BATON ROUGE, La. – Four former LSU players are poised to participate in the 2024 Major League Baseball Playoffs, which kick off on Tuesday.
The former Tigers currently on active playoff rosters include Alex Bregman, a third baseman for the Houston Astros, and Aaron Nola, a right-handed pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Additionally, infielder DJ LeMahieu of the New York Yankees and catcher Hunter Feduccia of the Los Angeles Dodgers are on their teams’ 40-man rosters and may be activated during the postseason.
Since 1990, a total of 43 former Tigers have been part of MLB playoff teams, with 14 of them winning World Series championships, including Bregman, who celebrated victories with the Astros in 2017 and 2022.
Bregman’s Astros will open their American League Wild Card Series against the Detroit Tigers at 1:30 p.m. CT Tuesday in Houston. The Phillies, Yankees, and Dodgers will enter playoff action on Saturday in the best-of-seven Divisional Series once the Wild Card Series winners are determined.
The regular season will conclude with a doubleheader on Monday in Atlanta, featuring the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets, which will also finalize the last two NL Wild Card teams. The Dodgers, as the NL West champions, are set to face either the Braves, Mets, or San Diego Padres in the NLDS starting Saturday. The Phillies, champions of the NL East, will start their NLDS matchup on Saturday against the Mets, Milwaukee Brewers, or Arizona Diamondbacks. The Yankees, champions of the AL East, will face either the Kansas City Royals or Baltimore Orioles in an ALDS beginning Saturday.
Nola and Feduccia hail from Louisiana, with Nola from Baton Rouge and Feduccia from Lake Charles. LeMahieu is originally from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., while Bregman is from Albuquerque, N.M.
Bregman has established himself as a two-time World Series champion and four-time AL pennant winner, along with being a two-time All-Star and the 2018 All-Star Game MVP. In the 2024 regular season, he maintained a batting average of .260, logging 30 doubles, two triples, 26 home runs, 75 RBIs, and 79 runs scored.
This marks Bregman’s ninth season with the Astros, who selected him as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft.
Nola is a 2018 NL All-Star who contributed to Philadelphia’s National League pennant win in 2022. In the current season, he posted a record of 14-8 along with a 3.57 ERA across 199.1 innings, striking out 197 batters. Notably, in 2022, Nola set a record with 235 strikeouts while allowing fewer than 30 walks (29), making history in Major League Baseball. He was selected by the Phillies as their first-round draft choice in 2014, entering his 10th MLB season.
LeMahieu, now in his 14th Major League season and sixth with the Yankees, finished the 2024 regular season with a .204 batting average, achieving five doubles, two home runs, 26 RBIs, and 19 runs scored. He is a three-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove Award winner, and a two-time Silver Slugger Award recipient. Notably, he clinched batting titles in both leagues, being the first player in modern Major League history to do so.
Feduccia, who was selected by the Dodgers in the 12th round of the 2018 Draft, made his MLB debut in July and participated in five games during the regular season, recording four hits in 12 at-bats, along with one RBI and two runs. At Triple-A Oklahoma City, he had an impressive season, batting .295 with a .420 on-base percentage and a .451 slugging percentage over 64 games.