The Yankees' bullpen has been much-maligned all season and was the team's weakness heading into the postseason.
So it's no surprise the bullpen was at the forefront of the team's Game 1 loss to the Red Sox on Tuesday -- coupled with the removal of starter Max Fried, of course. But while the decision to pull Fried after 6.1 innings will be scrutinized, bringing in Luke Weaver will also be questioned, and manager Aaron Boone was asked his thoughts on bringing in the right-hander in the spot he did.
"I am just taking that part of the order, then I want [Devin] Williams or [Fernando] Cruz in that kind of [Trevor] Story, [Alex] Bregman [lane]. So I will take Weave at the bottom of the order, especially an out in the books."
Weaver, who became the team's closer on their World Series run a year ago, has struggled in 2025. He finished the regular season with a 3.62 ERA but pitched to a 9.64 ERA in September, ballooned by a couple of bad outings in the middle of the month. But the 32-year-old didn't have it on Tuesday.
With one out in the seventh, Weaver went up against Ceddanne Rafaela, and lost him to a walk after getting ahead in the count 0-2. A hustle double by Nick Sogard put the Yankees in trouble. Nursing a 1-0 lead, Weaver left a pitch up in the zone to pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida, who laced a two-run single to capture the lead.
"Gets ahead 0-2 with Rafaela there and lost the strike zone," Boone said of the outing. "Placed a couple hits on him where, maybe just a little up with a couple of the pitches more than he wanted. But, you know, getting ahead 0-2 to Rafaela and losing him, that's the one that stinks a little bit."
"Just a really good at-bat, had some really strong at-bats in the past. It’s gone both ways," Weaver said of his at-bat with Rafaela. "That’s a real tough one to swallow when you know you had him in an advantage count. He did a really good job of spoiling some pitches, took some shots, and next thing you know, it’s 3-2, and he did a good job of battling through. Didn’t want to give in, and try to throw a cookie over the plate, still trying to execute. There’s a base open, so I just tried to rifle one and it didn’t go where I wanted."
Entering Tuesday, Rafaela was 2-for-6 with a walk and two home runs against Weaver in his career. There are also three strikeouts in there as well, but Rafaela was victorious when it mattered in Game 1, working a walk after 11 pitches.
Boone was aware of the numbers Rafaela had against Weaver, but felt the spot was right for him.
"I felt good about him going through there, the Sogard and then probably a pinch hit lefty there, just trying to shorten it with Williams and [David] Bednar behind him," Boone said.
Weaver felt his outing overall was "very competitive," but it wasn't perfect and the Red Sox found holes. Weaver allowed two runs without recording an out. Cruz would come in and get the final two outs -- after a two-out walk.
"I know there’s a lot of disappointed people, including myself, but just got to be better," Weaver said.
The Yankees need Weaver and the rest of the bullpen to be better -- Bednar would allow a key insurance run in the ninth -- if they hope to overcome the Red Sox in the Wild Card round, and make a deep October run. The first step is winning Game 2 on Wednesday.
Teoscar Hernández, left, celebrates with Andy Pages after hitting his second home run of the game during a 10-5 win over the Reds in Game 1 of an NL wild-card series at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
This year, October started a day early for the Dodgers.
Thanks to their underwhelming regular season, their march toward postseason history began before the month even started.
This season’s team, coaches and players acknowledged repeatedly in recent weeks, had played their way into this spot: Having to begin the playoffs on the last day of September, in a daunting best-of-three wild-card series against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday; facing the slimmest of margins in their pursuit of back-to-back World Series championships, having won the National League West but failed to secure a top-two playoff spot.
That meant, unlike the last three years, the Dodgers did not have a bye to the division series.
It meant, this fall, they had to hit the ground running.
“The pitfalls are just [avoiding] kind of easing your way into a series,” manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday afternoon.
But, he added declaratively, “I don't see that as a problem.”
In a 10-5 Game 1 defeat of the Reds at Dodger Stadium, it indeed was not.
Shohei Ohtani led off with a home run. Blake Snell was superb in a seven-inning, two-run start. And in a rollocking two-batter sequence in the bottom of the third inning, the Dodgers broke the score wide open, with Teoscar Hernández hitting a three-run bomb moments before Tommy Edman went back-to-back with a solo shot.
The Dodgers’ troublesome bullpen made things uncomfortable at the end, nearly walking the Reds out of a 10-2 deficit in a three-run eighth inning that included four free passes (two of them with the bases loaded) from three different relievers.
Nonetheless, the Dodgers held on. And now, with Game 2 on Wednesday at 6:08 p.m., just one more win will advance them through the opening round.
For most of the night, this game was everything the Dodgers hoped it would be, extending the momentum from their 15-5 finish to the regular season with star-studded offense (they matched a franchise postseason record with five home runs) and dominant starting pitching (Snell’s seven innings were a new personal postseason high).
Shohei Ohtani hits a two-run home run in the sixth inning against the Reds on Tuesday night. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Ohtani delivered the first blow, taking Reds starter and Los Angeles native Hunter Greene deep on the right-hander’s fourth pitch. Behind 2-and-1 in the count, Greene tried to go inside with his trademark 100-mph fastball. Ohtani, fresh off a 55-homer regular season that should earn him his fourth MVP award, turned it around with a 117.7-mph line drive that rocketed into the right field pavilion.
From there, the Dodgers’ offense never looked back.
In the bottom of the third, the team landed a knockout blow. Hernández got a hanging slider from Greene and — in a scene so reminiscent of his heroics last October — sent a three-run home run sailing deep to left, flipping his bat as he skipped out of the box.
A crowd of 50,555 had barely settled back into its seats before the Dodgers went yard again, this time on a hooking fly ball from Edman that wrapped around the right-field foul pole, giving the Dodgers a 5-0 lead.
Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell delivers in the first inning Tuesday against the Reds. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
That was plenty for Snell, who picked apart a Reds offense that ranked just 14th in scoring and 19th in batting average during the regular season. In a four-hit, nine-strikeout, 91-pitch start, he got quick outs with his fastball early in counts, and snapped off a wicked combination of curveballs and changeups to put them away when he got to two strikes.
The Reds — who were no-hit by Snell last year when he pitched for the San Francisco Giants — didn’t get their first hit until Matt McLain doubled with two outs in the third. And though TJ Friedl walked in the next at-bat, Snell responded with three swing-and-miss changeups to Noelvi Marte to retire the side.
That was the start of 11 consecutive batters Snell would set down in a row, not letting another Cincinnati hitter reach base until Austin Hays’ seventh-inning single sparked a two-run rally that got the Reds on the board.
By then, the Dodgers had kept adding onto their lead. In the fifth, Hernández hit his second home run of the game off right-hander Connor Phillips (one of the Reds’ best relievers late in the season). Ohtani did the same in the sixth, belting his second long ball (also against Phillips) on a 454-foot blast that landed near the top of the right-field stands.
The score was 10-2 when Roberts finally turned to his bullpen in the eighth, trying to take no chances by summoning top left-hander Alex Vesia. Vesia, however, wasn’t sharp, retiring only one of the three batters he faced. And after that, the Dodgers flirted with an unthinkable collapse.
Edgardo Henriquez gave up two walks (one to load the bases, another to force in a run) and an RBI single. Jack Dreyer followed with the inning’s fourth free pass, again with the bases loaded, before finally escaping on a strikeout of Tyler Stephenson (who three times swung at what would’ve been yet another ball four) and a pop-up from Ke’Bryan Hayes.
The bullpen concerns will hang like a cloud over the team going forward. Even in the ninth, Blake Treinen had to work around a two-out single from Gavin Lux.
Still, as the calendar officially flips to October, the Dodgers are already one step closer to defending their title.
A season in which they tied for the best record in the American League – but lost out on a first-round bye because they did not hold a tiebreaker – is suddenly, perhaps cruelly, in peril. Boston, a club that has dominated the Yankees this season, can finish them off Wednesday night in Game 2. In the Bronx, no less.
The Yanks are tangling with a historic rival, one that beat them 9 of 13 during the regular season. And history. Recent history, anyway – in the previous three years of this current MLB playoff format, no team that lost the opener of a Wild Card round ended up winning the series.
We’ll see, of course, if these Yankees can buck that trend. And, even though they knew coming into this series how difficult it would be, they say they can do it.
“We are going to show up (Wednesday) and I expect us to do pretty well,” Aaron Boone said at his post-game press conference. Later, he added, “Look, we have been playing these types of games for a while now. We have been playing with a lot on the line seemingly every single day.
“So (Tuesday) was a great baseball game that we just couldn't get that final punch in. So we will be ready to go, and I expect us to come out and get one (Wednesday).”
Boone’s right about the quality of the contest. It was a taut game filled with brilliant pitching by Boston’s Garret Crochet and Yankee ace Max Fried. Anthony Volpe gave the Yanks an early 1-0 lead with a homer off Crochet. But the Yankee bullpen later surrendered that lead. The Yanks loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth inning against old buddy Aroldis Chapman, but Chapman, maybe baseball’s best reliever this year, escaped.
Before the game, Boone opined that the 2025 version of the Yankees might be the best he’s ever taken into the playoffs in his tenure as manager, which started in 2018 and has included an October trip every season but one. They won their final eight games of the regular season, were healthy, full of mutual trust and confidence. They also, he said, have “different ways to beat ya.”
Better pluck one from the pile Wednesday night. Maybe it’s Carlos Rodón, the lefty starter who’s taking the ball against Brayan Bello of the Red Sox. Rodón had a terrific season, but still makes some fans nervous with a big start looming. Maybe he needs to be great to save this Yankee season.
Rodón had some October moments during last year’s run to the World Series, but he was also so hyper during a playoff start against the Royals that it seemed to wobble him. Boone says Rodón has learned.
“He has done a really good job since he has been here of learning from some stumbles, learning from some good times,” Boone said. “Last year – I am hoping that serves him well and just really slowing things down, really controlling moments, because that’s an important thing to have.”
Perhaps we should offer these Yankees the benefit of the doubt. After all, they resurrected themselves later in this season, even after some of their own fans wrote them off as they fumbled their AL East lead and plunged into a morass of poor play. They pushed aside their problems with fundamentals and, while they obviously haven’t solved all their bullpen issues, added help there at the trade deadline.
Their superlative offense, which led baseball in runs per game, covered up some deficiencies, too. By August, the Yanks were on fire, started beating good teams and finished 34-14 over their final 48 games, best in MLB.
“We’ve been doing it all year,” said Aaron Judge. “There’s a lot of veterans in this clubhouse. We’ve been through some stuff. Been to the World Series, been through some tough moments. We’ll go out and play our game. We’ll be good.”
If they’re not, they’re cooked. Seems weird for it to get so real so quickly, considering there’s no October chill yet (it was 77 degrees at first pitch Tuesday). Heck, Game 1 wasn’t even played in October. But here we are.
From the brink, can the Yankees win Wednesday night and push the Red Sox close to the abyss, too? After Game 1, they sure said all the right things, noting that they had done some of the right things during the season.
Now they must do them again, just to survive another day.
Aaron Judge had not yet seen the video of Jazz Chisholm Jr. or read his quotes. But he is the captain of the Yankees, the video was already blazing a path around the digital universe, and I wanted Judge’s thoughts so that I could finalize mine.
He knows better than any of us how a development plays in the clubhouse. His opinion and context are far more valuable here than mine.
Like Aaron Boone’s decision to remove Max Fried in the Yankees’ 3-1 loss to Boston in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series (totally defensible; we’ll get to that later), Chisholm’s cameo seemed sure to be a major talking point for the next day.
“I haven’t seen it,” Judge said, politely and truthfully.
Here was the briefing: Chisholm did not start because Boone used a right-heavy lineup against Boston’s left-handed ace, Garrett Crochet. Amed Rosario started at second. Chisholm replaced him on defense in the eighth.
After the game, as reporters waited in the middle of the clubhouse for Fried to speak, Chisholm walked to his locker. Reporters and camera operators followed.
Asked if he was surprised that he wasn’t starting, Chisholm turned his back to the group, fiddled with the plastic hangers in the locker and said, “I mean, I guess, yeah.”
Another reporter followed up by asking if he and Boone had a conversation about it.
“It’s a little conversation, not much,” Chisholm said. “But yeah. You just move forward after it.”
Chisholm is a nice guy. His tone remained mild. But his body language and words were not a good fit for the internet and its desire for controversy. He should have known better than to risk a stir with his team already facing elimination (that’s my take, not Judge’s).
Whatever the nuances, it seemed that, between the Jazz interview and the Fried decision, the Yankees were about to get roasted for their drama.
Standing at his locker after his postgame scrum, Judge considered all this.
Speaking of the Chisholm situation, he said, “It will cause some drama on the outside, but in here we’ll definitely be good. Inside this clubhouse, we’re all good. We’re pulling for each other. We’ll be good. There’s always a storm on the outside -- but we can’t work that way.”
Judge suggested that he would handle the situation internally, but did not make it sound as if it would be a major crisis or cleanup.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. was asked if he was surprised about not being in the starting lineup for Game 1
The weird part about Chisholm’s postgame performance was that I’d spoken to a Yankees person (not Boone) before the game and asked how Jazz had taken the news. That person said that Boone had communicated effectively, and that Chisholm had taken it well and was in a good place.
After the game, a few other Yankee people said that Chisholm was not acting angry behind the scenes. Perhaps he was embarrassed and didn’t want to talk about the manager’s decision, those people speculated. Chisholm remains a popular teammate. This did not feel like a five-alarm fire.
Before any of this happened, it seemed that tomorrow's discourse would involve Boone’s Fried decision. That one was actually fairly straightforward: according not only to Boone but to scouts watching the game (one in person, one on television), Fried looked tired in the sixth inning.
In that frame, he induced a groundout, issued a walk and got out of it with a ground ball double play. His velocity was fine, but when a pitcher begins to tire, it’s not the velocity that goes -- it’s the command.
“I felt like his command was not as good those final few [innings],” Boone said. “He was making so many big pitches and his stuff was good. Look, he gave us what we needed and felt really good about the outing he put forth. But I felt pretty convicted, especially when we got the double play. Let's go get one more hitter and be good.”
In the dugout after the inning, Boone asked Fried if he could get that one more hitter, lefty Jarren Duran. Fried said yes. He did not say, “Let me get the next few guys, too.” He is a grown-up, and self-aware. He was just about done.
"I definitely exerted a lot of energy trying to get out of that, but I definitely had enough in the tank for whatever the team needed,” Fried said.
An observation about Fried, earned from covering the team this season: As a first-year New Yorker, he is excessively careful with his public comments. He is always trying to walk a line that avoids any whiff of controversy.
He is still learning how to execute that strategy. If it sounded like he was criticizing Boone’s decision -- well, I’m almost certain that he wasn’t. He was just trying to get out of there without creating a headline one way or the other.
Bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the ninth inning down by two runs.
That was the scenario in Game 1 for the Yankees as Boston's Aroldis Chapman prepared to face Giancarlo Stanton, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Trent Grisham.
Stanton struck out.
Chisholm Jr. flied out to right.
Grisham struck out.
Ballgame. Boston takes Game 1 of this Wild Card series.
As exciting as the bottom of the ninth was, the story was Garrett Crochet. Acquired in the offseason from the White Sox to fill the void at the top of their rotation, the 26-year-old lefthander delivered. Crochet dominated throwing a career-high 117 pitches over 7.2 innings allowing just four hits including an Anthony Volpe solo blast in the second inning. Along the way, Crochet struck out 11.
Max Fried started for the Yankees and was nearly as good if not slightly better allowing four hits and striking out six over 6.1 shutout innings. The difference was Max was deemed to be fried after throwing 102 pitches. Max left the mound and Luke Weaver promptly allowed hits to the only two batters he faced, and a 1-0 lead turned into a 2-1 deficit.
The Yankees now turn to Carlos Rodon Wednesday hoping to avoid elimination from the postseason. The Red Sox are handing the rock to Brayan Bello.
Lets dive into the matchup and perhaps find a few sweats along the way.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch the first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game details & how to watch Red Sox at Yankees - Game 2
Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2025
Time: 6:08PM EST
Site: Yankee Stadium
City: Bronx, NY
Network/Streaming: ESPN
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Odds for the Red Sox at the Yankees - Game 2
The latest odds as of Tuesday courtesy of DraftKings:
Moneyline: Boston Red Sox (+138), New York Yankees (-169)
Spread: Yankees -1.5 (+131)
Total: 7.5 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Red Sox at Yankees - Game 2
Pitching matchup for October 1, 2025: Brayan Bello vs. Carlos Rodon
Red Sox:Brayan Bello (11-9, 3.35 ERA) Bello has allowed 15 earned runs in just 25 innings in September (5.40 ERA)
Yankees:Carlos Rodon (18-9, 3.09 ERA) Rodon has struck out 5 or more in three of his last four starts
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Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Red Sox at Yankees
After closing the regular season with 2 hits in his final 14 ABs (.143), Anthony Volpe opened the playoffs with 2 hits in 3 ABs
With his 2 hits Tuesday night, Alex Bregman now has 90 hits in 100 career playoff games
Aaron Judge picked up a couple of hits in 4 ABs to give him 47 hits in 224 (.210) postseason ABs
Luke Weaver had not allowed a run in his previous six appearances
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Expert picks & predictions for Game 2 between the Red Sox and the Yankees
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Max Fried was spectacular in his Yankees postseason debut on Tuesday night.
He worked his way through three efficient frames to open the game, holding the rival Red Sox to just two hits, but then was faced with trouble in each of the next few innings.
The ace left-hander worked around two-on-and-two-out jams in both the top of the fourth and the fifth, getting Jaren Duran to strikeout swinging and then Yankee killer Alex Bregman to groundout to third, respectively.
He began to labor again after issuing a one-out walk in the sixth, but was able to get the speedy Nate Eaton to ground into a hard-hit inning-ending double to dance through the frame.
Fried admitted that he exerted a lot of energy trying to work out of those jams, but he felt he had enough left in the tank for whatever the team needed.
Aaron Boone decided that was just the leadoff man, Duran, whom he got to roll over for the first out of the top of the seventh, before turning things over to the bullpen.
It didn’t take long for that decision to immediately backfire on the Yanks.
Luke Weaver entered and immediately allowed the next three batters to reach, with the big blow being a pinch-hit go-ahead two-run single from Masataka Yoshida.
Boston added another run against David Bednar later in the game, but that inning would go down as the difference in the Wild Card series-opening loss.
Despite things not working out, Boone stood by the decision to pull Fried with 102 pitches.
“He gave us what we needed,” the skipper said. “They pressured him pretty good in the fourth, fifth, sixth. Had a couple of baserunners in each inning. Felt like he kind of cruised through the first few and ends up pitching great, but had to work pretty hard there.
“I was going to have the sixth be the end -- after we finished with the double play, I wanted him to go out and get Duran and felt like we were lined up pretty well from there.”
New York will look to stay alive Wednesday with Carlos Rodon on the mound.
NEW YORK (AP) — The bullpen that has been one of the New York Yankees’ biggest weaknesses this season faltered again in their playoff opener and has them on the brink of being eliminated by the rival Boston Red Sox.
After Max Fried worked six scoreless innings in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series, manager Aaron Boone let him take the mound in the seventh. But Boone removed Fried after he retired the first batter in favor of Luke Weaver, who walked the first batter he faced and allowed a double and Masataka Yoshida’s two-run single.
David Bednar gave up back-to-back hits in the ninth to give Boston some breathing room, and Boone’s in-game pitching decisions were under the microscope yet again in the aftermath of Tuesday night’s 3-1 loss.
There were plenty of pregame decisions questioned, too, with left-handed hitters Ben Rice, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ryan McMahon not in the lineup against Boston starter Garrett Crochet, who got 23 outs before fellow lefty Aroldis Chapman recorded the final four to close it out. Crochet retired 17 consecutive batters after allowing Anthony Volpe’s solo home run.
But after turning to Nestor Cortes in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers last year — with Freddie Freeman hitting a walk-off grand slam in Game 1 on Cortes’ first pitch — and making other calls to the bullpen that didn’t work out, Boone put himself in position to be second-guessed again.
Fried cruised through his first postseason start in pinstripes, allowing four hits and walking three batters. He threw 63 of his 102 pitches for strikes and got a standing ovation as he departed.
Post-injury Weaver showed up. The righty had a 1.05 ERA in his first 24 appearances went on the injured list in June with a strained left hamstring and had a 5.31 over his final 40 games.
That’s emblematic of the Yankees’ season, when their bullpen ERA of 4.37 ranked 23rd out of 30 teams.
Max Fried delivered the kind of high-level start that befits a $218-million ace and departed Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series with his Yankees ahead of the Red Sox. But the Yankee bullpen -- one of their potential postseason danger zones -- blew the lead.
Now, the Yanks face elimination in their own ballpark.
Boston beat the Yankees, 3-1, Tuesday night in the opener of this best-of-three affair, which means the Sox can advance by beating the Yanks again in Game 2 Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.
Luke Weaver came in with one out and nobody on in the seventh and did not have it. He gave up two runs, squandering a 1-0 lead. That meant the Yanks had to try to rally against Boston ace Garrett Crochet, who was amazing.
Here are the takeaways...
- The Yankees ranked 23rd in MLB in relief ERA during the regular season, despite some talented arms, trade-deadline additions and role shifts. No wonder it was a source of such consternation through the summer. Yankee manager Aaron Boone doubtless will be second-guessed for taking out Fried for a reliever when he did, even if Fried had thrown 102 pitches. Fried only exceeded that number eight times during the regular season, when his high was 111. David Bednar gave up a Boston insurance run on an RBI double by Alex Bregman in the ninth.
- In the bottom of the ninth, Aaron Judge, whose postseason numbers are well-documented, came up with a runner on first and no one out and Boston closer Aroldis Chapman on the mound. Judge singled up the middle, his second hit of the game, to put the tying run on base. Cody Bellinger followed with a single to load the bases and put the potential tying run in scoring position. But Chapman struck out Giancarlo Stanton, got Jazz Chisholm Jr. on a flyout to right field and fanned Trent Grisham to seal the win.
- Volpe’s second-inning homer was an opposite-field shot to right that traveled 382 feet and gave the Yanks a 1-0 lead. Volpe turned around a Crochet fastball clocked at 97 miles per hour for his second career Postseason home run. The first was his grand slam in Game 4 of last year’s World Series against the Dodgers.
- The Yanks held a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning, but after Fried came out, Weaver gave up the advantage. With one out, he walked No. 8 hitter Ceddane Rafaela in an 11-pitch battle. The next hitter, Nick Sogard, doubled to put runners on second and third. Red Sox manager Alex Cora then sent up pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida so he could have a lefty hitter face Weaver. Yoshida swatted a two-run single into center to put Boston ahead, 2-1. Fernando Cruz relieved Weaver and got two outs sandwiched around a walk, limiting the damage.
- Fried, who had a blazing finish to his regular season, was terrific, throwing 6.1 scoreless innings and leaving to a huge ovation once he had gotten the first out of the seventh. Fried allowed four hits while striking out six and walking three. He threw 102 pitches, 63 of them for strikes. Fried, who was making his 21st career postseason appearance (13th start), trimmed his playoff ERA from 5.10 to 4.66 with the gem. While his final line was spotless, run-wise, he did encounter some trouble. To his credit, he wriggled out of it each time, though.
- In back-to-back innings midway through the game, Fried wobbled but did not allow a run. With two out in the fourth, he walked Carlos Narváez on a 3-2 pitch after narrowly missing striking him out and then gave up a bloop double to right to Nate Eaton. Amidst the threat, Fried fell behind the next hitter, Jarren Duran, 3-0, but rebounded to strike him out with a breaking ball. When he came off the mound afterward, the normally stoic Fried slapped his glove in celebration of getting a big out. Still, it took effort to get through the danger – Fried threw 24 pitches in the fourth inning alone, running his pitch count up to 61. In the fifth, he again walked a hitter on a 3-2 pitch with two out -- this time it was Rob Refsnyder -- and then gave up a single to Trevor Story. But Fried retired Alex Bregman on a grounder.
- Fried threw seven different pitches during his outing, according to Baseball Savant, and generated 19 swings-and-misses overall. The Red Sox swung at his curveball 10 times and missed eight times. He threw a particularly gorgeous one to strike out Story to end the third inning with a runner on second.
- The Yankees had an early opportunity when Paul Goldschmidt and Judge clocked consecutive singles to start the first inning. But Crochet dealt with it quickly. First, the Boston lefty got Bellinger to swing-and-miss at 98.7-mph heat for strike three. Then he got Stanton to hit into an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play.
Game MVP: Garrett Crochet
Crochet, who allowed four hits and one run across 7.2 terrific innings. He struck out 11 and walked none. After allowing a solo homer to Anthony Volpe in the second inning, Crochet retired 17 straight hitters until he gave up a single to Volpe in the eighth. Crochet fanned the last batter he faced, Austin Wells, catching him looking at a fastball clocked at 100.2 miles per hour. Crochet threw 117 pitches, 78 for strikes.
Highlights
Max Fried gets his first postseason K as a Yankee in the midst of a scoreless first inning pic.twitter.com/TFwZRGNY8L
The Yankees and Red Sox meet again for Game 2 of the Wild Card series on Wednesday evening as New York looks to stave off elimination. First pitch is set for 6:08 p.m.
Carlos Rodon will take the mound against Brayan Bello.
It’s widely believed that the Red Sox lack the high-end talent to go on a World Series run. Rightly so.
What’s often missing from that discussion, though, is the advantage the Red Sox have in the dugout. Because while there may not be easily accessible, tangible evidence to prove it, the reality is that Alex Cora is a master of his craft — one whose comfort in big moments gives the Red Sox an edge over just about any team in baseball.
Most significantly, Cora outmaneuvered counterpart Aaron Boone with the management of his ace pitcher.
Boone pulled Max Fried after 6.1 scoreless innings and the Red Sox immediately made the Yankees pay, scoring two runs off New York’s shaky bullpen in the seventh to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead in the blink of an eye.
Cora, meanwhile, sent Garrett Crochet out for the seventh inning at 94 pitches. Crochet needed just six pitches to end that frame, buzzing through the 3-4-5 spots in New York’s order, so Cora sent him back out for the eighth.
Even after Anthony Volpe — whose solo home run in the second inning accounted for Crochet’s lone run allowed all night — hit a one-out single, Cora did not go to the bullpen, where he stashes the best one-two late-inning combo in Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman.
Crochet rewarded his manager by striking out Austin Wells, who stood by and watched as a 100.2 mph pitch hit the bottom of the strike zone.
From there, Cora went to Chapman — not Whitlock — for the final out of the eighth. In doing so, he kept Boone’s best pinch-hitting option — lefty Ben Rice — on the bench. While Chapman made things hairy by loading the bases in the bottom of the ninth, he ultimately delivered the save by retiring Giancarlo Stanton (strikeout), Jazz Chisholm (flyout) and Trent Grisham (strikeout) to end the game.
Cora’s decision-making was under scrutiny before the game even began, as his starting lineup for Game 1 of the postseason was …. interesting. He utilized his lineup for facing lefties, with Rob Refsnyder in the leadoff spot and Romy Gonzalez as the cleanup hitter, and he had Nick Sogard and Nate Eaton in the starting lineup.
And though lefty killers Refsnyder and Gonzalez didn’t deliver, Eaton (1-for-3 with a double) and Sogard (2-for-4 with a double, go-ahead run scored in seventh) did.
And when given the opportunity to insert Masataka Yoshida as a pinch hitter for Refsnyder, Cora did it immediately. Yoshida came through with the hit of the night.
(Cora also called on Nathaniel Lowe as a pinch hitter for Gonzalez in the seventh, and Lowe delivered a line drive. Aaron Judge, however, was able to make the inning-ending catch.)
Cora’s reach extends beyond the box score, too. Sogard’s double — which followed an 11-pitch walk by Ceddanne Rafaela in the seventh — came thanks to heads-up base running when Sogard recognized that Judge would be fielding the ball in the right-center field gap. Sogard didn’t hesitate, bursting for second and beating Judge’s throw.
Judge missed time this season due to a flexor strain in his throwing arm, and he’s clearly been bothered by it since returning to the field earlier this month. Sogard taking second was no accident.
“That’s preparation,” Cora said of Sogard taking the extra base. “We talk about their outfielders and what we can do and what we cannot do, and he saw it right away and took advantage of it.”
A masterclass? Perhaps an overstatement. Yet just like he did several times in the Red Sox’ run to a championship in 2018, Cora pushed every right button in this victory in New York, one where there was little to no room for error.
For this Red Sox roster to win playoff games, they’re going to have to be a grind like this one. They’re not good enough to win going away from any teams at this time of year. Stacking victories and winning series won’t be easy.
Yet for as long as Cora is helming the ship, they’ll have a chance to win every night. He’s just that good.
Here’s some more of what we learned in this tremendously dramatic victory to begin Boston’s 2025 postseason run.
Max Fried deserved better
On multiple fronts, Yankees ace Max Fried got hosed. The aforementioned decision by Boone to pull him from the game after 102 pitches in the seventh was a case of overmanaging. Nobody was on base, and Fried was cruising. Factor in New York’s shaky bullpen (every time the camera cut to Yankees fans after Fried exited the game, they looked flat-out terrified to see what would happen next), and Fried deserved to be treated like an ace in this moment.
Yet outside of that, Fried got squeezed twice by home plate umpire Junior Valentine, both times coming on what should have been called strike threes against Carlos Narvaez. The first time came in the top of the fourth, when a 3-2 pitch clipped the top corner of the strike zone but was called a ball. It didn’t result in any runs, but it led to Fried throwing 11 extra pitches — high-stress pitches, after an Eaton double — that inning.
The second came in the sixth, when a 2-2 pitch at the top of the zone was called ball three. Narvaez eventually walked on the ninth pitch of his plate appearance. That one hurt less, as Fried induced an inning-ending double play from the next batter, but the added stress contributed to some of the wear on Fried, leading to his early (relatively speaking) exit from the game.
Seeing Fried watch helplessly from the dugout as the bullpen immediately blew the game must have been a nightmare scenario for Yankees fans to endure. Red Sox fans didn’t mind, though.
(Lest there be any confusion, Valentine missed calls on the Red Sox, too. Crochet should have struck out Austin Wells on the sixth pitch of his final at-bat, but overcame the missed call to strike out the catcher two pitches later. And Chapman should have had a 1-2 count on Grisham with two outs in the ninth, but a missed call made it a 2-1 count in Grisham’s favor.)
Garrett Crochet was every bit of the ace you’d want him to be
The numbers are obvious enough: 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 K. But Crochet was even better than the stat line would indicate.
Outside of leaving one pitch over the heart of the plate to Anthony Volpe in the second, resulting in an opposite-field home run to right field, Crochet was in complete command. And when the bullpen sat empty in the top of the eighth when he was at 100 pitches, it was clear that Cora and everyone else in that dugout was not afraid of the lefty surpassing his season-high of 112 pitches.
Crochet retired 17 straight Yankees before Volpe singled with one out in the eighth. Crochet responded, finishing the outing with triple-digit gas — leaving Austin Wells flabbergasted in the box. It was an appropriate exclamation point on an outstanding postseason debut with the Red Sox.
Cora said after the game that Crochet told him on Monday that the manager would only need to make one phone call to the bullpen in Game 1. Crochet was asked what gave him the confidence to make that proclamation.
“Just being arrogant, to be honest,” Crochet said. “I didn’t actually expect that to be the case. But when he sent me back out there, I was determined to leave it that way.”
Alex Bregman’s RBI double in the top of the ninth provided a critical insurance run — imagine how much higher the stress levels would have been in the ninth inning if Chapman was only protecting a one-run lead — for the Red Sox. But it was made possible by a veteran decision and slide from Trevor Story.
The shortstop ripped a two-out single into left field, and after David Bednar threw over to first base twice, Story knew he could get an extra step on his jump and try to swipe a bag. He accomplished that task, stealing second and sliding in just ahead of Jazz Chisholm’s tag.
Trevor Story slides in safely for a stolen base in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against the Yankees in New York. Photo: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
The Yankees challenged, but there was no doubt. Story was safe.
Bregman took a borderline strike two call, fouled off a good splitter on the next pitch, and then squared up the next one to drive that run home.
Bregman and Story, the veterans of this squad, went a combined 4-for-9 with a walk while also handling every ball hit their way. They were steady, and they delivered at a critical moment in the ninth.
The Wilyer Abreu catch was insane
A lot happened in this game, especially at the end. But don’t forget the play that ended the eighth inning.
It was nuts.
When Chapman entered the game in the eighth, he inherited Anthony Volpe on first base. Volpe was literally dancing off first base, knowing that Chapman doesn’t exactly have an elite pickoff move. Chapman did throw over, eventually throwing to first base a third time, which granted Volpe second base on MLB’s three-disengagement rule.
Perhaps Chapman’s head was spinning, or perhaps he did it on purpose so that he wouldn’t have the distraction anymore. Either way, he did his job and induced a lazy fly ball off the bat of Jose Caballeros.
Ceddanne Rafaela, arguably the best center fielder in baseball, drifted to his left and settled under the ball, putting himself in position to make an easy catch by his standards. What Rafaela didn’t know was that Wilyer Abreu was streaking across the field at full speed, heading directly toward him.
Somehow, Abreu not only made the catch but completely avoided making contact with Rafaela, ending the inning and avoiding the disaster that would have followed with the game-tying run crossing the plate. Abreu is the reining Gold Glove winner in right field, so he knows what he’s doing. But that was close.
We’ll find out what the Yankees are made of
The Red Sox showed in Game 1 that they have grit. The world will learn what the Yankees are made of in Game 2.
With only three years of evidence, the loser of Game 1 in the Wild Card Series has always gone to be eliminated. Whether or not that trend continues in this series depends on how New York responds to a gut-punch of a loss in front of their home fans.
Brayan Bello, who went 2-1 with a 1.89 ERA in three starts against the Yankees this year, will be opposed by Carlos Rodon, who went 1-2 with a 5.74 ERA. Five members of New York’s bullpen were used in Game 1, while only Chapman was used out of Boston’s bullpen.
The odds are in Boston’s favor, and it will take an inspiring recovery from the Yankees — something not typically associated with the Aaron Boone era — for the series to live on until Thursday.
Jose Siri, Richard Lovelady, and Kevin Herget elected free agency after being sent outright to Syracuse.
The trio was DFA’d by the Mets in the closing days of the season to open roster spots.
After going through waivers unclaimed, New York attempted to send them down to Syracuse, but instead, they all opted to hit the open market.
Siri was acquired in exchange for relief prospect Eric Orze in an offseason deal with the Rays.
He was expected to split time with Tyrone Taylor in center, but ended up missing the majority of the season due to a fractured tibia suffered when he fouled a ball off his leg against the Athletics.
The speedster struggled mightily in his return and he was ultimately let go when Taylor made his late-season return from the IL, finishing with just two hits in 32 at-bats as a Met.
Lovelady and Herget were signed to minor league deals, and they were part of the revolving door of bullpen arms.
The lefty Lovelady pitched to a 6.30 ERA across eight outings.
Herget enjoyed a bit more success, posting a 3.00 ERA over just six appearances.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Tarik Skubal tied Detroit’s postseason record with 14 strikeouts and the Tigers beat the Cleveland Guardians 2-1 on Tuesday in Game 1 of their AL Wild Card Series.
Will Vest got the final four outs for Detroit, surviving a tense ninth inning after Cleveland star Jose Ramírez got hung up between third base and home for the second out.
The Tigers can advance to the AL Division Series for the second straight year with a win Wednesday.
“Anyone new to the Tigers/Guardians, this is what they look like. Like every game,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. “Tarik’s been incredible for us all season, but what a performance at the biggest moments in the biggest stage to get us in a great position to win the game.”
Detroit scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning when Zach McKinstry’s safety squeeze scored Riley Greene from third.
Ramírez led off the ninth with an infield single and advanced to third when shortstop Javier Báez threw wide of first base. Vest struck out pinch-hitter George Valera, then Kyle Manzardo hit a grounder to Vest. Ramírez broke for home but was cut off by Vest, who chased him down and tagged him out.
“That ball’s two feet either way, he scores,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “It just happened to go right back to Vest. So we play aggressive. We always do. We run the bases aggressive. I wouldn’t play that any other way.”
C.J. Kayfus then hit a flyout to Báez in shallow left to end it.
Skubal, who is favored to win his second straight AL Cy Young Award, set a career high for strikeouts. He was dominant and unfazed as he pitched on the same mound where one week ago, he threw a 99 mph fastball that struck Cleveland designated hitter David Fry in the nose and face during the sixth inning.
The right-hander went 7 2/3 innings and threw 107 pitches, one off his career high, including 73 strikes. He allowed one run on only three hits, with two being infield singles, and walked three. His fastball averaged 99.1 mph, 1.6 mph above his season average.
“I was just kind of worried about executing each pitch and trying to do my best to live pitch by pitch and just do what makes me a good pitcher, and that’s getting ahead and getting guys into leverage,” Skubal said.
Skubal outdueled Cleveland starter Gavin Williams, who was just as effective but hurt by a pair of Guardians errors. Williams allowed two unearned runs in six-plus innings on five hits with eight strikeouts and one walk.
He is the first pitcher to go six-plus innings and not allow an earned run in a postseason loss since Washington’s Stephen Strasburg in Game 1 of the 2017 NL Division Series against the Chicago Cubs.
“Gavin was outstanding. Filled up the strike zone, landing breaking stuff, getting swing and miss. That was a well-pitched game by both sides,” Vogt said.
Detroit took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Kerry Carpenter scored on Spencer Torkelson’s two-out bloop single to left field. Carpenter got aboard on a base hit to right but advanced to second on a fielding error by Johnathan Rodríguez.
The Guardians finally got to Skubal in the fourth by not having a ball leave the infield.
Angel Martínez hit a slow grounder between Skubal and second baseman Gleyber Torres to lead off the inning. He advanced to second on Ramírez’s walk.
With two outs and runners on first and second, Gabriel Arias hit a high chopper over Skubal. The ball landed on the infield grass between the mound and second base. Skubal fielded the ball as Martinez rounded third. Martinez’s left hand touched the plate before Detroit catcher Dillon Dingler applied the tag.
Martinez was originally ruled out on the head-first slide, but it was overturned by instant replay to tie the game at 1-1.
“It’s not surprising, right? I mean, we’ve seen it. That’s just who they are,” Skubal said. “They put a ton of pressure on you and that’s how they scratched one across there.”
Up Next
RHP Casey Mize (14-6, 3.87 ERA during the regular season) takes the mound for Detroit while Cleveland will go with RHP Tanner Bibee (12-11, 4.24 ERA).
NEW YORK (AP) — Lucas Giolito doesn’t appear to have structural damage to his right elbow but is unlikely to pitch for the Boston Red Sox during the postseason.
A 31-year-old right-hander, Giolito was left off Boston’s roster for the Wild Card Series against the New York Yankees because of elbow pain and was examined by Dr. Jeffrey Dugas at the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center. Dugas repaired the ulnar collateral ligament in Giolito’s right elbow with internal brace surgery on March 12 last year.
“From everything I am hearing there’s no structural damage, which is great, right? There’s a slim chance he can pitch,” manager Alex Cora said before Tuesday night’s series opener. “I think from a personal standpoint, those are good news for him, right? Kind of like hard to have surgery going into the offseason, all of that.”
An All-Star in 2019, Giolito was 10-4 with a 3.41 ERA in 26 starts this season. He also had Tommy John surgery with Dr. Lewis Yocum on Sept. 13, 2012.
Giolito is 71-66 with a 4.30 ERA in nine major league seasons.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Ron Washington will not return for a third season as the Los Angeles Angels manager, The Athletic reported.
The Angels hadn’t publicly announced their decision Tuesday on Washington, who missed roughly half of the current season after undergoing quadruple bypass heart surgery. Interim manager Ray Montgomery also won’t be the Angels’ next manager, according to the report.
The 73-year-old Washington was the oldest manager in the majors during his two seasons with the Angels, who hired him in November 2023. Los Angeles had the worst season in franchise history in 2024, going 63-99 after the free-agency departure of two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.
The Angels went 72-90 this season and finished last in the AL West for the second straight season under Washington and Montgomery, the bench coach who stepped up in late June after Washington was sidelined by his health issues. Washington was back around the Angels in uniform at the close of the season, but he didn’t resume managerial duties.
Washington repeatedly said he hoped to return as manager next season, but owner Arte Moreno has decided to make yet another change to a franchise that has endured 10 consecutive losing seasons and 11 straight non-playoff seasons — both the longest active streaks in the majors.
Washington had success during his tenure as Texas Rangers manager from 2007-14, reaching two World Series while making three playoff appearances and posting five straight winning seasons. He moved on to coaching roles in Oakland and Atlanta, and he won a World Series ring with the Braves in 2021.
But he couldn’t save the long-struggling Angels despite remaining popular with his players and Orange County fans. The Halos will have their fifth full-time manager in eight seasons since the departure of Mike Scioscia, who managed the club for 19 years and won its only World Series title in 2002.
After years of free spending on veteran players by Moreno, the Angels have built the start of a young core with shortstop Zach Neto, catcher Logan O’Hoppe, outfielder Jo Adell and first baseman Nolan Schanuel. That rising talent hasn’t led to an improvement in the standings.
The Angels also paid $38.5 million this season to third baseman Anthony Rendon, who didn’t play in 2025 due to a lingering hip injury. Rendon, who hasn’t played more than 58 games in any of his six seasons with Los Angeles, still has one year left on one of the most disastrous free-agent contracts in major league history.
CHICAGO (AP) — Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly hit back-to-back homers, helping the Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 3-1 on Tuesday in Game 1 of their NL Wild Card Series.
Chicago also got a perfect performance from its bullpen in the franchise’s first playoff win since the 2017 National League Championship Series. The Cubs were swept by Miami in the wild-card round in 2020 during their last postseason appearance.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series is back at Wrigley Field on Wednesday afternoon.
Suzuki opened the fifth inning with a 424-foot drive to left-center off Nick Pivetta, tying it at 1 and sending a charge through a towel-waving crowd of 39,114 on a picturesque afternoon. Pivetta had retired 11 in a row before Suzuki extended his homer streak to five games going back to the regular season.
Kelly followed with a towering shot that drifted just over the wall in left-center. The catcher and Chicago native held his right arm in the air as he rounded first base.
It was the MLB postseason debut for both Suzuki and Kelly, who combined for the franchise’s first set of back-to-back homers in the playoffs since Miguel Montero and Dexter Fowler went deep on Oct. 15, 2016, against the Dodgers.
Pivetta struck out nine in five solid innings, but San Diego’s lineup was shut down by Matthew Boyd and four relievers.
Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts produced an early lead for the Padres with back-to-back doubles in the second. Bogaerts advanced to third on center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong’s throwing error, but he was stranded there when Boyd retired Ryan O’Hearn (grounder to shortstop), Gavin Sheets (popup to third) and Jake Cronenworth (grounder to shortstop).
San Diego put runners on the corners with one out in the fourth, but Chicago shortstop Dansby Swanson made a nice running catch to help Boyd escape again.
Boyd exited after Freddy Fermin’s one-out single in the fifth. As shadows started to creep across home plate, Daniel Palencia retired each of his five batters for the win, including strikeouts of Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill.
Drew Pomeranz and Andrew Kittredge each got three outs for Chicago before Brad Keller handled the ninth for the save.
Up next
Dylan Cease takes the mound for San Diego on Wednesday. Chicago was waiting until after the series opener to announce its Game 2 starter.
Cease went 8-12 with a 4.55 ERA in 32 starts this season. The 29-year-old right-hander was drafted by the Cubs in 2014, but was traded to the White Sox in July 2017.
“I definitely have no hard feelings towards them, but yeah, it feels like a lifetime ago,” Cease said.
Game 1 of the American League Wild Card series between the Guardians and Tigers was all about the dominance of Tarik Skubal. The presumptive Cy Young winner was outstanding in the series opener allowing just a single run while striking out a Wild Card record 14 over 7.2 innings as Detroit took Game 1, 2-1 over Cleveland.
Gavin Williams was nearly as good as Skubal allowing just two unearned runs over six innings with eight strikeouts.
Detroit's manager, A.J. Hinch, played small ball with his ace on the mound. With the score tied at one in the top of the seventh and runners on the corners, Zach McKinstry delivered a sacrifice bunt to score Riley Greene which ultimately was the difference on the scoreboard. The ultimate difference in reality, though, was Skubal.
With Game 2 being a potential elimination game and less than 24 hours away, lets dive right into the matchup that pits Casey Mize on the bump for Detroit against Tanner Bibee for Cleveland.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game details & how to watch Game 2 between the Tigers and the Guardians
Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2025
Time: 1:08PM EST
Site: Progressive Field
City: Cleveland, OH
Network/Streaming: ESPN
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Odds for Game 2: Detroit at Cleveland
The latest odds as of Tuesday courtesy of DraftKings:
Moneyline: Detroit Tigers (+100), Cleveland Guardians (-121)
Spread: Guardians -1.5 (+155)
Total: 7.0 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Tigers at Guardians - Game 2
Pitching matchup for October 1, 2025: Casey Mize vs. Tanner Bibee
Tigers: Casey Mize (14-6, 3.87 ERA) Last outing: 9/26 at Boston - 6.1IP, 2ER, 6H, 0BB, 8Ks Key Stat: Mize has struck out 8 in 3 of his last 4 starts
Guardians: Tanner Bibee (12-11, 4.24 ERA) Last outing: 9/24 vs. Detroit - 6IP, 1ER, 5H, 2BB, 5Ks Key Stat: Bibee has not allowed more than 2 earned runs in any of his last 4 starts while pitching at least 6 full innings in each
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Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Tigers at Guardians - Game 2
The Guardians lost 2 games in a row twice in September with an overall record of 20-8
Riley Greene was 1-3 in Game 1 and is now 7-29 (.241) with 2 runs scored in 8 career playoff games
Jose Ramirez was 1-3 in Game 1 and is now 39-162 (.241) with 18 RBIs over 43 career playoff games
Will Vest's save in Game 1 was his second career save in 7 appearances
Javy Baez was the only player from either team to collect more than 1 hit in the game collecting 2 singles in 3 trips to the plate
If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Expert picks & predictions for Game 2 between the Tigers and the Guardians
Rotoworld Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Wednesday’s Game 2 between the Tigers and the Guardians:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Detroit Tigers +1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 7.0.
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