A Jewish guide to the 2024 MLB playoffs

October has arrived, heralding the return of playoff baseball and — for a handful of Jewish ballplayers — a shot at World Series glory.

Of the 12 teams in the 2024 MLB postseason, six have a Jewish player (or two).

Some, like Alex Bregman and Max Fried, are playoff veterans with plenty of October experience and lore. Others, like relievers Max Lazar and Scott Effross, could get their first taste of postseason baseball.

Here’s a Jewish guide to the MLB playoffs, which began Tuesday.

Wild Card round

Each of the four Wild Card series will feature one Jewish player.

In the American League, the No. 3 seed Houston Astros host the No. 6 Detroit Tigers, while the No. 4 Baltimore Orioles host the No. 5 Kansas City Royals.

(The Wild Card round is a best-of-three competition, with the winner of each series advancing to the Division Series. The top two teams in each league receive a bye and advance straight to the Division Series, where they will play the Wild Card winners.)

Alex Bregman, the star third baseman on the Astros, is one of the most experienced postseason hitters in MLB history. Entering Tuesday’s action, Bregman’s 97 career playoff games and 362 postseason at-bats were both ninth all-time, while his 19 playoff home runs were tied for fifth and his 54 RBI were tied for sixth.

Bregman, 30, is a free agent after this year, and is appearing in his eighth consecutive postseason. In two of those postseasons — 2017 and 2022 — the Astros won the World Series, and they made it to the Fall Classic in 2019 and 2021. Bregman enters this October after a solid 2024 regular season, with 26 home runs, 75 RBI and a .260 batting average.

In the other A.L. matchup, Orioles starting pitcher Dean Kremer will look to improve on his sole (and disastrous) postseason start last year. On Oct. 10, 2023 — just three days after Hamas’ attack on Israel, where Kremer has family — he became likely the first Israeli to play in an MLB playoff game when he started Game 3 of the ALDS against the Texas Rangers. It didn’t go well: Kremer surrendered six runs in 1.2 innings as the Orioles lost 7-1 and were swept by the Rangers, who ended up winning the World Series.

If the Wild Card series this year goes to Game 3, Kremer, 28, would be lined up to start. That game is scheduled for Thursday, the first day of Rosh Hashanah. Overall, Kremer notched a pedestrian 4.10 ERA in 24 starts in 2024, though he ended the season on a strong note, with a 2.25 ERA in his final four starts.

Over in the National League, the No. 3 Milwaukee Brewers host the No. 6 New York Mets, while the No. 4 San Diego Padres host the No. 5 Atlanta Braves.

Heading into the final day of the regular season yesterday, three teams were tied for the N.L.’s last two Wild Card spots: the Mets, Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks. A chaotic Mets-Braves doubleheader, which those teams split, earned both of them postseason berths and left last year’s N.L. champion D-Backs as the odd team out — along with Arizona outfielder Joc Pederson, a Team Israel alum.

For the Mets, outfielder Harrison Bader returns for his fifth career postseason, and his first with the Mets. Bader, who began wearing a Star of David on his belt this season, played in 143 regular season games for New York, a career high. He hit 12 home runs with a career-best 51 RBI while playing solid defense in center field.

Bader, 30, has appeared in 19 career playoff games with the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees. He became something of a Yankees folk hero in 2022, with five home runs in nine postseason games.

In the other N.L. series, 2021 World Series champion Max Fried is eyeing another ring with his Braves, who squeaked into the playoffs after Monday’s doubleheader. Fried will start Game 2 on Wednesday night, which is Erev Rosh Hashanah.

Fried, 30, who is also a free agent after this season, was an All-Star in 2024, posting a 3.25 ERA in 29 starts with 166 strikeouts. Fried has 19 career postseason appearances under his belt, including 11 starts, with a lackluster 4.57 ERA. But Fried did pitch the Braves’ decisive Game 6 victory in 2021 to beat Bregman and the Astros. (The 2021 World Series featured four Jewish players, likely a record.)

Division Series

While the Wild Card series unfold, the New York Yankees, Cleveland Guardians, Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies rest up patiently for their Division Series opponents to emerge.

The Yankees, the American League’s top seed, could choose to elevate reliever Scott Effross to its roster, either for the ALDS or a later round. Effross, 30, missed the 2023 season and most of 2024 with multiple injuries. He made his 2024 debut on Sept. 1 and appeared in three games for the Yankees.

Any number of factors — injuries, underperformance, scheduling — could lead the Yankees to turn to Effross at some point this month, in what would be his postseason debut.

In the N.L., the No. 2 seed Phillies will feature backup catcher Garrett Stubbs, another Team Israel alum who made Jewish baseball history more than once this season — first as a pitcher and later in his normal place behind the plate.

Stubbs, 31, played in a career-high 54 games this season with a single home run. He has three career playoff appearances, though he has yet to take an at-bat in October.

Stubbs’ teammate Max Lazar, a relief pitcher who participated alongside Stubbs and Pederson in a historic Jewish trifecta in August, also appears to have a shot at making his postseason debut this month.

Lazar, 25, made his MLB debut in August and appeared in 11 games for the Phillies down the stretch, with a 4.61 ERA. According to The Athletic, Lazar could win the final roster spot for Philadelphia.

The Division Series both start Saturday, Oct. 5.