The first night of the Wild Card round gave the Dodgers plenty to study, and the biggest note may have come out of San Diego.
Across Tuesday’s openers, the Braves, White Sox, Yankees, and Padres all moved out to 1-0 leads over the Phillies, Astros, Red Sox, and Cubs, respectively. Some of those games were tight, some were lopsided, and one in particular should have Los Angeles paying very close attention.
The most dramatic finish belonged to Atlanta and Philadelphia. The Phillies had a one-run lead in the seventh before Austin Riley swung the game with a three-run homer off Jhoan Duran, flipping the Braves into the win column in one shot.
The White Sox beat the Astros 6-3 in a game that never really looked comfortable for Houston. The Astros had to cycle through eight relievers in the first opener-on-opener game ever seen in the postseason, a sign of just how quickly things got away from them.
Then came the blowouts. Cam Schlittler and the Yankees blanked the Red Sox and piled on nine runs, with Ben Rice punctuating the night by launching a grand slam off Brayan Bello. San Diego was even louder, hammering the Cubs 8-0 behind a first-pitch homer from Fernando Tatis Jr. and another from Manny Machado.
For the Dodgers, the Padres are the matchup to keep circling.
San Diego looked like a team that carried its regular-season momentum straight into October. Starter Michael King took a no-hitter into the seventh before Nico Hoerner finally broke it up on a play that probably should have gone down as an error on Machado. Tatis, Machado, Xander Bogaerts, and Jackson Merrill combined to go 8-for-12, and the whole lineup looked locked in.
The night also brought a welcome sight for the Padres: Joe Musgrove returned after two years of inactivity because of injury. He came in to finish the game and got a standing ovation loud enough to feel bigger than baseball. Musgrove loaded the bases, but he escaped without damage.
A standing ovation for Joe Musgrove as he comes in to pitch for the first time since the NL Wild Card Series against Atlanta on October 2, 2024 pic.twitter.com/Bc6Tw8wlKE
- Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 30, 2026
If San Diego closes things out on Wednesday night, it will still have the Brewers standing between it and a potential Dodgers matchup. But the message from Game 1 was already clear: the Padres arrived in rhythm and with real force.
The Braves remain the most immediate threat to Los Angeles, and history from Wild Card Game 1 gives them a boost too. Teams that win the opener in the round have gone on to take the whole thing 88% of the time, which makes Atlanta the most likely Dodgers opponent this weekend. The Phillies had to go all the way to Game 162 just to get in, and they looked a step behind against a Braves team that had to grind for its victory.
That said, Riley’s homer doesn’t guarantee anything, especially with the Dodgers’ pitching staff sitting above the rest of the field. Still, Tuesday night gave Los Angeles a useful first look at several possible paths ahead, and the second wave of Game 1 results could sharpen those scouting reports even more.
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