After a day off for travel, the American League Division Series continues on Tuesday, and both games have mammoth stakes.
Throughout this postseason, I’ll be previewing the next day’s action, game by game, with the major storyline for each team. Here’s what to watch today.
ALDS Game 3: Mariners at Tigers (Series tied 1-1)
4:08 p.m. ET, FS1
SP: Logan Gilbert (SEA) vs. Jack Flaherty (DET)
Mariners: Is Gilbert ready for his closeup?
Julio Rodríguez is often considered the instigator of the Mariners’ resurgence in recent years, but it should be said that Gilbert has been in Seattle longer and is just as pivotal a piece of the team’s future. Gilbert made his debut back in 2021 and has been a consistently stellar part of the team’s rotation for the past four seasons now. He was an All-Star and finished sixth in the AL Cy Young voting last year and was the Mariners’ Opening Day starter this year.
He also has struggled on the road, with a 4.74 ERA there as opposed to 2.24 ERA at home, but that’s pretty much the case for all Mariners starters and somebody has to start on the road. Gilbert is the guy and he’ll have a chance to bolster his Seattle legacy.
Tigers: Can they scrape together enough offense?
When you look at the offensive numbers, it is absolutely remarkable that the Tigers are tied in this series, let alone this close to being up 2-0. Look at their slash line: .141/.238/.231. That’s 10 hits, just three for extra bases across 20 innings. Only one Tigers player, Gleyber Torres, had a hit in both games in Seattle, while Riley Greene is the only other Tiger with multiple hits in the series. They’ve timed their hits well — Kerry Carpenter’s two-run homer and Zach McKinstry’s 11th-inning single in Game 1, along with Spencer Torkelson’s two-run double in Game 2 — but eventually, you need to start stacking hits together. That’s not easy against a staff like Seattle’s. Detroit’s slugging percentage was .287 in its series win over the Guardians.
And yet here they are, with home-field advantage entering Game 3. If Detroit can even split the two games at home, it’ll have Tarik Skubal starting again, on full rest, in Game 5. The Tigers have danced between the raindrops so far, winning three of five playoff games despite having virtually no offense whatsoever. Eventually, to extend the raindrop metaphor past its limits, they’re going to get wet.
ALDS Game 3: Blue Jays at Yankees (TOR up 2-0)
8:08 p.m. ET, FS1
SP: Shane Bieber (TOR) vs. Carlos Rodón (NYY)
Blue Jays: This is exactly why Bieber is here
You heard a few rumblings heading into the Trade Deadline that the Guardians might consider trading Bieber, the 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner, who was still rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and hadn’t thrown a pitch in the Majors since April 2024. Bieber was an undeniable risk, especially considering he has a $16 million player option for 2026. The Blue Jays took the risk, however, and have gotten exactly what they had wanted. If Toronto didn’t exactly get peak Bieber down the stretch, his 3.57 ERA and 5.3 K-to-BB ratio were certainly an upgrade.
Only one team had the guts to trade for Bieber with the hopes he could be a big part of a championship run in October. And that one team now gets to see if it will actually happen.
Yankees: Can they crawl out of a hole … again?
Look, any time the Yankees lose in the postseason, it’s going to feel like a four-alarm fire to their fans; that would be the case any year, let alone a year after a heartbreaking World Series loss that extended the franchise’s title drought to 15 seasons. But the two games in Toronto were particularly distressing: Not only did the Yankees lose, but they were blown out twice by a division foe that has been building up decades of animosity toward the Yanks and seems to be taking it all out on them now.
For what it’s worth, the Yankees have had some particularly gruesome postseason exits in recent years. But they also have proven that they aren’t out until they’re out. After all, the 2017 club is still the most recent to come all the way back from a 2-0 Division Series deficit, and the 2022 edition won two straight elimination games in that same round. This year’s club just became only the third — out of 24 in the short history of the Wild Card Series — to advance after losing Game 1.
Do these Yanks have another rally in them? Getting swept by the Blue Jays, especially in another non-competitive game, could lead to a real reckoning in the Bronx. It’s probably not enough just to salvage one game at Yankee Stadium: They need to win this series.
