About Yesterday: Yankees 5, Red Sox 3

By Mike Whiteman September 14, 2025 On this day in 1994, a month into the baseball players' strike, the remainder of the Major League Baseball season was cancelled after 26 of the 28 team owners vote to terminate. For the first time since 1904, there would be no World Series. When play had been suspended due to the strike August 12th, the Yankees were in first place in the American League East, seemingly on the way back to the playoffs they had not reached since 1981. Don Mattingly was hitting .304/.397/.411 and in line finally for postseason action. Paul O'Neill was batting .359, Wade Boggs .342. I remember the Summer of 1994 well. Just heartbreaking.

Quick Stats: The Yankees are 83-65, good for second place in the American League East. They are three games behind Toronto for the AL East lead, and are in in the first position in the AL Wild Card race, two and a half games ahead of Boston. The advantage to being the Wild Card team with the best record is that they host all three games of the series. Max Fried won his 17th game, the best in MLB. David Bednar saved his seventh game as a Yankee and has a 2.41 ERA in Pinstripes. Big Story: Like Friday, the Yanks jumped out to an early lead, and didn't give it up. Yesterday they put two on the board in the first when they loaded the bases, then pushed the runs across with Cody Bellinger's sacrifice fly (just shy of the center field wall) and Jazz Chisholm's infield single. It was the Chisholm show on offense, as he had an RBI single in the third, and smacked his 29th home run of the season in the fifth.

Fried made the lead stand, allowing only Alex Bregman's solo home run through five. After striking out Carlos Narvaez to lead off the sixth, he yielded three singles in a row and another run. Luke Weaver came on and struck out the only two batters he faced to get out of the jam. Devin Williams then tossed a scoreless seventh. The Sox got within a run when Jarren Duran homered in the eighth off Fernando Cruz. The Yanks responded with an insurance run in the ninth when Bellinger ripped an RBI double off Aroldis Chapman. Insurance was nice, but not needed because Bednar retired Boston in order in the ninth. Yankees win, 5-3. Player of the Game: Chisholm had three hits and three RBI. Over 162 games as a Yankee, going back to his acquisition last year, he has 40 home runs and 48 stolen bases. Notable Performances: Bellinger's at bat against Chapman in the ninth had to be among the team's best this season. He fouled off four pitches, took a 99 mph fastball up and in, and then went the other way to smack a double off the Green Monster. Not only does Bellinger bring his power and versatility, he has real grit. Not many lefty hitters could hang in there like he did against Chapman. Better to Forget: Austin Wells took the golden sombrero, striking out four times. They Said It: "We're the best team in the league" - Jazz Chisholm Jr. My Take: While the Yankees were in Boston, there was still baseball at Yankee Stadium.

Just past the two hour point, Joe Torre was introduced to a real nice ovation. He looked a little odd coaching first base in a yellow pinstriped jersey. What a great win last night. I'm one of those guys who like to go on and on about the loss of the pennant races of the four divisional setup of my youth, but September baseball against Boston with playoff ramifications, even if it is likely wild card, is pretty darned fun. The Yankees clinched another winning season with their win Friday. Now, a winning season isn't everything, but I think it's pretty great that it has been over thirty years since the Yankees finished under .500. There are a number of adult Yankee fans who haven't seen a losing season. Since 1993, how many games did the Yankees play that they were mathematically out of playoff contention? Not many. Amazing. That's not to minimize the frustration of recent postseason failure. The 22-23 postseason record under Aaron Boone is made up of a little success, but a lot of dashed hopes. I really appreciated our esteemed leader Paul's Aaron Boone article and the subsequent earlier this week. The Boone approach has had pretty good regular season success, but has been exposed in short series'. Can Boone survive another postseason failure? I'm not sure. I am cautiously optimistic about this year's chances though. The pitching seems to be rounding into form, with Fried and Carlos Rodon at the top, and Cam Schlittler, Luis Gil, and Will Warren as solid options for playoff starts. One of these hurlers will likely move to the pen for postseason, and combine with Ryan Yarbrough to be legitimate multi-inning options, and hopefully prevent burning through the high leverage short relief pitchers, which was constantly an issue in last year's playoff run. This year's lineup is deeper, more rounded, better in the field and on the basepaths than the 2024 version. Of course it would be great if the Yanks could overtake the Blue Jays for the division and skip the precarious first round, but even if they don't, postseason success is "right in front of them". Let's go! Indulging my "old school" side, I've been listening of late to The Road to Cooperstown podcast, where Jon Paul Morosi interviews members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. This week his guest was Tony Olivia, and it was a real interesting listen. The week before was Jim Kaat. Some great names and players. I highly recommend it. Makes me want to plan another Cooperstown trip! https://baseballhall.org/podcast

Next Up: I'm greedy - get the sweep! Will Warren (8-6, 4.22, 2.25 ERA in last three starts) goes against Bosox ace Garrett Crochet (15-5, 2.57).