For much of the week or so building up to the beginning of the MLB playoffs, there was a lot of chatter going on about the postseason format and how goofy it was (to use a kind word) for the second-best team in the American League to be shunted to a Wild Card Series while one with eight fewer wins got a first-round bye and another that was flat-out .500 was given equal treatment with home field in the Wild Card.
The Yankees can’t do anything about it. It is absolutely fair to say that they had chances
to avoid this fate by simply the AL East over an upstart Rays team, and despite a more impressive club on paper than Tampa Bay—which finished under .500 in 2025—they fell short of that. If you don’t win your division, then you are subject to the vagaries of the Wild Card. That’s just how it goes, and if the Yankees are fortunate to advance, then they’ll have other repercussions down the road. But the Dodgers were the lower seed in every playoff round last year after the Wild Card Series. In 2023, the Rangers were never the high seed in any of their four series. They both managed; the Yankees must do the same.
Anyway, the Yankees did at least know that by outplaying the Red Sox in the regular season, they were assured of hosting all three potential games of their Wild Card Series showdown at Yankee Stadium. Sometimes, home-field advantage can be overstated, it’s true. In this particular head-to-head, however? Even beyond getting last at-bats, it feels like a world of difference between playing it at Fenway Park and the Bronx. Weird things tend to happen at Fenway with the Green Monster, very limited foul territory, the triangle in center, the sharp turn of the right-field wall up from Pesky Pole, and more. That “weird” axiom holds true in seasons when the Red Sox aren’t good; they can still win those games. So if nothing else, it was a comfort to know that aside from the occasional surprising Short Porch Special, the ballgames would be more straightforward.
Then, of course, there’s the crowd energy. Baseball players live off of it, and though the new Yankee Stadium has had its ups and downs in that department across its 17 years of existence (I was still in college when it opened, yikes), when it brings the vibe, it brings the vibe. Alex Rodriguez’s game-tying homer off Joe Nathan in the 2009 ALDS. Hideki Matsui erupting against the Phillies in the Fall Classic. Raúl Ibañez sending shockwaves throughout the Bronx in 2012. Didi Gregorius, Greg Bird, and more providing huge hits during the 2017 playoff run. Giancarlo Stanton dropping taters on the Guardians in the 2024 ALCS. The crowd was such a huge part of making those moments indelible.
It was at it again last night.
Ben Rice brought the power to a Yankees lineup that was a little uneven until later on. Don’t be fooled by the final score if you happened to miss it! This was a tense, low-scoring affair for most of the night. Payton Tolle was very good for Boston, stymieing the Yanks, stranding runners, and making the platoon adjustments against him look poor. The bottom of the order scratched out a run in the second and Rice went 423 feet to dead center for a second run immediately after Boston skipper Chad Tracy pulled Tolle.
The man responsible for making that hold up was a familiar nemesis to the Red Sox: Cam Schlittler. He brought the stamp to one of those past huge Yankee Stadium moments in 2025 when he broke out to send Boston home in the winner-take-all Game 3 of that Wild Card rumble, firing eight shutout innnings with a dozen strikeouts on 107 pitches. Schlittler was not as efficient this time around, but that didn’t mean the Red Sox had much of an idea about what to do with him.
Schlittler deviated from his standard all-fastball-focused approach, deploying his curve 27 percent of the time to help generate 10 strikeouts and 24 swings and misses. He shook off a lost 10-pitch battle against Adley Rutschman in the first without a sweat and kept steamrolling through the Red Sox lineup.
Aaron Boone was so confident in how he looked that he let Schlittler hang out there for 117 pitches—not that strange a figure from my days of growing up as a fan but nearly unheard-of these days. It was the highest pitch count for a Yankee in the playoffs since CC Sabathia almost single-handedly eliminated the Orioles in 2012 ALDS Game 5. But Cam kept feeding off the crowd and frustrating the Red Sox batters, and in a short series, it was understandably tempting for Boone to see how much of the bullpen’s best he could avoid. That’s a dude.
It worked out, as only Paul Blackburn relieved Schlittler; Brent Headrick warmed up but didn’t pitch, and thanks to Rice, David Bednar never got that far. The Red Sox bullpen let the game get away from them, with Rice tallying an RBI knock during a two-run seventh before really slamming the door with a grand slam off Brayan Bello.
Let’s keep the energy going tonight at 161st and River and see if the Yankees can end this series without needing to sweat out another potential Wild Card Series elimination game. The crowd can only do so much if the guys on the field aren’t capitalizing, but the Yanks sure did a great job of it on Tuesday night.
The playoff fever continues today on the site. Matt will name his Player of the Game for the Wild Card opener, Jonathan will preview tonight’s Game 2 matchup between Max Fried and Sonny Gray. Both will return when Matt recaps the full postseason action across the majors yesterday and Jonathan celebrates the 122nd birthday of 1932 Yankees World Series champion Johnny Allen. Scott will also be back for one last fond farewell to the RailRiders Era. And keep an eye out for Dani throughout the afternoon as he tackles any notable news that comes across the ol’ transom.
Today’s Matchup:
American League Wild Card Series Game 2
New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox
Time: 8:00 p.m. EST
TV: NBC/Peacock
Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
