The Major League Baseball postseason got off to a fiery start Tuesday night, as two very different Game 1 victories set the stage for October drama.

In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Dodgers turned Dodger Stadium into a fireworks show with five home runs in a 10-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds. Over in Cleveland, Tarik Skubal reminded the baseball world that dominant starting pitching still wins games, striking out 14 batters in a throwback 2-1 victory for the Detroit Tigers.

Dodgers blast past Reds with power and poise

After a sluggish regular season that forced them into the Wild Card round for the first time in years, the Dodgers showed their postseason bite early. Facing 25-year-old Reds flamethrower Hunter Greene, L.A. wasted no time.

Shohei Ohtani set the tone in the very first inning with a 117.7 mph line-drive homer that sent Dodger Stadium into a frenzy. He wasn’t done—by the fourth inning, he had added a 454-foot moonshot, making him the first player in the Statcast era to hit both a 115+ mph and 450+ foot homer in the same postseason game.

By then, the Dodgers’ offense had already broken the game open. Teoscar Hernández crushed a three-run blast in the third, followed immediately by a Tommy Edman solo homer. Add another Hernández long ball in the later innings, and the Dodgers’ five-homer barrage had the Reds reeling.

On the mound, Blake Snell was every bit as sharp as advertised. Making his Dodgers postseason debut, the lefty tossed seven innings of two-run ball, striking out nine and dazzling with a changeup that baffled Cincinnati hitters. Reds manager Terry Francona admitted afterward, “When he’s changing speeds like that and then mixing in 97 mph, it becomes nearly impossible.”

Though a shaky Dodgers bullpen nearly squandered the lead with a chaotic eighth inning, Blake Treinen calmed nerves in the ninth to seal the win. Statistically, history is now firmly in L.A.’s favor—18 of the last 20 Wild Card Series winners of Game 1 have advanced.

As shortstop Mookie Betts put it: “It’s still just baseball. We don’t need to become Superman tomorrow. Just play our game.”

Tarik Skubal channels old-school dominance in Detroit’s win

While the Dodgers flexed their muscle, the Tigers went vintage in Cleveland. Tarik Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, was unhittable. The 27-year-old lefty tied a franchise postseason record with 14 strikeouts—matching Joe Coleman’s mark from 1972—and routinely lit up the radar gun past 100 mph.

Against the Cleveland Guardians, Skubal allowed just one run across 7.2 innings, showing why many analysts call him “the best pitcher in baseball right now.” Detroit’s two runs came the old-fashioned way: capitalizing on Cleveland’s defensive miscues and a perfectly executed seventh-inning squeeze bunt by Zack McKinstry.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt summed it up simply: “Tarik Skubal was outstanding. Couldn’t get anything off him.”

For Detroit fans, it was a reminder of the franchise’s proud pitching tradition—and a warning to the rest of the American League that this Tigers team is built for October.

A night of contrasts, a postseason of possibilities

From Ohtani’s tape-measure blasts to Skubal’s surgical precision, the opening day of the MLB Wild Card series showcased the sport’s two defining postseason forces: raw power and pitching artistry.

For the Dodgers, a stacked lineup finally looked like itself again, one game away from a clash with the Philadelphia Phillies. For the Tigers, a new ace has emerged as the franchise’s centerpiece for October glory.

And for fans, if this was just Game 1, the rest of October could be unforgettable.
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