How fitting that the MLB playoffs kick off right on October 1st. The four-game Wild Card slate is filled to the brim with storylines, so let’s break down five to watch for on the 1st day of the postseason.

#1 Welcome to the playoffs Tarik Skubal – Not many people had Tarik Skubal making a postseason start with the Detroit Tigers in 2024 on their bingo card but that’s baseball for you.

The red-hot Tigers will travel to Houston to take on the postseason veteran Astros in their best-of-three Wild Card series.

Not much looks to be an advantage for Detroit in this series but the Skubal being on the mound in game one certainly does.

After putting up an 18-4 record with a 2.39 ERA and 0.922 WHIP Skubal is a lock to win the AL CY Young. In his last start with the Tigers seemingly in a must-win scenario, Skubal fired seven shutout innings in Detroit’s 2-1 win over the Rays.

Today, we see if Skubal can take his CY Young-level pitching and clutch play into October.

#2 How do the inexperienced Royals take on a rocking Camden Yards – Last season, the Texas Rangers went into Camden Yards and took games one and two of their ALDS sweep over the Orioles en route to their first World Series title.

Flash Forward nearly a year later, and the inexperienced Kansas City Royals will look to do the same in a Wild Card series which figures to be much tougher.

Kansas City returns to the postseason for the first time since winning it all back in 2015 and this time their roster looks a lot different.

Salvador Perez remains the only Royal who won the World Series 2015 and is still on the team nearly a decade later.

Besides him and former Astro Yuli Gurriel, none of the other Royals have much postseason experience.

It’ll be interesting to see how Bobby Witt and the crew react to playing in what could be the best playoff atmosphere in all of baseball.

#3 Can the Brewers’ “small ball” work at high levels in the postseason – If you’re a fan of small ball, you might choose to root for the Milwaukee Brewers in the postseason.

Amongst the top teams in all of baseball in stolen bases and sacrifices, Pat Murphy has the Brew Crew playing an old-school brand of baseball.

Last season, the Arizona Diamondbacks who played with a similar system went through Milwaukee on the way to the World Series.

The Brewers who won the NL Central with a 93-69 record, are once again back in the Wild Card Round and will look to ride their throwback style of play to a deep postseason run.

#4 Can Jackson Merrill continue his rookie breakout in October – If you would have told people that Paul Skenes won 11 games to the tune of a 1.96 ERA, they would have told you he’s a lock for NL Rookie Of The Year… not on Jackson Merrill’s watch.

Playing in 156 games, Merrill slashed .292/.326/.500 with 24 home runs and 90 RBI while making the All-Star team as a rookie.

His breakout is a key reason the Padres finished 2024 with a 93-69 record, claiming the top Wild Card spot where they will host the New York Mets.

Naturally, when you watch San Deigo, your eyes turn to Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado but Jackson Merill is going to get plenty of looks in October.

Merrill’s play this postseason could help determine how deep of a run the Padres will make.

#5 How will the Mets and Braves respond to playing the day after a doubleheader – Monday’s doubleheader between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves wasn’t postseason baseball but it sure felt like it.

The two teams split the pair of games helping them both reach the postseason and leaving the defending champion Arizona Diamondbacks on the outside looking in.

One day later both teams are in new cities and ready to begin their best-of-three Wild Card series.

For the Mets, it was a flight to Milwaukee to take on the NL Central champion Brewers, and for Atlanta a trip to sunny San Deigo for a battle with the Padres.

With such unprecedented circumstances, it’ll be worth watching to see how the two teams look one day after playing 18 innings of baseball.