The 2026 MLB postseason resumed on Saturday with Game 1 of all four Division Series matchups. Since the best-of-five Division Series became a thing in 1995, the team that wins Game 1 has gone on to win the series 73% of the time, and 32% of the time the series ended in a sweep. Winning Game 1 doesn't guarantee a Division Series win, but it is a big advantage.
Here are the final scores and schedule for Saturday's playoff action: To sum up all the Game 1 action, we're here to declare a winner and loser from each of the four games. You can find those authoritative and inarguable declarations just below. Despite the scorching hot weather -- game time temperature was 100 degrees in the second-hottest playoff first pitch ever -- the offenses were pretty quiet in this one.
It was a scoreless tie in the middle of the fourth inning. A one-out walk to Freddie Freeman set the table for one of the more prolific playoff home run hitters in recent history, and Teoscar Hernández responded by going deep to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead. That was the 11th career playoff home run for Hernández, including at least one in each of his last six postseason series.
He's been especially productive in the divisional round. He's now 12 for 37 (.324) with four home runs and 12 RBI in 10 career NLDS games. As for this season, this game continued a trend of a scorching Hernández at the plate recently.
He was faced with the possibility of losing playing time in a platoon situation in late August (manager Dave Roberts even pondered it out loud) and then something inside him woke up. In his last 25 regular-season games, Hernández hit .352/.433/.582 with four doubles, a triple, five home runs, 20 RBI and 15 runs. It should be noted that despite a rough season overall, Kyle Tucker got hot down the stretch as well.
In his last 22 games, he hit .284/.365/.595 with six homers and 12 RBI. He added a two-run homer for insurance in the bottom of the sixth inning in Game 1. -- Matt Snyder The Dodgers are the two-time defending World Series champions. Two-time defending AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal landed on the trade block in July when the Tigers threw in the towel.
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