Yankees

Yankees vs. Red Sox Wild Card Preview: Schlittler Gets Game 1

By ••4 min read
Yankees vs. Red Sox Wild Card Preview: Schlittler Gets Game 1

AI Overview

The Yankees host Boston in a best-of-three AL Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET, with Cam Schlittler starting Game 1 after a 14-6 regular season featuring a 1.95 ERA and 239 strikeouts. Boston counters with rookie Payton Tolle, while Max Fried and Sonny Gray are scheduled for Game 2. Aaron Judge’s availability remains uncertain as he recovers from a right calf strain, and the Yankees may need Ben Rice’s power. New York won the regular-season series 7-6.

Yankees. Red Sox. October. Yankee Stadium.

There really isn’t much else that needs to be said to sell this one.

The Yankees will host Boston in a best-of-three American League Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET. New York finished 93-68 and grabbed the top AL Wild Card spot, while Boston comes into the postseason at 87-75. Tampa Bay won the division at 98-64 and waits for the winner in the ALDS.

But before anybody starts thinking about Tampa, the Yankees have some business to handle with a team that knows them extremely well.

It starts with Cam Schlittler

If you’re the Yankees, there probably isn’t another pitcher you’d rather hand the baseball to in Game 1.

Schlittler finished an incredible regular season 14-6 with a 1.95 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 239 strikeouts across 193 2/3 innings. Against Boston, he was even nastier: 2-1 with a 0.74 ERA and 27 strikeouts in four starts.

And Boston already knows what he can do when the lights get brighter.

Last October, after the Red Sox took Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, the Yankees came back to win the next two. Schlittler delivered the knockout punch with eight innings and 12 strikeouts.

Now he’s getting the baseball to open the series.

Boston counters with rookie left-hander Payton Tolle, who finished 9-6 with a 3.03 ERA and 171 strikeouts. Don’t dismiss him because he’s a rookie, either. Tolle owns a 0.69 ERA in two career starts against the Yankees.

So anybody expecting the Yankees to simply walk into the Stadium and start launching baseballs into the seats might want to slow down.

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Game 2 could be the problem

Wednesday’s matchup has Max Fried against Sonny Gray, and this is where the series could get uncomfortable.

Fried finished 5-5 with a 2.80 ERA in an injury-shortened season after dealing with an elbow bone bruise. He’s pitched well since returning, but Gray has been one of Boston’s biggest weapons all season, going 18-5 with a 2.72 ERA.

If Schlittler handles Game 1 and Boston answers behind Gray in Game 2, suddenly we’re talking about Gerrit Cole with the season sitting on his shoulders Thursday night.

Sound stressful enough?

That’s Yankees-Red Sox in October.

And then there’s Aaron Judge

The biggest Yankees question isn’t difficult to identify.

How much Aaron Judge are they actually getting?

Judge took live batting practice Monday as he continues working back from the right calf strain that sent him to the injured list late in the season. He already missed 84 games earlier this year because of the right first-rib stress fracture that derailed most of his season.

Judge wants to play right field. The Yankees obviously want his bat somewhere in that lineup. But wanting something and being physically ready for playoff baseball are two different things.

If he’s available only as a DH or pinch hitter, then Ben Rice becomes even more important.

Rice has earned that responsibility. He finished at .264/.363/.534 with 41 home runs and 97 RBIs, establishing himself as the biggest consistent power threat in this lineup while Judge was unavailable.

New York also has Luis García Jr., Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, Spencer Jones, Heliot Ramos and Ryan McMahon available to build around.

The Yankees hit just .235 as a team, but they blasted 223 home runs and scored 739 runs. We know what that means by now: when the power shows up, this offense can bury you quickly. When it doesn’t, things can get ugly just as fast.

Boston isn’t coming to watch

The Red Sox don’t have the same home-run numbers, finishing with 163, but there’s enough here to cause problems.

Wilyer Abreu hit 24 homers with 76 RBIs. Ceddanne Rafaela hit .283, while Willson Contreras added 27 home runs. Boston doesn’t need to outslug the Yankees if its pitching keeps games tight.

And that’s why this series comes down to something we’ve talked about all season: pitching.

The Yankees finished with a 3.24 team ERA, best in the American League. Boston finished at 3.54. In a three-game series where one bad inning can end your season, New York needs that pitching advantage to actually show up.

No excuses now

The Yankees won the regular-season series 7-6 and went 4-2 against Boston at Yankee Stadium.

Nice.

None of it matters Tuesday night.

Schlittler gives the Yankees exactly the type of starter you want opening a short postseason series. Fried and Cole give them experience behind him. The bullpen and rotation helped carry this team through a season when the lineup was constantly dealing with injuries.

Now the offense has to give those arms enough room to work.

My prediction is Yankees in three.

I can see Schlittler taking Game 1, Boston answering behind Gray in Game 2 and this thing turning into exactly what Yankees fans probably don’t want for their blood pressure: a winner-take-all Game 3 at Yankee Stadium.

And if that’s where we’re headed?

Give me the Bronx, Gerrit Cole and 48,000 people screaming with the Yankees’ season on the line.

It’s Yankees-Red Sox.

Of course it couldn’t be easy.

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