Category: Baseball

Phillies vs. Dodgers NLDS Game 2 betting guide: Best bets and props originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

It’s Game 2 of the NLDS, and the Phillies will need to bounce back following a tough 5-3 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday night. Let’s dive right in.

Odds as of 1:30 PM ET on FanDuel

Game 2 Odds

Philadelphia Phillies (+110): +1.5 (-154)

Los Angeles Dodgers (-130): -1.5 (+128)

O/U: 7.5

The Phillies will send out Jesús Luzardo to make his fourth career postseason start and fifth overall appearance. In 14 ⅔ playoff innings, the left-hander has allowed 10 earned runs on 20 hits. Despite those rough career numbers, Luzardo enters hot — over his last five starts, he’s posted a 2.60 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 34 ⅔ innings. In the second half of the season, Luzardo held opponents to just a .194 average.

Fellow southpaw Blake Snell takes the ball for Los Angeles. The Phillies saw him once this season, and he dominated — seven scoreless innings, 12 strikeouts. Snell was lights-out again in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series vs. Cincinnati, spinning seven innings of two-run ball with nine Ks.

It’s hard to predict what Luzardo will look like in his first postseason start as a Phillie, but after Saturday’s offensive showing, Philadelphia ais going to be hunting fastballs early and often. I’d stay away from either moneyline or run-line bets and instead lean toward Over 7.5 runs (-108).

Series odds (to win the NLDS)

Phillies: +260

Dodgers: -330

If you stayed off the series line after Game 1, your patience paid off — the Phillies’ odds have more than doubled. I’d still avoid picking a winner, but if you’re confident in the Fightins, consider Over 4.5 total games (+180). The Phillies have shown they can win at Dodger Stadium, and a Game 2 victory would cause those odds to shrink dramatically.

My favorite props

Edmundo Sosa to record a hit (-120)

Sosa’s track record against Snell is solid. The last time they faced off — May 2023 at Oracle Park when the southpaw was with the Giants –he ripped a fastball to the opposite field for a triple. In his career, Sosa is 3-for-8 off Snell. Slotting him at the bottom of the order gives the lineup a different look, and after a .276/.776 season with 11 homers, he’s a sneaky value play.

Trea Turner to record 2+ total bases (+115)

The Phillies need a spark at the top after their 1-3 hitters (Turner, Schwarber, Harper) combined to go 0-for-11. The National League batting champion hit .349 against fastballs this season. With Snell’s heater being his most hittable pitch and two dangerous bats behind him, Turner’s primed to make noise with both his bat and his legs.

Jesús Luzardo Over 15.5 outs (+130)

Luzardo has cleared this line in 12 of his last 15 starts, including each of his past five. Even when he allowed four runs to the Dodgers earlier this year, he reached 100 pitches and completed seven innings. Thomson mentioned Ranger Suárez being available in relief, but with middle-relief struggles and Suárez likely slated for Game 3, the Phillies will likely ride Luzardo deep again.

1st Inning Over 0.5 Run (+114)

Expect early aggression on both sides. Luzardo’s postseason ERA in the first inning sits at 6.00, and he’s yielded 16 earned runs in 32 first-inning frames this year. Snell’s been better early in the postseason (2.45 ERA), but he’s surrendered two homers in the opening frame. With both lineups attacking fastballs, a run in the first feels likely.

My long shot

Alec Bohm to record 2+ RBIs (+700)

RBI bets can be tricky — you’re counting on guys in front and the hitter — but this one offers good flexibility. First, Bohm’s anytime home run is also at 7-1, so you’re better off here. Next, Bohm’s a career .305 hitter vs. lefties and owns two extra-base hits in 13 at-bats against Snell. Lastly, with expected improvement from the top of the order, Bohm should see RBI opportunities. If he catches a Snell fastball early with runners on, this long shot could cash.

Before the 2025 season began,Mark Vientoswas viewed as a potential core piece for the Mets -- someone whose eye-popping power potential shined the previous year and was at his best when the lights were the brightest in October.

By the time the 2025 campaign ended, it was fair to wonder whether Vientos might have played his last game as a Met.

And the question regarding Vientos' future grew the day after the season, when president of baseball operations David Stearnsrepeatedly cited run prevention (both pitching and defense) as the main reason why the team stumbled so badly that they fell all the way out of playoff position.

Of course, Vientos was not alone when it came to New York's defensive deficiencies.

Pete Alonso had an especially poor defensive year at first base, raising questions about his future as he again hits free agency.

Brandon Nimmo was a tick below average in left field.

Francisco Alvarez was near the bottom of the league when it came to blocking balls in the dirt.

Juan Soto, as has been the case for most of his career, was well below average in right field.

But the Mets signed up for this with Soto, knowing he would be one of the best hitters in baseball -- which he was again in 2025. Alonso had the second-best OPS of his career this past season. Nimmo remains an above average offensive player.

What about Vientos?

WHY IT COULD MAKE SENSE TO TRADE VIENTOS

While Vientos' 2024 season at the plate was impressive, there were warning signs. That included his high whiff percentage and strikeout rate, as well as bat speed that was just average.

In 2025, those issues were all present again. And the season spiraled out of control for Vientos due in part to his struggles against fastballs. He hit .326 with a .615 slugging percentage against them in 2024, but just .236 with a .441 slugging percentage against them in 2025. He also had issues with offspeed stuff, slugging just .404 this year -- down from .531 in 2024.  

Vientos' power cratered along with his batting average and on-base percentage, as he slugged .413 (down from .516 in 2025) and hit only 17 homers over 121 games (he smacked 27 in 111 games in 2024).

At the end of the season, when the Mets badly needed someone to help them lengthen a top-heavy lineup, Vientos slashed .184/.262/.303 with two home runs in 84 plate appearances over 24 games, striking out 27 times.

While there's still reason to think Vientos can make adjustments and again be a plus offensive player, it's hard to believe his defensive issues at third base are something that can meaningfully improve.

He has worked hard on his defense, and deserves praise for how tireless the effort has been. But the results just haven't been there.

Vientos was in the sixth percentile in 2025 when it came to Outs Above Average -- giving him the same mark he had in 2024. The range isn't good enough, and his overall ability at third base -- despite a strong arm -- is not smooth enough. 

Before the Mets re-signed Alonso last offseason, they floated the idea that Vientos could slide to first base if Alonso left. They could theoretically consider that again, but it's hard to picture given Vientos' tiny bit of experience at the position (12 career starts), his struggles at third base, and Stearns' goal of seriously improving the defense.  

WHY IT COULD MAKE SENSE TO KEEP VIENTOS

Despite his down year at the plate in 2025, Vientos still has real promise.

He's also young (turning 26 years old in December), inexpensive (he made a shade under $800,000 this past season), and under team control through at least 2028 (he won't hit arbitration until after the 2026 season).

And while he struggled this past season, he continued to hit the ball incredibly hard and barrel it up at a well above average rate. 

The power Vientos has to all fields is the kind you can dream on. And when he's right, he can help carry a team -- like he did during the Mets' run to Game 6 of the NLCS in 2024, when he slashed .327/.362/.636 with five homers, two doubles, and 14 RBI in 58 plate appearances over 13 postseason games. 

There's also the fact that despite an overall down year in 2025, Vientos helped drive the offense for about a month, when he hit .304/.385/.759 with 10 homers and six doubles in 22 games from Aug. 17 to Sept. 9. 

Meanwhile, with Starling Marte and Jesse Winker free agents, the Mets don't have any logical full-time designated hitter candidates on the roster.

If Alonso returns, it's possible he starts getting more at-bats at DH. But of the players on the current roster, no one profiles as a full-time option there unless it's Soto -- and it will be a bit shocking if he slides there so soon into his 15-year deal.

VERDICT

The overall decision with Vientos is a tough one, but the first part of it shouldn't be.

Given Vientos' defensive struggles at third base, combined with the presence of two better hot corner defenders who also offer more positional versatility -- Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio -- Vientos' future as a Met would have to be as mainly a DH. 

In a world where Alonso leaves, which would create a huge right-handed power void, perhaps it makes sense for the Mets to keep Vientos.

In a world where Alonso stays, it would arguably be wise to make Vientos available. 

The Mets shouldn't force a move here.

But if the roster starts to shake out in a way that makes Vientos' presence a bit redundant and the Mets can get something of legitimate value back for him via trade, now could be the time to move on. 

As Clayton Kershaw completed his pregame routine the other day and walked off the field at Citizens Bank Park, I asked him about his postseason debut. That was 17 years and 39 playoff appearances ago, and yet Kershaw remembered it so well that he got his answer out before I got all of my question out.

“I was in the ‘pen,” Kershaw said. “Here.”

The pitching staff of the 2008 Dodgers featured two Hall of Famers: Kershaw, in his first year, and Greg Maddux, in his last year.

When the Dodgers faced the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series, Derek Lowe, Hiroki Kuroda and Chad Billingsley made the cut as starters. Kershaw and Maddux did not.

Read more:Hernández: Dodgers save Shohei Ohtani, not the other way around, in monumental Game 1 NLDS win

“He and I were both kind of the long guys down there,” Kershaw said. “It’s crazy, kind of the similarities.

“Where I am now is kind of where he was. It’s pretty cool.”

For just about every player, baseball tells you when your career is over. Maddux, for all his accolades, was no exception.

In each of his last five seasons, his earned-run average was above 4.00, even as he pitched at least 194 innings in each of them. In his last stint with the Dodgers — seven starts at the end of the 2008 season — his ERA was 5.09.

Maddux knew that postseason would be the end for him. He just didn’t tell anyone.

In his last outing — in the game in which the Phillies eliminated the Dodgers — Maddux was one of six Dodgers relievers. He worked the fourth and fifth innings, left the mound with the Dodgers down by five runs, and quietly asked the plate umpire for a baseball on his way out.

“I’ve got the ball in my room somewhere,” Maddux told The Times in 2014. “It kind of stunk that we lost. But I knew it was the last time I was going to put on a uniform. I was privileged to wear it for as long as I did.”

Kershaw is the rare player that has told baseball when his career is over. He announced his retirement last month, effective at the end of the season, even as he is still mighty effective.

His .846 winning percentage would have led the major leagues, had he thrown another 50 innings. He still threw more innings than anyone on the Dodgers except Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and his 3.36 ERA was his third-worst in a full season. In his final start, he shut out the American League West champion Seattle Mariners into the sixth inning.

In a normal year for the Dodgers, Kershaw would be starting in the playoffs, because a normal year for the Dodgers means scooping up a bunch of talented pitchers with histories of injury and questions of durability, then crossing their fingers and hoping a few are healthy and effective come playoff time.

Last October, the Dodgers ran short: Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty, Walker Buehler and four bullpen games. This October, almost miraculously, the Dodgers have five available starters with an ERA better than Kershaw: Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Emmet Sheehan.

Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, admitted to some trepidation at telling a Hall of Famer that he would be bound for the postseason bullpen.

“But, to Kersh’s credit, he cuts off that timidness in a way by saying, ‘Hey, I'm here to win, whatever it takes,’” Friedman said. “He’s loved watching these guys compete. Obviously he’s done really well this year as well.

“Usually, when a guy’s on his way out, it's like, ‘OK, it's time.’ You can kind of see it. The performance really backs up. That's not the case with Kersh. He was a big part of the success we had this year. But to his credit, he cut it off really early and just said, ‘Hey, I just want to be part of this and help this team win, whatever way I can.’ And so he helped make that conversation way easier.”

If Kershaw works four innings this October, he’ll pass Maddux for sixth place on the all-time list of postseason innings pitched. If he pitches 5⅔ innings, he’ll become the fifth pitcher to throw 200 postseason innings, joining Andy Pettitte, Justin Verlander, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.

In the future, fans will flip over Kershaw’s baseball card — or, more likely, look up his Baseball Reference page — and learn that the greatest starter of his generation finished his career in relief.

A curiosity, at the least, I suggested. Kershaw shrugged.

“The postseason is just its own separate thing,” he said. “You just do whatever you can. Where our team is at with our starters, it makes sense.

“I guess it's weird, but it’s part of it.”

In his postseason debut here in 2008, Kershaw retired the first five batters, not bad when four of them were named Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. In his finale in that 2008 NLCS, Maddux got the last man he faced to ground out: Cole Hamels — in the old days, when pitchers used to bat.

Kershaw might not throw another pitch; the Dodgers have made no commitment to use him in this round, or to keep him on the roster if they advance beyond then.

Read more:Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki showcase Dodgers' bullpen blueprint for playoffs

On Sunday, I asked Dodgers manager Dave Roberts whether Kershaw was here only in case a starter exited in a hurry or a game went into extra innings.

“I trust him,” Roberts said. “I think there’s other opportunities he might have to pitch. But I also do feel that there’s other guys, whether it’s lanes or spots, that I feel we're more comfortable with.

“It’s not a slight on Clayton, but I do think that there's various roles — up, down, early, late — that I could use him.”

The Dodgers are using starters wherever they can: starting, relieving, closing. Given the anxiety-inducing state of the Dodgers bullpen, the notion that they might not be able to find a spot to use Kershaw leaves only one question: Seriously?

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

‘This window is upon us': Red Sox discuss offseason priorities after early exit originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Red Sox held their annual end-of-season press conference on Monday morning, discussing some of their key off-season priorities after making an early playoff exit.

Those speaking included President and CEO Sam Kennedy, Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow and manager Alex Cora.

“I want to express huge thanks to our fans for giving us what was a great step in the right direction in 2025,” Kennedy said. “Our fans proved once again why they’re the best in baseball. You guys packed the house night in and night out… We never take that support for granted, we appreciate you guys and we’re excited for 2026. While we fell short of our ultimate goal this year, it was definitely a step in the right direction.”

Breslow echoed those comments, saying Fenway was “electric” this season.

“We’re sitting here in the first week of October, which means we didn’t accomplish what we set out to accomplish — a deep postseason run,” he added. “We fell short of that and I don’t think there’s any running from it or hiding from it. That shouldn’t diminish what the players did, what the staff did… There are a number of things we can point to as reasons for optimism.”

Cora reflected on what he said was one of the most fun groups of players he’s ever managed.

“I’m disappointed at the results — that’s not what I wanted — but as far as the overall season for me, I had a blast,” he said. “We really enjoyed it. I think this place made it special. To come here every single day and win here and to have the energy we had throughout the season, that was special.”

The Red Sox finished the season as the No. 5 seed in the American League, landing the second Wild Card spot. But they lost to the archrival New York Yankees 2-1 in the Wild Card series.

Still, the season was mostly viewed as a success, especially given the development of young players like Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer and the fact that the team hadn’t qualified for the playoffs since 2021.

Now, the speculation turns toward what the team will do in the offseason, including whether they will re-sign third baseman Alex Bregman, trade one of their four outfielders or sign a top-tier free agent starter to bolster their rotation.

Breslow said he was particularly impressed with the emergence of the organization’s pitching development pipeline this season, but said that won’t stop him from pursuing another front-line starter to augment a rotation led by ace Garrett Crochet.

“I think there are a few things we can point to — most significant is to remind ourselves that there’s no guarantee that we just pick up where we left off at the end of 2025, expecting everyone to take a step forward. That could allow us to be complacent… We’ve talked a lot about how this window is upon us.”

Breslow said one area to look at is improving the team’s defense, and another is hitting with runners in scoring position.

“But right now, we’ll kind of zoom out a little bit and take stock of where we are,” he said. “We’ll be open to all possible pathways to improving the team.”

Breslow was asked about the future of several key players — including Bregman, Trevor Story, Jarren Duran, Tristan Casas and Lucas Giolito — all of whom could move on or be traded this offseason. But he said it is too soon to discuss specifics.

As for whether the team has enough pitching, Breslow said there is always a need for more major league arms, as demonstrated this postseason.

“No one will sit in this seat and say there is enough pitching in the organization,” he said. “I think we saw that in the second half. We can list out pitchers that were on the IL, and it just means that depth is so critically important. When we talk about pursuing opportunities to improve the team, bringing in pitching is certainly one of them.”

More than four years after the family of deceased Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs filed a wrongful death suit against the Angels, jury selection will begin Monday in Orange County Superior Court.

Skaggs' widow Carli Skaggs and parents Debra Hetman and Darrell Skaggs stated in a court filing that they seek at least $210 million in lost earnings and damages. A lawyer for the Angels said in a pretrial hearing that the plaintiffs now seek a judgment of $1 billion, although the lead attorney representing the family said the number is an exaggeration.

The trial is expected to last several weeks. Pretrial discovery included more than 50 depositions and the witness list contains nearly 80 names.

Lawyers for the Skaggs family aim to establish that the Angels were responsible for the death of the 27-year-old left-handed pitcher on July 1, 2019, after he snorted crushed pills that contained fentanyl in a hotel room during a team road trip in Texas.

An autopsy concluded Skaggs accidentally died of asphyxia after aspirating his own vomit while under the influence of fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol.

Angels communications director Eric Kay provided Skaggs with counterfeit oxycodone pills that turned out to be laced with fentanyl and is serving 22 years in federal prison for his role in the death. Skaggs' lawyers will try to prove that other Angels employees knew Kay was providing opioids to Skaggs.

Read more:Tyler Skaggs' family sues Angels over pitcher's death

“The Angels owed Tyler Skaggs a duty to provide a safe place to work and play baseball,” the lawsuit said. “The Angels breached their duty when they allowed Kay, a drug addict, complete access to Tyler. The Angels also breached their duty when they allowed Kay to provide Tyler with dangerous illegal drugs. The Angels should have known Kay was dealing drugs to players. Tyler died as a result of the Angels’ breach of their duties.”

The Skaggs family planned to call numerous current and former Angels players as witnesses, including future Hall of Famers Mike Trout and Albert Pujols as well as pitcher Andrew Heaney — Skaggs' best friend on the team — in an attempt to show that Skaggs was a fully functioning major league pitcher and not an addict.

Pretrial filings and hearings indicated that the Angels were attempting to show that Skaggs was a longtime drug user who acquired pills from sources other than Kay. Skaggs' mother, Debbie Hetman, testified during Kay's 2022 criminal trial that her son admitted he had an “issue” with oxycodone as far back as 2013.

Hetman said her son quit "cold turkey" but she testified the addiction remained enough of a concern that Skaggs wasn’t prescribed opioids after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2014.

Judge H. Shaina Colover dashed a key Angels defense strategy when she ruled that Kay’s criminal conviction could not be disputed during the civil trial. Angels attorney Todd Theodora contended that new evidence indicated Skaggs died of a “cardiac arrhythmia, second to the fact that Tyler had 10 to 15 drinks in him, coupled with the oxycodone, for which Angels baseball is not responsible.”

Read more:Eric Kay found guilty of supplying drugs that led to death of Angels' Tyler Skaggs

Theodora said that if the Angels could prove Kay was not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, neither Kay nor the team would be culpable in Skaggs’ death. Colover, however, ruled that Kay's "conviction, based on applicable law and facts, was final." Kay's appeal was denied in federal court in November 2023.

Pretrial depositions of Angels players and support personnel provided a rare glimpse into the rowdy, often profane culture of a major league clubhouse.

Angels clubhouse attendants testified that Kay participated in stunts such as purposely taking an 85-mph fastball off his knee in the batting cage, having a pitcher throw a football at his face from short range, eating a bug and eating pimples off the back of Trout.

Tim Mead, the Angels longtime vice president of communication and Kay's supervisor, acknowledged as much in his deposition, saying, "If you try to describe a clubhouse or a locker room in professional sports, or even college, and probably even the military in terms, and try to equate it to how we see — how this law firm is run or a corporation is run, you know, unfortunately, there's not lot of comparison.... There's a lot of fun, there's a lot of release."

And a lot of painkillers. Former Angels players Matt Harvey, C.J. Cron, Mike Morin and Cam Bedrosian testified at Kay's trial that he distributed blue 30 milligram oxycodone pills to them at Angel Stadium. Skaggs, testimony revealed, was a particularly frequent customer.

Read more:Tyler Skaggs' death revisited as MLB partners with White House to reduce opioid overdoses

Testimony established that Kay was also a longtime user of oxycodone and that the Angels knew it. In a filing, the Skaggs family showed evidence that Angels team physician Craig Milhouse prescribed Kay Hydrocodone 15 times from 2009 to 2012. The Skaggs family also plans to call Trout, who according to the deposition of former Angels clubhouse attendant Kris Constanti, offered to pay for Kay’s drug rehabilitation in 2018.

Skaggs was a top prospect coming out of Santa Monica High in 2009, and the Angels made him their first-round draft pick. He was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks a year later and made his major league debut with them in 2012.

Traded back to the Angels in 2014, Skaggs made the starting rotation, where he remained when not battling injuries until his death. His numbers were rather ordinary, a 28-38 win-loss record with a 4.41 earned-run average in 96 career starts, but his lawyers pointed to his youth and the escalating salaries given to starting pitchers in asking for a jury award of at least $210 million and as much as $785 million.

Skaggs earned $9.2 million — including $3.7 million in 2019 — and would have become a free agent after the 2020 season. Effective starting pitchers at a similar age and comparable performance can command multi-year contracts of $100 million or more.

Skaggs' death prompted MLB to begin testing for opioids and cocaine in 2020, but only players who do not cooperate with their treatment plans are subject to discipline. Marijuana was removed from the list of drugs of abuse and is treated the same as alcohol.

MLB emergency medical procedures now require that naloxone be stored in clubhouses, weight rooms, dugouts and umpire dressing rooms at all ballparks. Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, is an antidote for opioid poisoning.

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Max Fried has made two starts for the Yankees this postseason and they both couldn't have gone more different.

After 6.1 scoreless innings against the Red Sox in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, the left-hander returned for Game 2 of the ALDS against the Blue Jays and allowed seven earned runs in 3.0+ innings.

The poor performance put New York in a tough spot, both in the game and also the series as they return to Yankee Stadium on the verge of elimination.

"They obviously had a really good approach," Fried said. "They were on a lot of my pitches and credit to them. I didn’t get it done and it’s frustrating, especially coming out in a game like this and needed to have a good one."

Following the embarrassing Game 1 loss on Saturday, New York and Fried were hoping to get some revenge on Sunday. However, it was just more of the same with Toronto scoring 13 runs on 15 hits a day after it put up 10 runs on 14 hits.

As for the Yankees' offense, it couldn't figure out Blue Jays rookie starter Trey Yesavage who blanked New York over 5.1 hitless innings while striking out 11. It was only after Yesavage left the game when the Yanks were able to score, pushing across seven runs in the sixth and seventh innings. 

Of course, the late burst of offense wasn't enough with the damage already done, but it was a good sign after New York managed to score just once on Saturday.

"Yeah it was tough," said Aaron Judge about Yesavage. "First time seeing him. He was making his pitches, kinda keeping us in between a little bit there all night. We kinda got it going there late, but at that point it’s a little too late. We saw him now, take it back home and we’ve been playing with our backs against the wall all year long so it’s nothing new for us."

The Yankees will now need to win three in a row to advance to the ALCS. That daunting task will start on Tuesday with Carlos Rodón on the hill.

As for Fried, the team will still need to rely on him if it does end up pushing the series to a Game 5. If that's the case, Fried, who has been New York's ace all season, will be ready.

"We’re a good team," Fried said. "Two games doesn’t mean anything. We still have the ability to go out there and win three in a row and win the series so we still gotta believe."

Manager Aaron Boone is also optimistic about his team's chances despite facing elimination. 

"Baseball’s a funny game," he said. "I know we’ll show up and be ready to go expecting to win Tuesday night. Obviously feels like the world is caving in around you and you lose two games like that in their building where it doesn’t go right, but all of a sudden you go out there and win a ballgame on Tuesday, the needle can change. 

"There’s been a lot of weird things that have happened in baseball this year, this would not be the weirdest, us rallying.

To the Yankees credit, they staved off elimination twice in the Wild Card Series against Boston after losing Game 1 (and wasting Fried's gem). Now they'll have to do it three more times against another division rival who has had their number this year (9-5; 7-1 at home).

The good news? New York went 4-2 against Toronto at Yankee Stadium this season and has historically played well against the Blue Jays at home.

"We got experience," Judge said. "We got guys in here who’ve been to the World Series, in some tough moments, backs up against the wall, especially all season long so we just gotta show up and do our thing."

"We’re ready to go," Fried said. "Obviously had a rough showing here and obviously we’d rather be up 2-0 than down 2-0, but we have a lot of faith in this club and if there’s anyone who can win three in a row, we did down the stretch and we believe in each other here."

TORONTO -- J.C. Escarra was the only Yankee who had seen it. He was the only one who knew how difficult it was to face that split-fingered pitch from the highest release point in baseball.

On Aug. 21, playing for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Escarra faced the Buffalo Bisons’ Trey Yesavage and struck out twice. None of his teammates had faced Yesavage, who made his MLB debut on Sept. 15. Escarra spoke in the Yankees’ hitters meeting prior to Yesavage’s Game 2 gem.

“I just let the team know what I saw,” Escarra told SNY after the 13-7 loss to the Blue Jays that put the Yanks in an 0-2 series hole. “I think with him, you take out the arm angle [and] it’s nothing we haven’t seen before, you know? But you throw in the height [6-foot-4] and the angle that he throws from, that is what gives the deception that plays off the splitter.

“As guys get more comfortable against that arm angle, I think we’ll do better.”

We bring this up not to review Game 2 but to light a path for the Yankees to take this series. In order to win, they’ll have to once again deal with Yesavage and Game 1 winner Kevin Gausman. In those losses, the team picked up a few insights on how to be more successful next time.

Carlos Rodon must beat the Jays on Tuesday in New York to extend the season. Cam Schlittler needs to do the same on Wednesday. Let’s cut right to the potential game that will be necessary for the Yanks’ season to progress past this week.

In Game 5 in Toronto on Friday, Max Fried would likely face some combination of a rested Gausman and Yesavage (Gausman would be on regular rest on Thursday, an off day; Yesavage would on Friday).

If facing Gausman as a starter, the Yankees’ adjustment will be straightforward. They should swap Ben Rice at first base for Paul Goldschmidt. Manager Aaron Boone started Rice in Game 1 because Rice earned it by becoming an elite MLB hitter this year. But Rice struggled against Gausman’s splitter, a tough pitch for a left-handed hitter.

Goldschmidt is 10-for-22 lifetime against Gausman, with a .636 slugging percentage. And as one scout put it, “Goldy is good against soft” -- like the splitter.

The solution for Yesavage -- like Escarra suggested -- is experience. Not only was he facing the Yankees for the first time on Saturday, but the team’s hitters were uniquely unable to prepare for him.

The Yanks are one of many teams to use a Trajekt Arc pitching machine, which uses artificial intelligence tools to mimic the pitches and mechanics of opponents. This is particularly useful against unfamiliar pitchers -- and particularly used against an uncommonly high release point.

The Yankees clinched the Wild Card Series against Boston late on Thursday, then flew to Boston for a workout day on Friday. The Trajekt is too big to travel, and home teams do not make their machines available to visitors. There was no time to practice against the Trajekt version of Yesavage.

When I noted this on Twitter during the game, the reporter Ben Nicholson-Smith of SportsNet in Toronto noted in a quote tweet that “this was part of the reason why it made sense for the Blue Jays to start Yesavage at home, and start the more experienced Shane Bieber @ NYY.”

Kyle Boddy, the founder of the influential Driveline Baseball pitching company, added, “This sounds like an excuse given the box score, but it’s a very real training tool for the best organizations. Still, Trajekt can’t perfectly mimic extreme release points - possibly including Yesavage (ex: has real trouble with Chris Sale).”

As one Yankee put it after the game, “Trajekt is objectively helpful, period.”

The Yankees were not looking to make excuses or cite the lack of Trajekt as the reason for their loss. This was my thought, not theirs. But it does speak to their chances of faring better against Yesavage on Friday, if they earn the chance.

As the Yankees’ postgame clubhouse was about to close on Sunday, I asked Giancarlo Stanton if the hitters would be more prepared for a second shot at Yesavage in particular because of the unique arm angle.

“Yes,” Stanton said without hesitation.

Then he offered a light admonishment of my premise. “That would be looking ahead,” Stanton said. “We’ve still got to win Tuesday first and get there.”

He was right, of course. But the road to the ALCS likely now goes through Gausman and Yesavage again.

Carlos Rodón says he’s enjoyed the heightened atmosphere October brings to the Bronx, how the fans are louder and the stakes so supercharged. “It’s a treat to be able to step on the mound in Yankee Stadium in the playoffs,” Rodón noted on Sunday.

He’ll be at his happy place on Tuesday, when he starts Game 3 of the ALDS against the Blue Jays and Shane Bieber. But Rodón will have to cope with more than just the enjoyable parts of pitching there in October, since this best-of-five series has gone dangerously haywire for the Yankees. 

With the Bombers down 0-2 and facing elimination, Rodón faces tremendous pressure to save the season. Or at least help extend it and give the Yanks more life. Can Rodón be the stopper that Max Fried wasn’t on Sunday?

We can’t possibly know until he takes the ball. But we do know this – the Yankees brought Rodón here for starts like this, to excel in big spots. He didn’t get a six-year, $162 million contract to be a mid-rotation piece who just sucks up innings. He needs signature starts, outings that fans will remember and, perhaps, even cite as an example for future Yankee teams pushed to the brink. 

After by far his best season as a Yankee, there’s plenty of evidence that Rodón can seize this moment. He was 18-9 with a 3.09 ERA in 33 starts, finishing second in the AL in wins and eighth in ERA. He’s awfully hard to get a hit against – he allowed 6.1 hits per nine innings, the best mark in the American League. Opponents batted .188 against him.

That means it’ll be fascinating to see how he fares against the Blue Jays, who had the most hits in the majors, and excel at putting the ball in play. Toronto had the lowest strikeout percentage in baseball, which means that Rodón might have to seek outs in different ways.

He acknowledged Sunday in the pre-game interview room, “I’ve always chased the strikeout.”

To his credit, though, Rodón also talked about how he’s watched Fried, a fellow lefty, rack up outs via weak contact. It made him weigh the merits of forcing contact to get quick outs, rather than slogging through a longer battle. We’ll see if he can apply that to the Blue Jays on Tuesday. 

“They're tough to strike out,” Rodón said. “They force action. They put the ball in play. They make teams play defense. They're pretty athletic. There's also slug within the lineup.

“And it makes it tough. There's times where you need a strikeout and just the miss isn't there.”

During the season, Rodón had a 3.60 ERA against Toronto, allowing six runs (four earned) in 10 innings. But he walked eight batters, a potential red flag for a start in which a few walks might lead to Yankee doom. 

Another potential reason for limited confidence in him – Rodón’s career postseason ERA is 6.15, including a 5.32 mark as a Yankee. Last year, he was so overamped in his first playoff start against the Royals, he could not get out of the fourth inning, despite starting with three scoreless innings, including a 1-2-3 first with three Ks. He had a terrific start against Cleveland in Game 1 of the ALCS, but was spotty in two outings afterward. 

He said earlier this postseason that he learned from those experiences. He has a 4.50 ERA so far this October, but lasted six innings against the Red Sox, enough to help the Yankees win Game 2. 

Starting pitching was such a huge part of the Yankees victory over Boston in the Wild Card series – the rotation had a 1.33 ERA. But the starters have been a main factor in the Yankees getting clobbered twice in a row in Toronto. Yankee starters have gotten a total of 17 outs (eight by Luis Gil, nine by Fried) in this series. In their combined 5.2 innings of work, they have a 14.29 ERA. 

That alarming trend must change in Game 3. A win could shift the whole feel of this series, especially with the way the Yankees fought back in Game 2, scoring seven runs in a two-inning span after falling way behind. Aaron Judge looked sharp at the plate; Giancarlo Stanton broke out a little, too. Perhaps the lineup is beginning to percolate. And wunderkind Cam Schlittler, who smothered the Red Sox in the last series, is slated to pitch Game 4.

But until the Yanks actually win a game, the series has, for them, a dark cloud hovering close. Elimination is looming and the Jays are 10-5 against the Yanks this year, though the Bombers were 4-2 against Toronto at the Stadium. 

When you sign a big free agent contract to come to New York, you’re expected to crave these moments. You’re expected to deliver, too. 

Rodón’s got a fascinating chance here. A big performance could ink him into Yankee lore alongside some pretty remarkable names. 

Can he seize the moment and save the Yanks, even if just for one more day?