. Early advantage: Tigers.

2nd inning: Chase DeLauter's first big-league hit is a single into shallow right field during a must-win playoff game. Doesn't get much better than that after dropping the fly ball in the first inning of his debut Wednesday. It doesn't pay dividends, as Gabriel Arias strikes out next and Bo Naylor pops up to end the inning, but a hit is a hit.

1st inning: Although Cecconi wasn't very efficient, he was effective, getting out of the first frame with two strikeouts on 26 pitches. Gleyber Torres squared up a Cecconi slider to lead off but hit it right at left fielder Steven Kwan. Flaherty looks a lot more comfortable early, getting through the first on 14 pitches and ending on a José Ramírez strikeout.

Pregame: It's what sports fans live for: Win or go home. Tigers-Guardians kicks off three elimination games Thursday as only one of the wild-card matchups didn't go the distance. Slade Cecconi will take the mound first for the slightly favored Guardians at home (-130 on ESPN BET and theScore Bet). Cecconi has 236 MLB innings under his belt with a 5.07 ERA, but he put together the best season of his career this year in his first campaign as a full-time starter. He'll go up against Jack Flaherty, who signed a fresh two-year contract with the Tigers this past offseason. While Cecconi has made a couple postseason relief appearances, Flaherty has quite a lot of playoff experience as a starter, including last year's decisive World Series Game 5 for the victorious Los Angeles Dodgers. The righty allowed two homers and was yanked after recording four outs, but he's been here before. And that might count for something.