It all comes down to this. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are going head-to-head tonight at Yankee Stadium for the Game 3 finale of this best-of-three American League Wild Card Series. Whether
this goes down as another true classic in this long rivalry or just another playoff game, the winner will advance to face the division rival who actually won the AL East in 2025: the Toronto Blue Jays. One team will be at Rogers Centre for ALDS Game 1 on Saturday; the other might as well be in Cancun.
The pitching matchup is fascinating, an all-rookie affair between 24-year-old Yankees righty Cam Schlittler and 23-year-old Red Sox southpaw Connelly Early. Both youngsters began 2025 at Double-A and now find themselves pitching with their team’s season on the line.
Managers Aaron Boone and Alex Cora have both expressed confidence in them, but given that this is a winner-take-all showdown, all hands are on deck in each bullpen. As such, I wouldn’t exactly expect a Jack Morris/John Smoltz-esque 1991 World Series Game 7 battle. If both Schlittler and Early are still in there by the end of the fifth, I’d be surprised. Given their short résumés, the end of the fourth might be a reach, too. Just for one point of reference, in their do-or-die Game 3 earlier today Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt pulled second-year pitcher Slade Cecconi after he breezed through the first two innings before allowing back-to-back hits with one down in the third.
In Game 1 of this series, the Yankees faced another southpaw in Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet and deployed a lineup loaded with righties, to mixed results at best. Ben Rice, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Ryan McMahon all took seats. So it was always going to be interesting to see how they approached a less acclaimed lefty. Here’s who the Yankees will roll out against Early — and the arms who follow him in the Boston bullpen.
So unlike Game 1, Boone is sticking with some of the lefty swingers who got him here, with both Rice and Chisholm in there. Both were pivotal to keeping the season alive yesterday, as Rice clobbered a two-run homer while Jazz played good defense and soared around the bases to score the eventual game-winning run in the eighth. They needed to be in there, lefty be damned. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt has done well against southpaws in 2025 but he’s faded in the second half and might be best deployed as a pinch-hit option off the bench later in the game, especially since the Boston bullpen will likely be responsible for most of the innings tonight rather than Early. Trust the guys who got you there in the starting nine when the season’s on the line!
Amed Rosario is the one lefty-hitting specialist who did make the starting nine, subbing in for McMahon at third. To me, that’s fine. He should get at least one at-bat against Early, and whenever the rookie leaves, the defensively superior McMahon can take over.
What do you think of this Yankees lineup? Yay or nay?
