On the heels of a wild day of NLDS games that saw both series head into a travel day tied up, here are three things well be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today: 1. ALDS Game 2: Both ALDS series are scheduled to have their second games this evening, with the Royals and Tigers playing catch-up after falling to the Yankees and Guardians respectively in Game 1. Fortunately for the underdogs, each club will send an ace lefty to the mound after leaning on them to win Game 1 of the Wild Card series. Julian Aguiar Jersey In the case of the Royals, that means theyll be trotting out , who posted a 3.14 ERA (135 ERA+) with a 3.00 FIP in 32 starts during the regular season before throwing six scorele s frames against the Orioles with eight strikeouts in his first career postseason appearance. Hell be tasked with taking on Yankees southpaw , who bounced back after a brutal 2023 season to posted a 3.96 ERA (104 ERA+) in 175 innings of work this season. Meanwhile, the Tigers will lean on lefty in todays game against the division-rival Guardians. The winner of the pitching Triple Crown in the AL and the likely favorite for the AL Cy Young Award, Skubal turned in an utterly dominant season with a 2.39 ERA (170 ERA+) and a 2.50 FIP in in 192 frames this year before throwing six scorele s innings of his own against the Astros during the first postseason appearance of his career. Skubal will face former teammate , who spent eight of his ten career seasons in Detroit, in this evenings game. Boyd, a midseason signing who sat out the first half while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, has looked great since his return, with a 2.72 ERA (151 ERA+) and a 27.7% strikeout rate in eight regular season starts. 2. Freeman day-to-day: In addition to a brutal 10-2 rout at the hands of the Padres last night, the Dodgers were dealt another blow when star first baseman had to be removed after aggravating his injured right ankle. Freeman is considered day-to-day for now, but as noted by , manager Dave Roberts did not seem optimistic about his first basemans availability going forward in the series, calling the injury not ideal and of concern. That said, the Dodgers also expre sed pe simism about Freemans availability for Game 1 of the series before he went on to not only start the game but go 2-for-5 with a stolen base. If Freeman is unable to take the field, figures to slide from first base to third base. or could handle third base, with the other slotting into center field. 3. Bogaerts exits due to cramping: Padres shortstop also exited San Diegos win in the bottom of the eighth inning last night due to what he described to reporters (including those at ) last night as hamstring cramps. The club will already be without primary shortstop for the remainder of the postseason, a reality that forced Bogaerts back to his old position in the first place. Its not expected to be an i sue that leaves Bogaerts unavailable, but itll still be worth keeping a watchful eye on how he comes out of todays off-day workout. The Friars arent lacking players with shortstop experience if Bogaerts does need to mi s a game. Light-hitting utilityman is on the bench, and the lineup features former shortstops , and all playing other positions. First baseman/second baseman has also played more than 400 big league innings at short. Brandon Leibrandt Jersey