LSU sees five former players reach the MLB Postseason

BATON ROUGE, La. – Five former LSU players have an opportunity to participate in the 2025 Major League Baseball Playoffs that begin on Tuesday.

The former LSU stars who are eligible to appear on MLB playoff rosters are third baseman Alex Bregman of the Boston Red Sox, right-handed pitcher Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies, right-handed pitcher Kevin Gausman of the Toronto Blue Jays, right-handed pitcher Alex Lange of the Detroit Tigers and right-handed pitcher Paul Gervase of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

A total of 45 former Tigers have been a part of MLB playoff teams since 1990, and 15 former LSU players have been members of World Series Championship teams in that span, including Bregman, who claimed World Series rings with the Houston Astros in 2017 and in 2022.

Detroit will meet the Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of a best-of-three American League Wild Card Series at 12 p.m. CT Tuesday in Cleveland’s Progressive Field. The Red Sox will open an AL Wild Card Series against the New York Yankees at 5 p.m. CT Tuesday in Yankee Stadium. The Dodgers will face the Cincinnati Reds in an NL Wild Card series beginning at 8 p.m. CT Tuesday in Dodger Stadium.

The Phillies and the Blue Jays received first-round byes and will begin playoff action on Saturday in the best-of-seven Divisional Series, after the Wild Card Series winners have been determined.

The AL East champion Blue Jays will face either the Red Sox or the Yankees in an ALDS starting on Saturday, and the NL East champion Phillies will face either the Reds or the Dodgers in an NLDS beginning on Saturday.

Bregman, along with being a two-time World Series champion and four-time AL pennant winner during his nine seasons with the Astros (2016-24), is a three-time All-Star and the 2018 All-Star Game MVP. He was the No. 2 overall selection by Houston in the 2015 MLB Draft.

Bregman is in his first season in Boston, where he batted .273 with 28 doubles, 18 homers, 62 RBI and 64 runs and was an All-Star Game selection for the third time in his career.

Nola, a 2018 NL All-Star, helped lead Philadelphia to the National League pennant in 2022, and this season he has recorded five wins with 97 strikeouts in 94.1 innings.

In 2022, he registered the most strikeouts (235) with fewer than 30 walks (29) in Major League Baseball History. Nola, the Phillies’ first-round draft choice in 2014, is in his 11th MLB season in Philadelphia, and he has a 109-89 career record with a 3.83 ERA and 1,876 strikeouts in 1,715.2 innings.

Gausman is in his 13th MLB season and his fourth with the Blue Jays, posting 10 wins with a 3.59 ERA and 189 strikeouts in 193.0 innings. He was voted to the 2023 American League All-Star team, and he helped lead Toronto to a playoff berth in 2023 by posting a 12-9 mark with a 3.16 ERA and 237 strikeouts in 185.0 innings.

Gausman was a 2021 National League All-Star with the San Francisco Giants, recording a 14-6 mark with a 2.81 ERA and 227 strikeouts in 192 innings. He was selected in the first round of the 2012 MLB Draft by the Baltimore Orioles.

Lange, who made his MLB debut with Detroit in April 2021, was the 2017 first-round draft selection of the Chicago Cubs. He has collected in his career 15 wins and 29 saves in 196 games for the Tigers with a 3.70 ERA and 222 strikeouts in 184.2 innings.

Lange, the American League Reliever of the Month in May 2023, has spent most of this season on minor league rehab assignments as he recovers from an injury. He made his first MLB appearance of the 2025 season on August 18, when he worked 1.0 scoreless inning against the Astros.

Gervase, who made his MLB debut in June 2025 with the Tampa Bay Rays, was traded to the Dodgers on July 31. He made his first appearance with Los Angeles on August 20 against the Colorado Rockies, working 2.0 innings.

Prior to joining the Dodgers, Gervase pitched 6.1 innings in five appearances this season for Tampa Bay, recording six strikeouts.

How the MLB Postseason Works

Major League Baseball unveiled a postseason format in 2022 that expanded both the pool of teams and the Wild Card round.

Here are answers to questions you might have about the format.

How many teams make the MLB playoffs?
The bracket-style postseason involves 12 teams (six from each league) — an increase from 10 teams (five in each league) in the previous format. That includes the three division winners in each league and three Wild Card teams per league.

Does the Wild Card Game still exist?
No, the single-elimination Wild Card Game, which was in use from 2012-19 and again in ’21, was replaced by a best-of-three Wild Card Series.

How are the teams seeded?
In each league, as follows:

• No. 1 seed: Best league record
• No. 2 seed: Second-best division winner
• No. 3 seed: Third-best division winner
• No. 4 seed: Best record among Wild Card teams
• No. 5 seed: Second-best record among Wild Card teams
• No. 6 seed: Third-best record among Wild Card teams