Red Sox vs. Yankees wild card series

By Kaya DeAngelis

The Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees put on an incredible show to kick off post-season baseball.  

They tied their AL Wild Card bid and forced a game 3 matchup in New York, where the Yankees ultimately came out on top.  

The Sox were seeded 5^th going into October, with a lot to prove against their storied rival.  

Leading up to their first playoff berth in four years, Boston dominated New York all season, winning 10 of their 14 matchups against the Yanks.  

They opened the series on September 30^th with a 3-1 win, following a stellar pitching performance by lefty Garrett Crochet.  

He threw a career-high 117 pitches, allowing just four hits, no walks, and striking out 11.  

Game 2 went a little differently, with the Yankees coming out on top in a tight 4-3 game.  

Yankees’ first baseman Ben Rice broke the game open in the bottom of the first with a two-run homer to right field.  

Meanwhile, star shortstop Trevor Story was the face of the Red Sox offense with a home run and two RBIs.  

However, Jazz Chisholm Jr. was the undeniable MVP of the night, saving multiple runs with his defensive playmaking and speed on the basepaths.  

He scored on a base-hit single from Austin Wells in the bottom of the eighth to ultimately give the Yankees the win.  

With the Yankees forcing a game 3, the Sox were kept on their heels coming off a tough loss.  

They were forced to turn to rookie 23-year-old Connelly Early to start the game. He made his MLB debut less than a month ago, on September 9.  

The win-or-go-home game 3 in arguably the largest rivalry in baseball history marked his fifth big league start.  

He’s also Boston’s youngest postseason starting pitcher in over a century, since legendary 21-year-old Babe Ruth in 1916.  

The Yankees chose to rely on a rookie as well, who made his MLB debut just two months before Early on July 9.  

Walpole native 24-year-old Cam Schlittler (who may be a familiar name to some Stonehill folk) effectively shut down the team he grew up cheering for.

He held Boston to just five hits, no walks, and struck out twelve to send the Yankees into the next round of playoffs.   

It marked the second time in MLB playoff history that two rookies started a deciding game.  

The game was scoreless aside from a breakout bottom of the 4^th inning from the Yankees offense.  

Cody Bellinger began the rally with a double to short right field – a ball which neither outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela nor Wilyer Abreu seemed to want to make a play on, as they allowed it to drop between them.  

Defensive errors continued to cost Boston runs, with first baseman Nathaniel Lowe unable to handle a hard-hit grounder with bases loaded, allowing two to score.   

Things weren’t much better on the offensive side. In fact, the Sox only managed to get one runner in scoring position.  

Early pitched a great 3.2 innings, with a 67% strike rate, but his team let him down on both sides of the game.  

With a 4-0 final score and a first-round win under their belt, New York had hopes set high to go all the way to the final.  

However, much to Red Sox fans' enjoyment, the Blue Jays eliminated the Yankees in four games in the Bronx to punch their ticket to the ALCS.   

While the rest of the pennant race is yet to be written, a Red Sox vs. Yankees playoff matchup brought undeniable excitement for both cities.