One Question for Each of the Four Bye Teams
With the Division Series set to kick off on Saturday, here is one question for each of the four teams that received a bye this postseason.
| | 
The MLB postseason has officially arrived! What a fantastic time of the year, and fans are in store for some tremendous baseball in the coming weeks.
Teams will embark on a journey to secure a World Series title in a field loaded with capable contenders. While the Wild Card Series kicks off on Tuesday afternoon, four teams will get the week to rest up and prepare for the matchups ahead in the Divisional Round.
Receiving the bye has some enormous advantages, most notably giving time for teams to heal up and get back to full strength to make a run to the Fall Classic. But no team in this field is perfect, and even the teams that received the bye have some questions.
Here is one question for each of the four bye teams as they prepare for play to kick off on Saturday, October 4.
Milwaukee Brewers
Question: What Will the Postseason Rotation Look Like?
The Milwaukee Brewers won a franchise record 97 games, they finished with by far the highest run differential in baseball at +172, and they clinched overall home-field advantage throughout the postseason. How does one poke a hole in a team that has held the best record in baseball dating back to the end of July?
Well, health concerns have plagued them as of late, and it’s led to some serious questions regarding what their postseason rotation may look like.
Brandon Woodruff hit the injured list retroactive to September 18 with a right lat strain, putting the veteran arm’s availability in question for October. He’s met with a handful of doctors over the past week to get a gauge for the severity of the injury, but it’s still unclear if he will be able to return for the playoffs.
He would have joined Freddy Peralta and Quinn Priester as the top three in the rotation, but now the third starter spot is up in the air.
Jose Quintana, who is dealing with a strained calf himself, is recovering well and appears on track to be ready for Game 3 of the NLDS for Milwaukee. Should be he healthy, he’ll get the ball behind Peralta and Priester.
However, in the event that he isn’t healthy, or should the Brewers advance past the NLDS and need a fourth starter, who is going to get the ball in that situation?
Jacob Misiorowski most likely won’t be getting starts in the postseason. There’s even questions to whether or not he’ll be on the postseason roster at all given his recent struggles. If he is on the postseason roster, though, it’ll be in a bullpen role.
Chad Patrick is looking to be the next man up, and there’s a very strong chance that he throws some very important innings for the Brewers this October. It’s a difficult position to put the rookie in, but the Brewers are confident with his ability to keep them in ball games.
If Woodruff and Quintana are healthy come the NLDS, this starting rotation can hang with any in baseball. Should one, or both, be sidelined for an extended period, though, the rotation that has been essential in getting them to this point all of a sudden has a lot of questions.
Philadelphia Phillies
Question: How Will the Postseason Rotation Be Structured?
Manager Rob Thomson already named Cristopher Sánchez the Game 1 starter of the NLDS, which is a surprise to absolutely no one. Sánchez was one of the best pitchers in MLB this season and will warrant NL Cy Young votes.
The 24-year-old southpaw ended the year third in baseball with 6.4 fWAR, fifth in ERA (2.50), and fourth in ground-ball rate (58.3%). With Zack Wheeler unfortunately out for the rest of the year with a blood clot, Sánchez is the undeniable anchor at the top of the rotation.
But how will Philadelphia Phillies’ rotation be structured beyond him? It’s a pretty fascinating discussion.
Ranger Suárez is likely to get the ball behind Sánchez, but Suárez has been unusually inconsistent as of late and is also recovering from being drilled with a comebacker in his latest start. Still, with what he’s done over the course of his Phillies tenure, he’s earned every bit of a Game 2 start.
Overall, he still sports a 3.20 ERA on the year. More importantly, across 37.2 career postseason innings, Suárez has a sensational 1.43 ERA. It’s yet to be seen if it’s in Game 2 or Game 3, but he’ll likely get the nod regardless.
The third starter could be up for grabs between Jesús Luzardo, who has immense talent but has also dealt with some extreme inconsistency this season, and Aaron Nola, who has been a longtime staple of the Phillies’ rotation but has really struggled in 2025.
Luzardo has a 3.63 ERA since the All-Star break and is punching out over 10 hitters per nine this season, while Nola has struggled greatly this year with an ERA above 6.00. However, he went eight innings of one-run, two-hit ball in his final outing of the season, which was a very encouraging sign, and having 10 career postseason starts under his belt is certainly a major advantage.
They wouldn’t need a fourth starter until the NLCS should they advance that far. If they do, these will be the two called upon. But for the Divisional Round in the meantime, who does Thomson trust more at this point? It’ll be a fascinating storyline to follow.
Toronto Blue Jays
Question: Which Version of the Bullpen Will We See?
The Toronto Blue Jays head into the postseason with home-field advantage in the AL as the No. 1 seed. Their offense has been one of the best in baseball all season long, and it will need to continue performing if this team wants to reach the mountaintop.
But it’s the questions in the pitching staff that may determine the fate of this team in the coming weeks.
The Blue Jays enter October with the 23rd-ranked bullpen ERA since the All-Star break at a 4.63. Only the Yankees have a worse second half bullpen ERA among the 12 playoff teams. The Blue Jays lowered that bullpen ERA to a 3.62 in September (ninth lowest in baseball), so which version of the bullpen will we see in October?
It’s all led by closer Jeff Hoffman’s performance. Throwing to a 4.37 ERA on the year, Hoffman is 33-for-40 in save opportunities. After throwing to a 1.17 ERA through the end of April, Hoffman is pitching to a 5.30 ERA ever since.
Fortunately for the Blue Jays, perhaps Hoffman figured it out at the tail end of the season. He allowed just one run and five hits in 11 outings (10.2 innings) in September.
If he’s throwing the ball like that, it completely changes the ceiling of this team moving forward and has such a strong impact on the rest of the bullpen. If he’s throwing it like he was in the heart of summer, though, it could be the reason why the Blue Jays suffer an early exit this October.
José Berríos hit the injured list on September 24 with elbow inflammation. He was moved to a bullpen role just before he hit the IL, and now his status for the postseason is up in the air. His absence puts much more pressure on all the other arms in the staff to produce in their given roles.
Specifically, there will be a lot of pressure on Seranthony Domínguez (3.00 ERA in a Blue Jays uniform), Yariel Rodríguez (2.88 ERA as a reliever), and Tommy Nance (1.99 ERA) to perform in high-leverage innings for the Blue Jays.
Moreover, will Trey Yesavage, the ball club’s electric prospect who shined upon his late-season call up, continue his momentum into the playoffs? Will he take the ball in Game 3 behind Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber, or will be he used in a bullpen role? That remains yet to be seen, but his arm could be of vital importance for Toronto.
Few doubt the ability of this offense to come through when the lights are brightest, and it feels like there are a lot more questions surrounding the structure of this pitching staff heading into the NLDS.
Seattle Mariners
Question: Will the Stars Continue to Shine on Offense?
One of the best stories in MLB this season, the Seattle Mariners have taken the world by storm this season. And frankly, it’s hard to find a hole in this team.
The bullpen is led by one of the most dangerous closers in baseball, Andrés Muñoz, and it has been a top-10 unit in the second half.
The rotation could have been a question mark with Bryan Woo exiting his start on September 19 early with pec tightness, but all signs are trending toward him being ready for the postseason. It’s a rotation that has as high of a ceiling as any.
Offensively, they’re tied for the second-best wRC+ on the season (113) and have the best mark since the All-Star break in September. After all, there’s a reason why projections are so bullish on this team.
My big question for Seattle, though, is whether or not this offense can keep up its momentum, and if their stars will rise to the occasion.
I mentioned that the Mariners have one of, if not the best offense in September. They managed that while Eugenio Suárez, their marquee trade-deadline addition, posted a 94 wRC+ and .700 OPS in the month, and Randy Arozarena posting an OPS south of .600 with an 80 wRC+ in the month.
Suárez has gone through stretches of being the hottest hitter on the planet this season, but the results have been underwhelming in Seattle. Arozarena flirted with a 30/30 season and is a proven player on the big stage but just put up his worst month of the season in September.
For the offense to put up such elite results while those two names have slumped in recent weeks is truly a testament to how deep this lineup is.
Everyone is aware of the historic season that Cal Raleigh just put together, hitting 60 bombs as a catcher. Julio Rodríguez has been one of the best hitters in baseball since the All-Star break. Josh Naylor, who also came over at the trade deadline, has an .831 OPS in a Mariners uniform.
Heck, Dominic Canzone and J.P. Crawford put up a 195 and 138 wRC+ in September, respectively. Just imagine what this team is capable of if Arozarena and Suárez snap back into form.
If this team keeps up that momentum, it’s difficult to envision this team getting beat. But will it continue? Only time will tell.
Written by
Joey Peterson is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an editor for Just Baseball. Joey covers the Milwaukee Brewers, along with general MLB topics…