MLB playoffs: Day 2 of Division Series games recap: Padres vs Dodgers | Phillies vs Braves | Mariners vs Astros

With Game 1 of both the ALDS and NLDS offering us some upsets, we were perhaps reasonable to expect the second games to be just as unpredictable. However, there are signs that some of the sloppy conditions in the Division Series are starting to level out.

Much of what occurred in Game 1 was a result of an unprecedented delay between the Wild Card and Division Series, as this year’s new format meant that all of the Division winners had five days off, quite a long time in a sport where teams are accustomed to playing every day. The Wild Card teams came into Game 1 fresh off a hot series win, while all of the top seeds were starting cold.

The second frame of the Division games saw three of the teams get wins, with the fourth game between the Cleveland Guardians and the New York Yankees cancelled due to inclement weather. It will be played instead on Friday while all other teams will be on a travel day.

Padres vs Dodgers

The Dodgers may have thought that they were destined to beat the Padres, and the first game gave the Blues a bit of swagger going into Game 2. But if that is the case, nobody told the Padres about it, and they came out swinging great big haymakers. Manny Machado knocked the cover off the ball when he took Clayton Kershaw deep in the first to open the scoring up.

The Dodgers evened the score when Freddie Freeman hit his own blast in the bottom of the first and then an inning later, Los Angeles got a bit of luck when Max Muncy watched an 0-2 delivery cross the plate in the strike zone, only to be called a ball. Padres pitcher Yu Darvish could not believe it and asked the umpire for clarification before delivering up a hanging curve that was slapped over the wall to put the home team up.

The back-and-forth continued with the Padres scoring two more and then Trea Turner hitting another long ball to tie the game. But then things seemed to tighten up a little, with the Padres tacking on an unanswered run and before Jake Cronenweth smashed a monster ball in the eighth for insurance.

And that is where it stayed, with the Padres winning the game 5-3, evening up the series at a game apiece. After a day off, the series moves down the I-5 to San Diego for games 3 and 4.

Phillies vs Braves

The Phillies came in hot to Atlanta and stunned the reigning champs with a loss in Game 1, but the rocking ship seems to have righted somewhat with the Braves grinding out a win in a pitching duel in Game 2.

After a three-hour rain delay, the fans who stuck it out were treated to a masterful performance from the mound by Kyle Wright starting for Atlanta, who allowed only two hits across six innings, outlasting the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler when Matt Olson, Austin Riley, and Travis d’Arnaud knocked in three runs.

The Braves closed out the Phillies there, getting a 3-0 win to even the series at a game apiece for the trip to Philadelphia. Spencer Strider is expected to make the start for the Braves, if he is fit after suffering an oblique injury in mid-September.

The Phillies are going to lean on Aaron Nola as they have their first home post season game since Roy Halliday lost another pitching duel to the Cardinals in Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS.

Mariners vs Houston

Game 1 was a doozie in Houston, with the Astros looking terrible and somehow scratching out a win on the back of a Yordan Álvarez walk-off. In Game 2, he was just as spectacular, crushing a two-run homer to flip the scoreboard again.

Argued by many to have been the league MVP through the season, Álvarez’s exploits were overshadowed by Aaron Judge’s home run record streak with the Yankees. But the big bat and outfield exploits for the Astros Cuban phenom may have been more timely and valuable to Houston than anything Judge provided for the Yankees over the course of the season.

With a solid 4-2 win in Game 2, Houston is now one win away from attending the ALCS as the series moves to Seattle. Lance McCullers Jr. will get the start for Houston as Seattle sees its first home playoff game in over two decades.

The Astros are showing why they are hot picks to go back to the World Series in what would be their fourth appearance in five years. Seattle have had a mighty run to get to the post season, and if they can’t find some way to stop the Astros prodigious scoring, this may be their last playoff game.