Game 1 of the postseason is always stressful, you lose it and your back is immediately against the wall. You win it and you feel a huge sense of relief. But when you win 9-0, you feel on top of the world. It is only one game and we still need to win one more to move on, but that was a great start and hopefully sets the tone for what’s to come.
Cam Schlittler. Dominant. Cy Young. Boston’s father. 117 pitches, 6.1 innings, only 2 hits, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts, no runs. Boston could not touch his fastball and Cam deployed his curveball at a higher rate than ever and that had Boston lost. It had an 80% whiff rate through the first four innings, they could not touch him. There were some long at bats that got his pitch count up and kept him from going longer like last year, but going over 6 innings of dominant pitching is exactly what was needed. He has a 0.47 career ERA in 6 starts vs Boston which is otherworldly. No one expected him to be this good when he was called up last year but I am not complaining. He’s our ace and he showed it.
For the other pitchers last night, Paul Blackburn came in and got a huge double play to end the 7th inning before pitching a scoreless 8th inning as well. He did exactly what was needed of him and kept the shut out in tact. When we started using him as one of our high leverage relievers, I did not trust him based on his past, but he has proved me wrong and been excellent this year. John Schreiber came in to end it and had a nice 9th inning to end the game. Pitching was phenomenal and we saved Headrick and Bednar’s arms so they can be well rested for game 2 tonight. We did exactly what we needed to do to have a near flawless game 1 on the mound.
Max Fried gets the ball tonight and hopefully he can replicate his start from game 1 of last year. Unfortunately he barely got any run support in that start but I expect him too tonight. Fried does not have the best playoff track record but last year against Boston he went 6.1 scoreless innings and it would be perfect for him to replicate that tonight. Then offensively, a repeat of last night would be wonderful.
Payton Tolle had a decent start, New York had plenty of chances off of him but were rarely able to capitalize, only scoring once while he was on the mound. The offense was able to do very well against Boston’s bullpen; however, Boston was also able to avoid using Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman who are their most reliable relief pitchers. So I would expect the bullpen to be better for Boston tonight, especially since it is do or die. The righty Sonny Gray gets the ball for the Red Sox and he has had a great year, going 18-5 with a 2.72 ERA. The Yankees will likely need to score early because Boston will be throwing everything they’ve got out of the pen to try and win this ball game. Maybe they will even use Garrett Crochet, the 2025 AL Cy Young runner-up who has not pitched since April 25th due to injury.
The offense for the Yankees last night was mostly excellent. 5-9 in the batting order really stepped up and so did Ben Rice. Goldschmidt started off slow but had two walks later in the game to keep the innings going, Ramos was not very good and neither was Bellinger, though the latter did reach on an infield single. Rosario drew a walk and so did McMahon in a big moment after he came in to replace Rosario at third. Spencer Jones was also decent, getting a single, drawing a walk, and working the count to drive up Tolle’s pitch count. But the stars of the show to me were Ben Rice, Austin Wells, George Lombard Jr., and Anthony Volpe. Volpe had a single and a nice sacrifice bunt late in the game to move the runners over. Wells had an RBI single, a sac fly, and another single. Lombard had three hits and a fielders choice. The best hitter hands down was Ben Rice. 4 for 5 with a double, a solo homer, an RBI single, and capped it off with a grand slam to put the game out of reach. His grand slam was able to save us from using our closer and it was amazing to go up 9-0 in a playoff game, especially one against the Red Sox. Hopefully the offense can replicate this tonight and end the series with a sweep.
I expect tonight’s lineup to have Bellinger, Grisham, and Jones in the outfield, McMahon at third, Lombard at short, Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second, Luis Garcia Jr. at first, with Wells catching again, and Rice as the DH again. This lineup would have 8 lefties against their righty starter which is the route I expect Boone to take. Then the bench still has seven other options if needed for pinch hitting and pinch running late in the game. To win today, the offense likely needs to score off of Sonny Gray early to prevent Boston from shutting us down with their better relievers, and Max Fried needs to have a nice long start so we can go to Blackburn again potentially, along with Headrick and Bednar to close this out tonight.
A game 3 winner take all game vs Boston is not something I think this team can really afford so I think winning today is incredibly important. Gerrit Cole would be pitching tomorrow and I trust him in elimination games; however, his last playoff start against Boston was terrible. So I think winning tonight would do wonders for our World Series chances since it allows Cole to start game 1 against Tampa instead and allows us to not wear down the bullpen more than we need. I trust Rodon to make a game 1 start if necessary but I would prefer to go with Cole in the postseason due to Rodon’s lack of playoff success in his career. If the Yankees win today, you could see Cole for games 1 and 4 vs Tampa, Fried for game 3, and Cam Schlittler for games 2 and 5. Both of Schlittler’s starts would be at Tropicana Field in Tampa and Cam has a 1.16 ERA on the road this year which is miles ahead of anyone in baseball. Winning tonight is just as important as winning yesterday was and would allow us to save our best pitchers for each game next series. I know I shouldn’t be looking ahead but if this team has any chance of reaching the World Series, minimizing the amount of games we play is a must. Its obvious to say “oh yeah winning today would be great” but it really is necessary. This series is not over and we saw last year that the team that won game one lost the series so it is essential for the Yankees to score early and put the game out of reach to be ready for the ALDS vs Tampa Bay.
Game 2 will be stressful, but a win is a must. I expect this to be lowering scoring than yesterday and I am not expecting a shutout from Fried. He has not looked as strong as he did last year so I think we will need a good amount of innings from the bullpen tonight. Offense needs to step up again and win this game for us against Boston’s good pitching staff. I believe in the team and do think New York will win the series, I just hope they win it tonight instead of having to deal with a winner take all game tomorrow. Final prediction for tonight: Yankees 4 Red Sox 2. Yankees win the series and head down to Tampa.
I really enjoyed last night’s game but the series isn’t over. I saw Boston beat us last year in game 1 before we won the next two so I know it is quite possible to come back. I don’t want to look too far ahead but I believe that Max Fried and the offense will get this done tonight and send us to the ALDS for the third straight year.