Telling MLB Wild Card Stat Spells Trouble for Teams That Lost Game 1

We've got some bad news for MLB teams that lost Game 1 of their wild-card series.

Giancarlo Stanton and the New York Yankees lost Game 1 of their wild-card series against the Boston Red Sox during the 2025 MLB draft. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

There's bad news for MLB teams that lost Game 1 of their wild-card series on Tuesday. Based on past results, it's unlikely that they'll come back to win the series.

As USA Today's Bob Nightengale noted, since MLB moved to its current postseason format in 2022, there have been 12 wild-card series. Ten of those 12 series have ended in sweeps. In addition to that, no team that lost the first game has wound up advancing to the next round.

That's really bad news for the Guardians, Padres, Yankees, and Reds, who all lost the opening games of their respective matchups on Tuesday. All head into Wednesday facing elimination, and the numbers suggest they'll all wind up on vacation soon.

The only teams to force a third game under the current format were the Mets in 2022 and the Brewers in 2024.

The 2022 Mets were hosting the Padres at Citi Field, but lost the opener of the series 7-1. They won Game 2 7-3, but lost Game 3 6-0 in the infamous Joe Musgrove ear game.

Last season, the Brewers lost Game 1 of their wild-card series against the Mets 8-4 at American Family Field. They bounced back in Game 2 to win 5-3, but New York bested Milwaukee 4-2 in Game 3.

We'll see if any of the trailing teams can reverse the trend this year.

---

More MLB on Sports Illustrated

feed