In their best-of-five Division Series, Texas, Houston, Philadelphia, and Arizona have all gotten off to quick starts

In Los Angeles, Arizona’s six-run first inning against Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw was punctuated by a three-run home run by Gabriel Moreno, and the Diamondbacks easily won their NL Division Series opening 11-2. Tommy Pham, Alek Thomas, and Corbin Carroll all scored home runs for Arizona. Of the 13 hits for the Diamondbacks, Pham had four.

Kershaw stumbled through his 16-year career’s worst start. In the 100th postseason game at Dodger Stadium, the three-time Cy Young Award winner was hit for six runs and had just one out. The three-time Cy Young Award winner had never tossed fewer than one inning during a start. Kershaw was anticipated to throw roughly 85 pitches, according to Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts. Rather, he vanished after 35. In his 16-year career, all with the Dodgers, it was the shortest start.

Ronald Acuña Jr. of Atlanta made major league history by being the first player to blast 40 home runs and steal 70 bases in a single season.

About his performance, Kershaw called it “disappointing.” “Disgusting. You simply feel as though you let everyone down. The men, as a collective unit, relied on you to deliver a strong first-game pitch. Really, it’s simply embarrassing. I simply feel that I let everyone down. That’s not a good way to begin the postseason. That wasn’t how it should have started for me, but obviously we still have a chance at this.

According to Kershaw, his injury had no effect on his performance.

He declared, “I feel fine.” “I feel good. Obviously, I didn’t make nearly enough excellent pitches tonight. This is simply poor pitching; there is no health concern.”

Another veteran had a far better night in Houston. Justin Verlander pitched six shutout innings, Yordan Alvarez homered twice and the defending World Series champion Astros held on for a 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins in their ALDS opener.

In Baltimore, Texas led the Orioles 3-2 despite nervous moments in the sixth inning thanks to hits from Andrew Heaney and Dane Dunning. The Rangers’ infamous bullpen also performed admirably. Texas, who are already 3-0 in these playoffs, took advantage of a crucial double play that was started by Josh Jung, who also scored a home run.

In Atlanta, Bryce Harper homered, Ranger Suárez and the Philadelphia bullpen stifled baseball’s most prolific offense, as the Phillies blanked the 104-win Braves 3-0 in Game 1.

In a playoff rematch between division rivals, the East champion Braves find themselves in exactly the same position as a year ago: trailing the wildcard Phillies after the opener at Truist Park.

The Phillies went on to a 3-1 upset of the Braves in 2022 on an improbable run to the World Series. They will now resume their journey to Atlanta for Monday night’s Game 2 of the best-of-five series.