In the National League,
No. 4 Padres vs. No. 1 Brewers
• The Padres (as mentioned in the Wild Card guide) have 2022 Lugnut Mason Miller and 2018 Lugnut Samad Taylor (0-for-3, 2 K vs. the Cubs).
It's been a rollercoaster of emotions for Miller, who blew a save in Game 2 on a two-out, two-run, walk-off single from Jackson Chourio, older brother of 2025-2026 Lake County Captain Jaison Chourio, and then was placed on the paternity list. (Congratulations!)
• The Brew Crew are without Lugnuts, but they have 10 former Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, including Jacob Misiorowski, who pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings against the Nuts in 2023.
No. 3 Braves vs. No. 2 Dodgers
• In addition to 2014-2015 Lugnut Rowdy Tellez, the Braves added deadline acquisition Lane Thomas to their NLDS roster. Thomas batted just .114 for the Nuts in 2015 (4-for-35) and .216 in Lansing in 2016, but is in his eighth MLB season. This was the fourth time he has been traded.
• Among others, the Dodgers have former Great Lakes Loons Andy Pages and Josue De Paula, former Bowling Green Hot Rod Blake Snell, former West Michigan Whitecap Tarik Skubal, former Quad Cities River Bandit Teoscar Hernández, former Clinton LumberKing Edwin Díaz, and... 2004 Lansing Lugnut Mark Prior as their pitching coach.
In the American League,
No. 6 White Sox vs. No. 2 Guardians
• There are no former Lugnuts on the White Sox, though we did see Brock Stewart and Miguel Vargas come through Great Lakes, Jake Rogers and Tommy Pham in Quad Cities, and Randal Grichuk in Cedar Rapids
• The Guardians have former TinCaps Austin Hedges and Joey Cantillo and a whole bunch of former Lake County Captains (Travis Bazzana, Bryan Rocchio, Daniel Schneeman, Petey Halpin, Chase DeLauter, Shawn Armstrong, Daniel Espino, Hunter Gaddis, Parker Messick, Gavin Williams, et al.).
Lastly,
No. 4 Yankees vs. No. 1 Rays
• The Yankees have Jazz Chisholm, Jr., who is great friends with 2018 Lugnut Chavez Young. The A's traded Paul Blackburn to the Yanks for 2024 Lugnut Kade Morris, who made his MLB debut this year. John Schreiber was a Whitecap, Ryan Weathers and Max Fried were TinCaps.
• The Rays have Richie Palacios, younger brother of 2016-2016 Lugnut Joshua Palacios, while infielder Jorge Mateo was once traded by the A's for 2022 Lugnut Junior Pérez, who made his MLB debut this year.