Two Division Series face sweep as MLB playoffs reach a pivotal Wednesday

Four games across Major League Baseball's Division Series round could reshape the postseason bracket by Thursday morning. The Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox each carry 2-0 leads into potential series-clinching wins Wednesday night, while the Los Angeles Dodgers can eliminate the Atlanta Braves and the San Diego Padres must beat Milwaukee simply to keep playing.

No Division Series games have been played anywhere since Tuesday night, when the Dodgers beat Atlanta 3-1 and the Padres beat Milwaukee 4-3 in Game 3 of their respective series. Wednesday's four-game slate, all best-of-five games, is the busiest night left on the Division Series calendar and the one with the most series-ending potential.

Where the Series Stand

In the American League, Tampa Bay leads New York 2-0 after a 1-0 win in Game 1 and a 5-2 win in Game 2, both at Tropicana Field. The series shifts to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, with left-hander Max Fried starting for New York against Tampa Bay's Nick Martinez. A Rays win ends the series in a sweep.

Also in the American League, the White Sox lead Cleveland 2-0 after shutting out the Guardians 3-0 in Game 1 and winning 4-3 in Game 2, both in Cleveland. Game 3 moves to Rate Field in Chicago at 4 p.m. ET. Chicago has named left-hander Sean Newcomb as its Game 3 starter. A White Sox win would be the franchise's first trip to the AL Championship Series since 2005.

In the National League, the Dodgers lead Atlanta 2-1 after Tuesday's 3-1 win and can close out the series Wednesday at Truist Park (6 p.m. ET) behind Tyler Glasnow against Atlanta's Tyler Mahle. In the other National League series, Milwaukee leads San Diego 2-1 despite Tuesday's loss; the Padres must beat the Brewers at Petco Park (10 p.m. ET) to force a decisive Game 5.

How the Favorites Built Their Leads

Tampa Bay's lead has been built on pitching and timely hitting rather than power: the Rays are batting .209 as a team through two games, according to CBS Sports' account of the series, with three of their six runs across the two games coming in unearned. New York's bigger problem has been its own offense: four of the Yankees' middle-order hitters — Luis García Jr., Spencer Jones, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham — are a combined 0-for-26 at the plate through Games 1 and 2, per the same report.

Chicago's rise to a 2-0 ALDS lead followed a stretch in which the White Sox swept the Houston Astros in the best-of-three AL Wild Card round, their first playoff series win in two decades, before carrying that momentum directly into the Division Series against Cleveland. Against Cleveland, the White Sox have gotten length from their rotation and enough offense to hold on in a one-run game. Cleveland's offense has struggled in turn: third baseman José Ramírez is 0-for-6 with two walks and a run scored across the series' first two games, according to box-score data published by MLB's official Stats API.

Who Is Affected

New York is also playing this series without Aaron Judge. The Yankees left their captain off the ALDS roster entirely because of a strained right calf, a decision manager Aaron Boone explained days before the series began in comments carried by MLB.com:

"I just feel like he's not quite ready to do it ... I feel like he needs this week to continue to hit, continue to ramp up the running and moving," Boone said, adding that using Judge in a limited pinch-hitting role "would have stripped away the ability to have some really good days" in a potential later round.

Judge remains eligible to be added to the roster if the Yankees advance to the AL Championship Series, but he cannot play in the Division Series regardless of how far it goes — a significant absence for a team now facing a possible sweep. Ahead of Game 3, Boone called Tuesday's loss "a really rough night to say the least for us" and said the team has "got to go win one" Wednesday to keep the series alive, according to CBS Sports.

For Cleveland, an early playoff exit would end a season in which the Guardians reached the Division Series without home-field advantage in any round. For the Dodgers, closing out Atlanta would send the defending contenders back to the NL Championship Series for the second straight year and give their pitching staff, led Tuesday by Yoshinobu Yamamoto's 10-strikeout performance, several extra days of rest before the next round begins.

What Happens Next

If either the Rays or the White Sox win Wednesday, that series ends in a sweep and the winner advances directly to its league's Championship Series, with an extended wait for its eventual opponent. If New York or Cleveland wins instead, both AL series would move to a Game 4 Thursday, with a possible Game 5 Friday.

On the National League side, a Dodgers win Wednesday eliminates Atlanta and sends Los Angeles to the NLCS. A Padres win forces a decisive Game 5 at Milwaukee, with the Brewers needing only one win in either of the next two games to close out the series themselves.

By Thursday morning, as many as three of the four Division Series could be finished, leaving the postseason bracket considerably clearer than it is tonight.