Trea Turner homered twice to give him a tournament-leading four, and the defending champion United States romped over Cuba 14-2 to reach its second straight World Baseball Classic final.
Justin Verlander struck out 11 in six strong innings and Yuli Gurriel, Chas McCormick and Jeremy Peña all homered to power the Houston Astros to a 4-2 win over the New York Yankees
Big homers by Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber. Zack Wheeler threw one-hit ball for seven innings to lead the Philadelphia Phillies over the San Diego Padres 2-0 in the opening game of the NLCS.
Gerrit Cole cruised for most of the night, Harrison Bader and Anthony Rizzo homered and the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Guardians 4-1 in their AL Division Series opener
Yordan Alvarez smashed a game-ending, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning off Robbie Ray, vaulting the Houston Astros over the Mariners 8-7 in their playoff opener.
Abraham Toro homered and drove in four runs, Cal Raleigh hit his 27th long ball of the season and the Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers 9-6 to complete a sweep of their doubleheader.
Mitch Haniger and Jarred Kelenic both homered twice, J.P. Crawford singled home the winning run in the 11th inning and the Seattle Mariners closed in on their first playoff berth in 21 years by beating the Texas Rangers 10-9.
Seattle's Luis Castillo got chased as the Kansas City Royals erupted for 11 runs in the sixth inning for a 13-12 win. That could cost the Mariners a chance to move up in the AL wild-card standings.