About Yesterday: Making An Exclamation Point. Yankees 16, Red Sox 1

About Yesterday: Making An Exclamation Point. Yankees 16 – Red Sox 1

By Tim Kabel

August 31, 2026

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The Yankees entered yesterday’s game against the Red Sox leading Boston by three games in the standings. More importantly, the Yankees and Red Sox were tied at six games apiece in their head-to-head matchups for the season. Yesterday was the last game of the regular season between the Yankees and the Red Sox in 2026. If the Yankees won, they would lead the Red Sox by four games and would win the season series. The significance of that would be that if the Yankees and Red Sox tied in the standings, the Yankees would earn home field advantage in the playoffs. Currently, the Yankees hold the top Wild Card position. They trail the Rays by 4 1/2 games for the division lead and would need to sweep the four remaining games against the Rays to win the season series against them. Let's save that for another day.

The reality is that the Yankees and the Red Sox will most likely meet in the first round of the playoffs. It will be a best of three game series between the top two Wild Card teams. All three games will be hosted by the number one seed. So, there was a lot riding on yesterday's game. If the Yankees lost, they would only lead the Red Sox by two games and would have lost the tiebreaker.  Things could have gotten very dicey at the end of the season for the Yankees. If they won yesterday, they would lead the Red Sox by four games and would have won the tiebreaker. The Red Sox would need to not only make up the four-game deficit but also finish with a record at least one game better than the Yankees to be the top Wild Card seed.

A lot of things could happen between now and the end of the season. There are no guarantees. Heck, even if the Yankees host the Red Sox in the Wild Card series, they could still lose. However, it's always better to have any advantages that you can. The Yankees went into yesterday's game hoping for a win. In the words of Mary Poppins, “If you reach for the stars all you get are the stars, but we found a whole new spin! If you reach for the heavens, you get the stars thrown in!”

Well, the Yankees didn't just win yesterday; They completely destroyed the Red Sox. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning. After Jose Caballero singled, Jazz Chisholm hit a sinking line drive to right center field. The Red Sox center fielder, Ceddanne Rafaela, made a dive to catch the ball. Rafaela claims that he did catch the ball. However, the umpire ruled that it was a trap, giving Chisholm a single. Had it been a catch, Rafaela would have doubled Caballero off first base. The Red Sox requested a review of the play, which upheld the call on the field. That opened the floodgates. Ali Sanchez bunted the runners over and then Paul Goldschmidt drove them both in with a single. After Cody Bellinger singled, Heliot Ramos hit his first home run as a Yankee after seemingly being in hibernation since he arrived. That gave the Yankees a 5-0 lead.

After scoring one run each in the sixth and seventh innings, the Yankees exploded for nine runs in the eighth inning. Things got so bad for the Red Sox that Andruw Montaserio came in to pitch. He gave up five runs in 2/3 of an inning, which is still better than Camilo Doval.

Austin Wells became the first player in Major League history to pinch hit and subsequently hit two home runs in the same inning. Austin Wells is still batting.184 for the season. He now has 10 home runs and 26 RBI. Five of those RBI came yesterday. Who would have ever thought that Austin Wells of all people, would do something offensively that no one in the history of the game had ever done. Well, that's baseball, Suzyn.

Will Warren stepped up in a very big way yesterday. He pitched 7 innings, allowing 6 hits and 1 run while striking out 7 and walking 1. Tim Hill pitched the final two innings, allowing only one hit.

This game was a total domination by the Yankees over the Red Sox at a time when they absolutely needed to win. I realize this doesn't guarantee anything. The Yankees could go into a major slump and be passed by the Red Sox in the standings. They could be the top Wild Card team and still lose to the Red Sox in the playoffs. Anything could happen. This just makes life easier. Under Aaron Boone, the Yankees generally do things to make life harder for themselves. This was a very big win in every possible way for the Yankees.

A Few Tidbits: 

·       The only starter other than Ali Sanchez, (who was replaced by Wells), who did not get a hit yesterday was Trent Grisham. Grisham is now batting .211 for the season as he is once again in one of his deep slumps. If this continues, the Yankees should consider benching Grisham down the stretch and into the playoffs in favor of Spencer Jones.

·       Will Warren improved his record to 9-6 this season.

·       Spencer Jones, who pinch hit for Heliot Ramos had another hit off a left-handed pitcher. This season, he is 13 for 34 against left-handed pitchers. That is a .382 batting average. I know it is a small sample size, but he is proving that he can hit left-handers.

·       Anthony Volpe had two home runs in yesterday's game for the Scranton Wilkes Barre Rail Riders. Volpe now has eight home runs in AAA. He is still batting only .235, but batting averages aren't what they used to be. He has played the last two games at third base, which is interesting. As long as it isn't shortstop, that's all that matters. The Yankees will have openings at both second base and third base next year, presumably.

·       Jasson Dominguez has had five hits in his last two games and is batting .269 for the season in Scranton with 7 home runs, 29 RBI and 11 stolen bases. 

·       On August 30th, 1986, Manager Lou Piniella started 43-year-old Tommy John in game one and 41-year-old Joe Niekro in game two of a doubleheader against the Seattle Mariners. It marked the first time since 1933 that a team started pitchers in their 40s in both ends of a doubleheader. My friend Roger was at that game. The one in 1933, not the one in 1986

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Today, The Yankees will open a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels at 9:38 PM at Angel Stadium. Elmer Rodriguez, (0-2, 4.70 ERA) will pitch for the Yankees against George Klassen, (2-2, 3.67 ERA).  Hopefully, Elmer avoids a lot of sticky situations and wins the game.

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