One Good, One Bad: Wild Card (Game 1)

by Andrew Hefner

October 1, 2025

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It is the (unfortunately not so) triumphant return of Andrew’s One Good and One Bad for the 2025 MLB postseason. Last year, I had the great pleasure of publishing 14 of these articles across October, and despite the Yankees already being one game from elimination, I have a good feeling that I will have similar luck this postseason.

For game one of the Wild Card, Cy Young candidate Garrett Crochet took the mound in the Bronx and was lights out, throwing 7.2 scoreless innings, and held the Yankees to just one run.

On the other side, Max Fried was dominant as well, holding the young and hot Red Sox bats scoreless, though the Yankees let the shutout slip after the bullpen was called to round out the game.

With a final score of 3-1, let's take a look at one good and one bad from Game One of the 2025 AL Wild Card Series.

The Good

Max Fried was as advertised, if not much better. He got the soft contact and the outs he needed to, and overall was fairly economical throughout his start, making it 6.1 innings on 102 pitches.

His sequences against strong and power-hitting Red Sox batters were excellently crafted, and he seemed to be in control for the most part, although he did surrender three walks.

Alex Cora and the Red Sox allowed for Garrett Crochet to pitch 117 pitches, but unfortunately for Fried, he would not receive the same treatment, and after being taken out, he immediately lost his shutout after the bullpen blunder by Aaron Boone.

Surprisingly, Devin Williams was the biggest bright spot out of the bullpen, being the only one to complete a full inning, and he did not surrender a run. With Williams potentially back into tight game situations, a lot of pressure could be taken off of other bullpen arms that are struggling. I will admit I am being extremely optimistic, but that is what the postseason is all about.

The Bad

Where do I even begin?

I think that so many of the losses this year that have been in tight games can be pinned on one direct mistake, usually by Aaron Boone. In last night’s case, Boone attempted to throw out a lineup that, analytically, was the best choice with Crochet on the mound. However, by doing so, Boone omitted both Jazz Chisholm Jr and Ben Rice from the lineup, two of the hottest hitting (and sometimes fielding) players on the entire Yankees roster.

While on the topic of managerial decisions as well, Fried’s night did not necessarily need to end when it did. The Red Sox were successful in keeping Crochet in for as long as possible, and with Fried still itching well by the time he was called out, Boone could have easily done the same. It is the same mistakes every time with who comes out and when Boone goes to the bullpen, and by October, I would have hoped he would have figured it out.

Lastly, there was a strong chance for a run to score in the bottom of the ninth, and with a slow and older runner in Goldschmidt on third, why not bring in a speedier guy like Jasson Dominguez from the bench to at least get the run in? That would remove the first basemen if we had been so lucky to go to extras, but Ben Rice (who is a great first basemen) is sitting right next to Dominguez on the bench as well! I think that Dominguez would have been able to score a run in the bottom of the ninth on the Chisholm flyout if he were actually the one on third, in turn advancing another runner to third and hopefully inciting another rally.

I guess this is all to say that the one bad thing is that Aaron Boone was awful throughout the game last night.

Going forward, leave the best players in the lineup, let the pitcher dictate the game (as we well know, Carlos Rodon, the Game Two starter, likes to do), and do not make poor decisions (which is easier said than done).

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Game 2 will be tonight, October 1, at 6:08 PM on ESPN.