About Last Night: The Yankees Survived Against the Red Sox 4-3

About Last Night: The Yankees Survived Against the Red Sox 4-3

By Tim Kabel

October 2, 2025

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Last night, the Yankees bounced back to avoid elimination in the Wild Card Series against the Red Sox. It was an exciting, back-and-forth affair and the Yankees continued to battle and eventually did enough to live another day. Tonight, there will be another elimination game for the Yankees, but tonight it's an elimination game for the Red Sox as well.

Quick Stats – 

·       Ben Rice is the sixth player in Yankees’ history to hit a home run in his first postseason at bat. The last one was Shane Spencer in 1998.

·       The Yankees’ bullpen rebounded after Tuesday’s game by pitching three scoreless innings.

·       In his last 13 games, Ben Rice is hitting .400 with 12 extra base hits, 13 RBI, and an OPS of 1.222.  

·       Rice is the first Yankees’ first baseman with two or more RBI in a postseason game since Anthony Rizzo on October 23^rd, 2022, against the Astros.

·       On October 1^st, 1949, the Yankees held “Joe DiMaggio Day”, when he said, “I want to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee”. I feel the same about writing for SSTN.

·       On October 1^st, 1961, Roger Maris hit his 61^st home run of the season, breaking Babe Ruth’s record.

The Big Story – 

The Yankees played an exciting game last night. They did what they had to do to win. They had contributions from the lineup, Carlos Rodon, and the bullpen. The Yankees played a crisp, clean game. There was no other option. If the Yankees did not play well and execute in all areas last night, their season would have been over. The same thing applies tonight.

Last night, the Yankees had big games from Jazz Chisholm, Jr. and Ben Rice. Neither of them was in the lineup on Tuesday night against Garrett Crochet. Many people, me included, complained about the fact that the Yankees lost the game and did not have two of their better players in the starting lineup. In addition, Ryan McMahon also sat out on Tuesday. He is not the offensive player that either Chisholm or Rice is, but he is an excellent defender. Max Fried is a ground ball pitcher. It would have made sense for McMahon to be in the lineup. Because of Aaron Boone’s predilection for playing matchups, three regular players were out of the lineup on Tuesday. They were all back in last night. Rice has been an extremely hot hitter for most of the year and particularly in the last two weeks. Last night, he hit a two-run home run and had another hit. He also scorched a ball that was caught. 

Jazz Chisholm, Jr. walked in the eighth inning and scored on Austin Wells’ single. His speed led to the Yankees scoring the winning run.

It's fair to say that the Yankees would not have won last night's game if it had not been for Chisholm and Rice. Would the Yankees have won on Tuesday if they were in the lineup? We will never know.

Player of the Game – 

Ben Rice hit a two-run home run and was 2-4. 

Notable Performances – 

Aaron Judge and Austin Wells each had two hits and drove in a run. 

Fernando Cruz, Devin Williams, and David Bednar each pitched an inning of scoreless relief.

Better To Forget-

Giancarlo Stanton was 0-4 and is hitless in the Wild Card series. I am not picking on him. I am just pointing out that he does not automatically become a superhero during the postseason and to think that he does is not fair to him.

My Take – 

It now becomes a one-game, sudden death matchup between the Yankees and the Red Sox. Whichever team wins tonight advances to play the Blue Jays. Could the Yankees win tonight to take two games in this series? Yes, they certainly could. However, it must be stated that Tuesday night's game was one the Yankees could have won. 

There have been many articles detailing moves that Aaron Boone made on Tuesday, such as pulling Max Fried in the seventh inning. Fried stated that he could have continued and did not want to come out of the game. He stated that he will stay in the game until the ball is taken away from him. It is interesting that when Boone came out to visit Carlos Rodon last night in the sixth inning, he decided to leave him in the game. Not only that, he let Rodon go out for the seventh inning. Rodon walked the first batter and hit the second one and was promptly replaced by Fernando Cruz. Boone is inconsistent in his decisions. Sometimes he will leave a pitcher in too long and sometimes he will take him out too soon. The only thing Boone is consistent about seems to be making the wrong choice most of the time. It doesn't always bite him, but it often does.

The fact that Jazz Chisholm, Jr., Ben Rice, and Ryan McMahon were not in the lineup on Tuesday was surprising to many people. I stated in my article on Tuesday morning that I didn't think McMahon would be in the lineup. I'm not patting myself on the back. It's just that Aaron Boone and whoever is influencing him in making the lineups are very predictable. 

Aaron Boone does not usually adjust his moves to the game. He attempts to adjust the game to his moves. In other words, bringing Luke Weaver into the 7th inning was what he thought he was supposed to do. He didn't read the situation and determine that Max Fried could have continued. Fried most certainly could have. I'm not saying Fried should have pitched nine innings, but he could have gone batter to batter and probably could have finished the seventh inning. That didn't happen. The Yankees lost that game. If they lose tonight and are eliminated, we will all look back on Tuesday and shake our heads. However, who knows what interesting moves will be made tonight. 

Tonight, to paraphrase Game of Thrones, will be the Battle of the Rookies. Cam Schlittler will go against Connelly Early. Cam and Connelly sounds like a law firm. Early is a left-hander who will be making his fifth Major League appearance. 

The big question is who will be in the lineup tonight for the Yankees. Boone has apparently already stated that Jazz Chisholm will be in the lineup. It is unclear as to who will start at first base and catcher. Ben Rice has been the one of the hottest hitters on the team, particularly in the last few weeks. We saw what he did last night. Does he sit? Austin Wells had a big game and is a tremendous defensive catcher. Does he sit? Does Rice go in, and Wells come out of the lineup? Does Boone play Paul Goldschmidt at first because it's the safe and expected move? Does Ryan McMahon sit?

Before I give my prediction as to what those answers will be, there is something else I think needs to be addressed. At the trade deadline, the Yankees acquired Austin Slater. The word was that he was a tremendous hitter against left-handed pitchers. His numbers for the season were certainly not overwhelming, but he was supposedly brought in to “mash left-handers”. Even though two of the three pitchers for the Red Sox in this three-game in this series are left handers, Slater didn't even make the roster. I'm not arguing that he should have. I'm questioning why the Yankees even sent prospects to the White Sox to acquire him. No matter how those prospects turn out, it seems to have been a wasteful move. The same can be said of the acquisition of Jake Bird. Those are issues we can discuss further once the playoffs are over, but they are worth noting.

I expect that Ryan McMahon will not be in the lineup tonight. Jazz Chisholm will definitely be in the lineup. I suspect that Austin Wells will be the catcher. Now it boils down to either Ben Rice or Paul Goldschmidt at first base. I believe that despite the game Rice had last night, Boone will defer to the veteran and Goldschmidt will start. Obviously, I could be wrong. Heck, I voted for the wrong bear in the semifinals of Fat Bear week. I did ultimately vote for Chunk, who won. Again, that's a topic for another day. Although this series is quite nerve wracking, it is also very exciting. There are two rookies facing each other tonight. So, anything could happen. I certainly want the Yankees to win but, I don't have a lot of faith in Aaron Boone; everyone knows that. Maybe he will surprise me, and the Yankees will be headed to Toronto. I certainly hope so.

Next Up-

The Yankees will play the final game of the Wild Card Series against the Red Sox tonight at 8:08 PM at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox will use Connelly Early. The Yankees will send Cam Schlittler to the mound. This will be the first time in Major League history that both starters in a playoff game have made fifteen or fewer Major League starts. Let’s hope that the Yankees get to Connelly early and often.