2025 American League Wild Card Series 2

2025 American League Wild Card Series

New York Yankees 94 - 68 in the AL	2 - 1 Series Summary	Boston red Sox 89 - 73 in the AL

Overview[edit]

The Teams[edit]

Managers: Yankees: Aaron Boone | Red Sox: Alex Cora

Yankees

Red Sox

Umpires[edit]

Junior Valentine, Scott Barry, Mark Ripperger, Dan Iassogna (crew chief), Gabe Morales and John Libka

Series results[edit]

Game	Score	Date	Starters	Time (ET)
1	Boston Red Sox 3 New York Yankees 1	September 30	Garrett Crochet (1-0) Max Fried (0-0)	6:08 pm
2	Boston Red Sox 3 New York Yankees 4	October 1	Brayan Bello (0-0) Carlos Rodón (0-0)	6:08 pm
3	Boston Red Sox 0 New York Yankees 4	October 2	Connelly Early (0-1) Cam Schlittler (1-0)	8:08 pm

Results[edit]

Game 1 @ New Yankee Stadium[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Red Sox	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	3	8	0
Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	0
WP: Garrett Crochet (1-0); LP: Luke Weaver (0-1); SV: Aroldis Chapman (1)
Home Runs: NY - Anthony Volpe (1)

Attendance: 47,027

Game 1 was a case of must-see viewing for baseball fans everywhere, with a match-up of two great left-handers in Max Fried for the Yankees and Garrett Crochet for the Red Sox. The two aces did not disappoint, as they both had some of their best stuff and allowed only one run between them. That run came on a solo homer by Anthony Volpe against Crochet in the 2nd, after which he rolled up 17 consecutive outs before being replaced with two outs in the 8th, having thrown a career-high 117 pitches, striking out 11 and walking none. Fried was just as good if not better, even if his numbers were not as dominant, as he did not give up a single run in his 6 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, the Yankees' bullpen then lived up to its reputation as the team's Achilles heel, and the Red Sox were able to score three late runs to escape with the win, but not before some very tense moments.

Crochet took a couple of innings to get into his groove as he gave up singles to the first two batters he faced in the 1st, Paul Goldschmidt and Aaron Judge, but he then escaped with a strikeout of Cody Bellinger and a double play grounder by Giancarlo Stanton. He then gave up the homer to Volpe with two outs in the 2nd, a long drive to the opposite field. But after that, he was impeccable, including disposing of the Yankees on just six pitches in the 7th, allowing him to come back for the 8th. The Red Sox did not do much against Fried either, but he had to leave after recording the first out in the 7th, having reached 102 pitches. That's when trouble started for the Yankees as Luke Weaver settled into a long battle with Ceddanne Rafaela, not normally a patient hitter. However, Rafaela stretched the at-bat to 11 pitches before drawing a walk. Nick Sogard then followed with a hit to right, and taking advantage of the fact that Judge's throwing arm was still not at 100%, made it to second base while Rafaela stopped at third. Rob Refsnyder was due up, but with a righthander now on the mound, Alex Cora called on Masataka Yoshida as a pinch-hitter, and it turned out to be an excellent move as Yoshida singled to center, scoring both runners and giving Boston the lead. That was the end for Weaver who was replaced by Fernando Cruz. He struck out Trevor Story for the second out, but walked Alex Bregman. Cora sent in another pinch-hitter, Nathaniel Lowe, to bat for Romy Gonzalez. Lowe hit a hard line drive to right field, but Judge managed to track it down to end the inning.

Meanwhile, Crochet was still dealing on the mound, making quick work of the Yankees in the 7th, and then striking out Trent Grisham to start the 8th. Volpe followed with a single, breaking the string of consecutive outs, but Crochet struck out Austin Wells for the second out. That was his last batter however, as Cora called on his closer, Aroldis Chapman, to record the final four outs. Volpe tried to break his concentration by dancing around at first base, and he succeeded as Chapman threw over to first base three times without retiring him, which allowed Volpe to get to second base on a balk thanks to the rule limiting throws to a base. Chapman could now concentrate on the batter, however, and he got Jose Caballero to fly out to right field to end the inning. The Red Sox then added an important insurance run in the 9th against David Bednar when Story singled with two outs, stole second, and then scored on a double by Bregman. Chapman returned for the bottom of the 9th, but he quickly got himself in trouble by allowing consecutive singles to Goldschmidt, Judge and Bellinger. However, the Yankees went station-to-station on all the hits, so while they loaded the bases, they did not score. Tension was now at its highest, as Chapman struck out Stanton, then got Jazz Chisholm to fly out to right. The ball looked deep enough for Goldschmidt to score, but he stayed put at third base. The Yankees' last hope was Grisham, who had already struck out three times against Crochet, and was a lefthander facing a lefty. But Aaron Boone had no righty batters on his bench, so Grisham took the at-bat, but he was overmatched. He completed the proverbial Golden Sombrero as he went down swinging against Chapman's 100 mph offerings.

Game 2 @ New Yankee Stadium[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Red Sox	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	6	0
Yankees	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	x	4	10	1
WP: Devin Williams (1-0); LP: Garrett Whitlock (0-1); SV: David Bednar (1)
Home Runs: NY - Ben Rice (1); BOS - Trevor Story (1)

Attendance: 47,993

There had been some controversy in Game 1 when the Yankees had decided not to start two of their most dangerous hitters in Jazz Chisholm and Ben Rice because they were facing a lefthander. This changed for Game 2, and it would pay off for New York, For Boston, however, facing another lefthander in Carlos Rodón, there was no change to the line-up. It was a must-game for the Yankees, but they were confident heading into the game because Boston starter Brayan Bello's main weakness was the gopher ball, which played right into their strength.

Rodón came out firing, making short work of the Red Sox in the 1st, and the Yankees went to work on Bello after two outs. Clay Bellinger singled and Rice followed with a home run hit on a line drive to right field for a 2-0 lead. Boston replied in the 3rd, however, with the bottom of the order after Rodón had retired the first six batters he had faced. Jarren Duran singled and Ceddanne Rafaela drew a walk to put the first two men on base, after which #9 hitter Nick Sogard was asked to lay down a sacrifice bunt. He did so, but when Rodón picked up the ball, his throw to 2B Chisholm who was covering first base was off target, and everyone was safe. Rodón managed to strike out Rob Refsnyder for the first out, but Trevor Story followed with a single to left which tied the score at 2. However, the Yankees escaped further damage when Alex Bregman grounded into a double play. In the bottom of the inning, Red Sox manager Alex Cora made a bold decision, removing his starter Bello after he had allowed two of the first three batters he faced to reach base. In came lefthander Justin Wilson, but Trent Grisham stole third base and Aaron Judge advanced to second on a passed ball on the same play. It looked almost certain that New York would score, but Bellinger hit a fly ball to shallow left, and Rice hit a sharp line drive to right field, where it was caught by Nate Eaton to end the inning.

Rodón settled down after the tough 3rd inning, keeping the Red Sox from scoring in both the 4th and the 5th. In the bottom of the 5th, Justin Slaten replaced Wilson, and after two outs he walked Grisham, then compounded his problems by throwing a wild pitch. He should have gotten out of the inning without damage, because he forced Judge to hit a soft fly ball to left field, but Duran misjudged it and let it drop, the official scorer very generously giving Judge a hit and an RBI. In any case, it was now 3-2 for New York, but that lead was short-lived as Story led off the top of the 6th with a homer, leveling things once again. In the bottom of the inning, the Yankees put two men on base against Steven Matz, but Zack Kelly struck out Anthony Volpe to end the threat. In the 7th, Rodón issued a lead-off walk to Eaton, then threw a wild pitch and hit Duran with a pitch. That was the end of the night for Yankees' starter who gave way to Fernando Cruz, but the Red Sox did everything to throw away the opportunity to take the lead for the first time. First, Rafaela failed to lay down a sacrifice bunt, popping up to Cruz instead. Sogard then hit a short fly to left, prompting Cora to call on Masataka Yoshida to bat for Refsnyder. He hit a hard grounder to Chisholm's right, but Jazz made a diving stop. His throw to first however was short and escaped from Rice at first base, but Eaton was stopped at third base, when he should have scored easily. The bases were loaded for Story, and he hit the ball hard, but to the deepest part of New Yankee Stadium in center field, where Grisham pulled it down.

After New York and Boston both failed to score in their next turn at bat, the Yankees got to Garrett Whitlock who was pitching his second inning in the 8th. He got two quick outs before walking Chisholm, then Austin Wells hit a line drive down the right field line. Wells stopped at first base, but Chisholm belied the Yankees' reputation of not being aggressive on the bases, making it all the way home with the go-ahead run. Whitlock then loaded the bases by allowing another single and a walk, and gave way to rookie Payton Tolle. He got into a full count against Grisham, before getting him to ground out to second. The 9th inning began with a one-run lead for New York and closer David Bednar on the mound. Bednar had had a few hiccups during the season, but not tonight. He struck out Wilyer Abreu, pinch-hitting for Eaton, and then Duran. Boston's last hope was Rafaela, and he hit the ball hard towards the short right field fence, but Judge ran it down as the fans were holding their collective breath. There would need to be a Game 3.

Game 3 @ New Yankee Stadium[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Red Sox	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	2
Yankees	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	x	4	8	1
WP: Cam Schlittler (1-0); LP: Connelly Early (0-1)
Home Runs: none

Attendance: 48,833

Game 3 featured a rare match-up of rookie pitchers in a decisive game, with Cam Schlittler starting for New York against Connelly Early for Boston. Schlittler looked like a veritable veteran with his 14 career starts, in contrast with Early, whose own major league résumé amounted to four starts. Neither of them had ever faced their current opponent either. Schlittler did pitch like a veteran, however, pulling off a masterful performance that could stand the comparison with any other in the Yankees' recent postseason history, as he reeled off eight scoreless innings, walking none and striking out 12. And for a rare occasion, the Yankees managed to win a game without hitting a single home run, as they got all of their runs against Early in the 4th inning. But the pitching match-up was the story of the game, as both youngsters were considered the top pitching prospect in their respective system, and they would be tested in the extreme pressure of a decisive game between the two bitter rivals.

Both pitchers were solid in the early going as no batter managed to reach base in the 1st inning, and Boston's first hit, a lead-off single by Masataka Yoshida in the 2nd, was not followed by any advancement. Giancarlo Stanton doubled to lead off the bottom of the 2nd for the Yankees, but he failed to advance as well as Early was not rattled. In the 3rd, the Red Sox went down in order and the Yankees were limited to a two-out single by Trent Grisham. Yoshida got his second hit of the game with two outs in the 4th, but it again turned out to be harmless. Early was the first to crack, doing so in the bottom of the 4th. Cody Bellinger led off with a double, and Early then walked Stanton before striking out Ben Rice for the first out. The bottom of the order was up, so there was a chance to escape, but Amed Rosario singled to drive in a first run, followed by Jazz Chisholm, whose own hit loaded the bases. Anthony Volpe then advanced everybody ninety feet and doubled the lead with New York's third straight hit. The play that broke the Red Sox's backs was the next one, however: Austin Wells hit a grounder towards 1B Nathaniel Lowe, but the ball deflected off his glove and into right field, and two more runs scored, making the score 4-0. Early then got Grisham to fly out for the second out and Justin Slaten got Bellinger to fly out as well, after having hit Aaron Judge with a pitch to load the bases again. It could have been worse, but the four runs were already a lot for Boston to overcome, given how difficult it had been to score any runs in the series thus far. And in fact there would be no more runs scored by either team all game.

The rest of the game was really a contest to see if Boston's bullpen could keep New York from increasing its already comfortable lead - three pitchers were delegated to do so after Slaten, and all three succeeded - and how long Schlittler could keep muzzling Boston's bats. The answer to that question turned out to be "longer than anyone could have expected". After the Red Sox stranded two runners in the 5th, who had both reached base via singles, he seemed to only get stronger. He allowed another single in the 6th, but nothing else, and then retired the Red Sox in order in the 7th. He was now at 102 pitches, and it truly looked like his magnificent night's work was over, but no: he came out again for the 8th as if he had been transported back to the 1980s. He struck out Romy Gonzalez on five pitches - his 12th strikeout of the evening - then was helped by a tremendous defensive play by 3B Ryan McMahon, who had come in for Rosario for defensive purposes. Jarren Duran popped a foul ball near his team's dugout on the third base side which looked like it would fall out of play, but McMahon reached far over the railing, caught the ball, and then went head over heels to land on his back inside the dugout. It reminded everyone of Derek Jeter's tremendous catch under similar circumstances in the 2003 ALCS - except that McMahon escaped completely unhurt. Schlittler needed just one more pitch to complete his outing, which was hit for a grounder to short by Trevor Story. David Bednar was given the ball for the 9th inning after Aroldis Chapman had recorded three straight strikeouts for Boston in the bottom of the 8th. Bednar was not as overpowering as Chapman, but just as effective. After walking Alex Bregman, he got Yoshida to hit into a force out, then struck out Ceddanne Rafaela and got Lowe to pop up to McMahon at third base to end the game.