The MLB postseason is down to the final eight

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The MLB postseason is down to the final eight

Fri, Oct 2, 2026 ·

10 min read

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⚾️ 12 teams entered, 8 remain

The Braves bounced back from a deflating Game 2 loss to defeat the Phillies, 6-2, on Thursday night in Atlanta and eliminate their division rivals , who have now lost four straight winner-take-all games dating back to 1980.

ICYMI:Three shutdown innings from an improbable source, 32-year-old southpaw Ray Kerr, set the tone. Michael Harris II hopped on a first-inning Aaron Nola sinker for a three-run tank, and the rest was epilogue. The Braves now head to Los Angeles, where a familiar foe awaits.

What's next:All four best-of-five Division Series begin on Saturday , with Milwaukee, Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Los Angeles hosting Game 1.

Brewers vs. Padres:Milwaukee's prize for winning a franchise-record 103 games? A date with the hottest team in baseball. But let's not forget who we're talking about here. The Brewers went 15-3 down the stretch themselves, and get to start Jacob Misiorowski twice if the series goes long enough.
Rays vs. Yankees:New York mashes homers and has MLB's second-highest payroll, while Tampa Bay plays small-ball and has the fourth- lowest payroll. One notable similarity between these AL East rivals? They both shove. The Yankees led the majors in ERA (3.24), while the Rays led the majors in WHIP (1.14).
Guardians vs. White Sox:Chicago led the AL Central for most of the summer before Cleveland stole the division with a September surge. Now they'll meet in a series featuring some of MLB's best rookies, including Chicago's Munetaka Murakami (35 HR) and Cleveland's Parker Messick (12-9, 2.56 ERA).
Braves vs. Dodgers:Los Angeles' bid to become baseball's first three-peat champion since the 1998-2000 Yankees begins against a team that gave them fits all season. Atlanta won five of six meetings, but now faces a rested Dodgers rotation featuring Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow.

Go deeper: Division Series previews, predictions and more

📸 Through the lens

🏈 Cleveland, Ohio

The Browns are 3-1 and alone atop the AFC North after beating the Steelers, 27-24, on "Thursday Night Football" for their third straight victory . Pittsburgh erased a 14-point deficit and tied the game in the final two minutes, but Deshaun Watson led Cleveland into field-goal range and Andre Szmyt drilled a 56-yarder with 10 seconds left to win it.

🏀 Las Vegas, Nevada

For the second consecutive year, the Aces ended the Fever's season — this time with a 94-83 victory in Game 3 to secure their eighth straight trip to the WNBA semifinals. Reigning MVP A'ja Wilson powered the home team with 36 points and 10 rebounds, while Chelsea Gray came alive late to tally 23 points alongside five assists.

🏒 New York, New York

Igor Shesterkin beat the Lightning at both ends of the ice on Thursday, stopping 24 of 25 shots and scoring on an empty net to lift the Rangers to a 5-1 win in their home opener. He's just the 18th goaltender in NHL history to score a goal and first to do it for the Rangers. Two games into the season, he's tied for the team lead in goals.

📸 Behind the Lens

Each week, Yahoo Sports AM goes "Behind the Lens" with Getty Images to share the stories behind the best photographs in sports.

This week's photo:The second wave of runners takes off along the famous Straße des 17. Juni at the start of the Berlin Marathon, as shot from the viewing platform of the Victory Column in the city center.

Photographer:Maja Hitij
Location:Berlin, Germany
Date:Sept. 27

Behind the lens:Take it away, Maja…

I usually run the Berlin Marathon myself, so it had been a few years since I photographed it. I was actually quite nervous I wouldn't make it in time, because during the race the city is heavily closed off and the distances between shooting locations can be quite long. So, I packed my gear into my backpack and set off by bike.

First thing in the morning I went to check if the Victory Column was open to have a nice general view of the race. After climbing all 285 steps to the viewing platform I realized it was too high up to photograph the elite athletes, so I came back later and climbed up again for the second wave, which is where this image was taken.

Around 56,000 runners started the 52nd edition of this World Marathon Major, and I wanted to capture the colors of the autumn trees in Tiergarten Park — quite a famous running spot in Berlin. Luckily, a little sunlight broke through at just the right moment, lighting up some of the trees as thousands of runners began their race.

There's something special about watching everyone run past. It brings back memories of standing at that very same starting line myself — when your legs still feel fresh, the excitement is everywhere, and you have no idea how you will feel in the end when you eventually come back to the finish.

Equipment and technique:Maja shot this with a Canon R1 100-300mm and a 145mm lens with f/7.1 at a shutter speed of 1/1600th of a second.

🏒 The NHL's wealthy youth movement

This offseason brought the NHL's greatest riches to its youngest players, resuming a trend that was halted during and after the pandemic.

Youth movement:Four of the top 10 highest-paid players (by average annual value of their contracts) are 22 years old or younger. The average age of those 10 players is 26, comfortably the youngest average of the last decade.

Several young stars signed lucrative extensions this offseason, repeatedly usurping the throne as the NHL's highest-paid players in history. Among those shooting to the top of this season's rankings were Leo Carlsson of the Ducks and the Blackhawks' Connor Bedard.
The list will likely get even younger next year, as the record extension signed this summer by 20-year-old Macklin Celebrini begins.

Not sudden:The shift toward youth appears abrupt. In reality, it's the continuation of a trend that began pre-COVID, when a generation of elite stars like Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews signed lucrative, long-term extensions.

However, the salary cap flattened in the years following the pandemic, forcing the next wave into more modest bridge contracts. With little cap space to replace them, the NHL's incumbent high-earners remained at the top of the pay scale.
The salary cap has returned to strong growth in recent seasons, with continued growth projected into the future. Those increases have allowed teams to resume spending heavily on young talent.
The recent expiry of the league's CBA also created a rush of buzzer-beating big-money extensions, as the maximum number of years decreased from eight to seven under the new CBA.

Growth investment:The league's teams are deeply invested in the next generation of superstars. Now, the NHL has to make them household names.

This was written by Dylan Dittrich and will appear in today's edition of Yahoo Sports Biz, landing in inboxes soon. Sign up here to get on the list for our new sports business newsletter.

📺 Weekend Watchlist

🏈 NFL Sunday

The Raiders host the Chiefs (4:25pm ET, CBS) in a matchup of undefeated teams, headlining a slate that also features Rams at Eagles (1pm, Fox) , Jaguars at Bengals (1pm, CBS) , Cowboys at Texans (1pm, Fox) , Broncos at 49ers (4:25pm, CBS) and Lions at Panthers (8:20pm, NBC) .

London calling:Before any of those games kick off, the Commanders and Colts play at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (9:30am, NFL) in the first London game of the season.

🏈 College Football Saturday

Kamario Taylor and No. 16 Mississippi State host Keelon Russell and No. 7 Alabama (12pm, ABC) in the latest installment of a rivalry that dates to the 19th century . The day's other ranked matchups: No. 5 Ohio State at No. 14 Iowa (3:30pm, CBS) and No. 8 Florida at No. 25 Missouri (3:30pm, ABC) .

Best of the rest:No. 3 Notre Dame at North Carolina (12pm, ESPN) ; Auburn at No. 17 Tennessee (3:30pm, ESPN) ; No. 10 BYU at TCU (7pm, ESPN) ; No. 4 Miami at Clemson (7:30pm, ABC) ; Washington at No. 18 USC (7:30pm, NBC) ; No. 12 Texas Tech at Colorado (7:30pm, Fox).

⚾️ MLB Division Series

All four series get underway tomorrow, with the Guardians hosting the White Sox (1pm, TBS) , the Dodgers hosting the Braves (4pm, Fox) , the Rays hosting the Yankees (6:30pm, TBS) and the Brewers hosting the Padres (8:30pm, FS1) . On Sunday, the AL gets a breather and the NL plays Game 2.

Must-see pitcher:Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski takes the bump today following one of the greatest regular seasons of all time. His .157 opponent batting average is the best ever , his 105.5 MPH fastball is the fastest ever by a starter, and his 0.802 WHIP is the third-lowest by a qualified starter, trailing only 2000 Pedro Martínez (0.737) and 1913 Walter Johnson (0.78).

🏀 WNBA Playoffs

The Valkyries host the Wings tonight (9pm, ESPN2) in a winner-take-all Game 3 for the final spot in the semifinals. Can Golden State's vaunted defense contain Arike Ogunbowale after she erupted for a WNBA postseason-record 45 points in Game 2?

Final Four:The winner will join the Dream, Liberty and Aces in the semifinals, which tip off on Sunday.

More to watch:

⚽️ Friendly:USMNT vs. Mexico (Sat. 10pm, TNT) … The rivals square off outside Phoenix as the Americans look to stay undefeated during this extended break.
🏒 NHL:Rangers at Red Wings (Fri. 6:30pm, TNT) ; Blues at Stars (Fri. 9pm, TNT) ; Kraken at Oilers (Sat. 7pm, NHL) ; Jets at Red Wings (Sun. 1pm, NHL)
🏀 NBA Preseason:Heat vs. Raptors (Sat. 7pm, NBA) ; Jazz vs. Nuggets (Sun. 7pm, NBA) ; Warriors vs. Clippers in Hawaii (Sun. 7pm, League Pass) … Preseason tip-off.
🏎️ F1:Bahrain Grand Prix (Sun. 3am, Apple) … Mercedes will look to continue its dominant run after winning 11 of the first 15 races this season.
🏁 NASCAR:Las Vegas (Sun. 5:30pm, USA) … After this weekend, the 10-race Chase will be halfway complete.

Plus:👊 UFC 332 in Salt Lake City (Sat. 8pm, Paramount+) ; ⛳️ PGA's Bank of Utah Championship and LPGA's Lotte Championship (Fri-Sun, Golf) ; ⚽️ NWSL Week 24 (Fri-Sun, Prime/ABC/CBSSN)

Got plans this weekend? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!

🔍 Guess the logo

Question:Can you guess this college football team based on the first logo it used?

Hint:West Coast.

Answer at the bottom.

🏈 Make your picks!

Another week, another chance to climb the leaderboard in our College Football Challenge.

Make your picks:This week's games include No. 7 Alabama (-5.5) at No. 16 Mississippi State, No. 5 Ohio State (-13.5) at No. 14 Iowa, and No. 8 Florida (-4.5) at No. 25 Missouri, plus seven more matchups to pick against the spread . Who ya got?

🏎️ Yahoo Sports x Apple TV

This weekend's Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2026 continues our season-long partnership with Apple TV for F1 coverage.

Tune in:You'll have to burn the midnight oil to enjoy the proceedings this weekend. The final practice session (Sat. 12:30am ET) and qualifying (Sat. 4am) will air for free on Yahoo Sports , while Sunday's race (3am) will stream on Apple TV, the new U.S. home of Formula 1.

Trivia answer:Washington Huskies. The team's short-lived " Sun Dodger " mascot (1919-22) alluded to Seattle's rainy weather — a negative characterization many locals disliked. The school introduced the Husky at a basketball game in 1922, and the rest is history.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM , our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.

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