The Yankees had a dramatic opening to their postseason, going through a record five lead changes before finally holding down a 6-5 victory over the Royals. A lot of things went against them, from Gerrit Cole struggling to put away batters, miscues on the basepaths, and a big 0-for from the captain Aaron Judge, but just enough went right (and some luck went their way via a crucial video replay) to take Game 1 and the early advantage. While they were getting started, the rest of the Division Series was either unfolding or getting ready to kick off around them.
Let’s see what happened with the rest of the bracket: AL Divisional Series Game 1 Cleveland Guardians 7, Detroit Tigers 0 (Cleveland leads, 1-0) Starting with the early game, this was also the simplest one to follow along with. The Guardians blitzed the Tigers to the tune of a five-run first inning, with all the scoring happening before starter Tyler Holton could even record an out. He was lifted midway through the hit parade for Reese Olson, who stuck in for five innings but also allowed the last two of Holton’s four runs to score alongside one of his own thanks to a Lane Thomas three-run shot.
From there, the gritty Tigers unfortunately had no bite on the day. They spread out four hits against Tanner Bibee over 4.2 innings, and then the Cleveland bullpen entered the fray and absolutely shut the door on them — four pitchers tossed a combined 4.
1 innings and allowed just a single walk and no hits against seven strik.
