MLB Playoffs: One Decisive Question for Each Team in the Wild Card Round

Playoff baseball is back!

The 2023 MLB playoffs started Tuesday afternoon with four games in the Wild Card round. There are 12 teams (six National League and six American League) left with hopes of winning The Commissioner's Trophy, presented to the winner of the World Series.

While some might be tempted to wait until the divisional or championship matchups, don't sleep on the Wild Card round. Last season, the Philadelphia Phillies made the Fall Classic as a Wild Card team in the first season of the new playoff format.

Each of the four series will be decided in a best-of-three format with the better seeded team hosting each game Tuesday. Game 2 is scheduled for Wednesday and, if needed, Game 3 will played Friday.

The American League playoff picture features the No. 6 seed Toronto Blue Jays traveling to the Twin Cities to play the Minnesota Twins. The series winner will face No. 2 seed Houston Astros, the defending World Champions, in the divisional round.

No. 4 seed Tampa Bay Rays hosts the No. 5 seed Texas Rangers, with the winner advancing to face No. 1 seed Baltimore Orioles.

In the National League, No. 5 seed Miami Marlins will face a familiar foe in the No. 4 seed Phillies, with the winner going on to play No. 1 seed Atlanta Braves. The series winner between the No. 6 seed Arizona Diamondbacks and the No. 3 seed Milwaukee Brewers will play the No. 2 seed Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Braves, Dodgers, Orioles and Astros will watch with the rest of the baseball world as their opponents battle it out in the Wild Card round. Let's get into the most essential question for each team in the first round of the 2023 MLB Playoffs.

Toronto Blue Jays

Is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ready for the spotlight of the playoffs?

For most players, 26 home runs and a .264/.345/.444 slash line is a strong season, but most players aren't Guerrero.

Brandon Belt, Bo Bichette and George Springer have cache, but Guerrero is the player the Blue Jays need most for a playoff run.

While the offense has gone through lulls in the season and the bullpen faltered toward the end of the season, the Blue Jays have been bolstered by their starting pitching.

Kevin Gausman is the Game 1 starter, entering it with a 12-9 record, 3.16 ERA and 237 strikeouts. Jose Berrios had a 3.65 ERA this season, bouncing back after leading the AL in earned runs allowed last season.

Texas Rangers

Can the Rangers either out-slug or out-pitch the Rays?

Bruce Bochy showed why he's likely a Hall of Fame manager by leading the Rangers to the playoffs in his first year at the helm. Last season, the Rangers limped to a losing record. Bochy had to overcome significant injuries in the rotation to improve on last year's season. The loss of Jacob deGrom, Jon Gray and Max Scherzer left a hole in the pitching department.

But Nathan Eovaldi and Jordan Montgomery are reliable starting pitchers. And the team can clearly hit, scoring more runs than any other team in the American league during the regular season. The second-best team in that category? Their opponents in the Wild Card round.

Tampa Bay Rays

Can the Rays survive if Jose Siri isn't healthy?

Jose Siri's broken hand looms large for the Rays. The centerfielder hit 25 home runs for the Rays before missing the last three weeks of the season with a hairline fracture in his right hand. The Rays are listing him on the playoff roster and he'll bat eighth.

Tampa Bay has been able to overcome injuries to key players like Luke Raley and Brandon Lowe. They've also been without Wander Franco, who is on administrative leave. The Rays have a deep team, but they're young with lots of rookies and second-year players in key positions. The old-school "next man up" mentality has worked, but there are always limits.

Minnesota Twins

Can the Twins infielders overcome injuries to be effective?

Carlos Correa missed the final two weeks of the season with plantar fasciitis. Until that point in the season, he'd had nearly a base hit per game, putting up 118 hits in 135 games. Royce Lewis was named the American League's Rookie of the Month in September despite not playing since September 19 due to a hamstring ailment.

Correa and Lewis are pivotal as infielders and hitters. Without Byron Buxton in the lineup for this series, they'll need all the help they can get against the Blue Jays.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Can the Diamondbacks survive a rough pitching performance in Game 1?

Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen have proven themselves as viable starters during the run that led the Diamondbacks to the playoffs. However, the only other pitcher with a sub-5.00 ERA (Tommy Henry) is injured. Kelly and Gallen are capable getting the D-Backs past the Brewers with deep outings, but neither can pitch until Games 2 and 3, respectively.

Arizona will need every bit of offense that Corbin Carroll, Ketel Martin and Christian Walker can provide. All three had OPS numbers above .800 this year on a team with a negative run differential and rode a four-game losing streak into the playoffs.

Miami Marlins

Can Jesus Luzardo and Braxton Garrett pick up the slack for a missing Cy Young winner?

Sandy Alcantara's setback in a rehab start leaves the Marlins without one of the better pitchers in baseball. And still, they have found ways to win despite giving up 57 more runs than they scored this season. Jesus Luzardo and Braxton Garrett both kept their ERAs in the mid-threes. They'll need help from second baseman Luis Arraez, who led all of baseball with a .354 batting average this season.

Philadelphia Phillies

Can the Phillies' renewed power surge get them back to the World Series?

The Phillies have a potent lineup led by Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber. Despite those big names, the Phillies ended the month of July toward the bottom third of teams in home runs and were barely holding on to a Wild Card position.

Philadelphia picked up the power with 59 home runs in August and 46 in September to go from 21st in the league to eighth. That extra run production led them to finish 90-72, and find themselves hosting the opening round of the playoffs.

Milwaukee Brewers

Can the Brewers survive without Brandon Woodruff?

The Brewers count on their starting pitching and deep bullpen to win games with an offense that struggles to score runs.

Brandon Woodruff is out for the Wild Card round and could miss the entire playoffs. He had a 5-1 record with a 2.28 ERA in 11 starts this season. That kind of shutdown pitcher is critical for playoff contenders.

Still, the Brewers pitching unit had a 3.71 ERA this season, the best in baseball. Freddy Peralta and Corbin Burnes are on normal rest and are two of the better pitchers in the game. Milwaukee will need them at their best to get past a potent Diamondbacks lineup.