AJ Smith-Shawver close to returning to majors

The Guardians will carry one more pitcher in this series than they did against the White Sox, choosing Cecconi over Daniel Schneemann. The move makes sense considering it’s a best-of-seven series, and Cleveland’s pitching staff was worn down in the series against Chicago. Cecconi will likely just work in long relief.

The Rays prospect allowed three runs on two hits in 5 1/3 innings with a 7/6 K/BB ratio after being promoted from the minor leagues. Hopkins is a high-upside prospect with plenty of strikeout upside, but it’s likely the Rays will keep him in low-leverage innings in his playoff debut. He will replace Garrett Cleavinger on the roster.

McClanahan is on the 15-day injured list with forearm tightness, but Cash said that the team “didn’t want to further push [him] after a solid season with a hefty workload.” McClanahan missed the entire 2024 and 2025 seasons while recovering from Tommy John surgery and a subsequent nerve issue. He returned in 2026 and threw 118 innings, which the Rays apparently felt was enough of a workload that they decided to shut him down. On one hand, it does make sense that they wouldn’t want to push him too much in his first year back, but, on the other hand, McClanahan has dealt with enough injuries that we’re a little skeptical that he’s truly fully healthy. The team claims he’ll be ready for spring training, so we can see how he looks then before we have to make any decisions in fantasy drafts.

After being swept by the Dodgers in last year’s NLCS, the Brewers have taken a 1-0 lead in their bid to reach the World Series for the first time as a National League club. Lara gave them just enough offense with an RBI single up the middle off of Tarik Skubal that broke a 1-1 tie. The 21-year-old was in the lineup in place of Sal Frelick, and could be back on the bench for Game 2 come Monday with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound. He hasn’t dominated in his MLB time, but there have been more than enough flashes to understand why he is considered one of the top outfield prospects in the sport.

In the top of the second, Pages poked an opposite-field single to score Shohei Ohtani to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead. It would be the last run of the game as Jacob Misiorowski and in particular the Brewers’ bullpen was excellent and kept Los Angeles from many scoring opportunities. Pages has driven in three runs thus far in the postseason in five games, and hit .278 in the process.

Turang tied the game with a shot to center off Tarik Skubal in the fourth inning. It was the first homer and RBI of the postseason for Turang, who scuffled a bit in the four-game series against the Padres. He’ll have a chance to build on this one in Game 2 against Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers on Monday.

Megill got Max Muncy to pop out and Andy Pages lined out to left before issuing a walk to Kyle Tucker and pinch-hitter Josue De Paula. He left a pitch in the middle of the plate to Mookie Betts, but Betts wasn’t able to get all of it on a flyout to center. It wasn’t pretty, but good enough and the Brewers have a 1-0 lead while Megill has his third save of the postseason.

Skubal was excellent over the first three innings, but allowed a solo homer to Brice Turang that tied the game in the fourth, and a go-ahead single to Luis Lara in the fifth. The southpaw struck out seven in the contest against two walks, and allowed five hits. It was far from a poor effort from Skubal, but it’s fair to say we’ve seen the ace look better. It seems unlikely this will be the last time we see Skubal on the mound for Los Angeles, as he could be available for Game 4 or start Game 5 on regular rest.

Misiorowski had to worked hard, as he threw 94 pitches before being pulled in the fifth. The 24-year-old struck out five while generating 10 swings and misses while topping out at 104 mph and averaging 100.7 with his heater; just a tick above his 100.6 mph average in the regular season. The issue was command, as he threw just 60 pitches for strikes and walked three. Misiorowski could be available for Game 4 if the Brew Crew need him, but more than likely, he’ll be asked to start Game 5 in Los Angeles; assuming there’s no sweep, of course.

Griffin worked in relief during Game 3 of the ALDS against the White Sox, and he limited Chicago to one run in his 2 2/3 innings. The left-hander pitched well for the most part in 2026 with 15 wins and a 3.60 ERA, and he’ll potentially get a chance to start multiple games in the best-of-seven series.