Category: Baseball

Hello, friends.

There are 174 days remaining until the next scheduled Orioles game. We are about two months away from the point where the league’s owners will get greedy and lock out the players in a negotiating tactic that the commissioner himself likened to shooting the players with a .45. At that point, there will be a giant question mark as to when the next MLB game will be played, with nothing firm again until a labor deal is reached.

There will be at least one playoff game today. Perhaps only one. (This is being finished off before the west coast Cubs-Padres game has wrapped up.) Yesterday’s postseason action saw the White Sox dispatch the Astros and the Yankees wipe the floor with the Red Sox, each completing the two-game wild card series sweep.

Good riddance to a .500 team that made the postseason. That team advancing would have been a shame. So long to the Red Sox. Too bad for Adley Rutschman still remaining winless in the playoffs in his career. Maybe next year. The Phillies did even out their series by beating the Braves in extra innings. I honestly don’t care who wins that series. My wife, who hates Bryce Harper, wants the Phillies to lose.

Even with nothing directly new happening in Birdland, there is plenty to talk about around here. Yesterday, The Baltimore Banner published a story with the headline, “What went wrong with the 2026 Orioles, according to their players.”

It’s an interesting article because most of it consists of players are actually on the record talking about issues under their own names. Beat writer Andy Kostka says that he spoke to 10 players, and by my counting, there’s exactly one anonymous quote here, with a small number of additional anonymous paraphrases. Getting guys to speak frankly, even in just a general way, is good work by him.

One thing that stands out is that most of the quoted players here are either guys who arrived in 2026, are about to be free agents, or both. There is a lot of Blaze Alexander, Pete Alonso, Chris Bassitt, and Trevor Rogers. There are no direct quotes from guys like Colton Cowser, Gunnar Henderson, and Coby Mayo.

A dramatic example of how it had to be the new arrivals offering leadership is recounted by Alexander, who explained that there had been an early August players-only meeting initiated by catcher Carlos Narváez. As Alexander related things to Kostka, it took Narváez mere days of being around the Orioles to recognize some similar problems to what plagued his old team, the Red Sox, early in the season, and after apparently explaining some of that (Alexander didn’t say exactly what,) he conluded, “The players, it’s up to us.”

This was, according to the article, one of four or five players-only meetings called through the season. Whatever people were trying to get going just wasn’t taking. In a quote that was already widely shared on social media before this article was published, Pete Alonso laid the blame squarely on the players:

“We need to do a better job as players. That’s what it boils down to. At the end of the day, you can have all the help, all the coaching, all the information, but it’s about getting it done between the lines, and collectively as a group, we didn’t do that.”

Bassitt’s quotes in this article also hit on the players needing to be the ones who step up. He said that it needs to be the key players the team has invested in – specifically naming Alonso and Henderson for position players and Shane Baz and Kyle Bradish for pitchers – who set the standard not just at the major league level but all the way down into the minors. Bassitt’s message is that everyone in the organization should feel like, if you’re not doing it the right way, you’re not going to make it to the majors or stay there for long.

Among the problems were players “going through the motions” (again, you’ll be disappointed if you want him to say who) in drills rather than actually trying to use them to sharpen up. That’s also in what Bassitt said.

I am again left wondering about first-year manager Craig Albernaz, who needs to be sat down in the conference room like in Office Space with the two Bobs and asked, “What would you say… ya DO here?” If there’s an obvious effort problem in the drills, what was the manager doing about it? Apparently not enough for things to stick. And if he can’t make it stick, why is he here?

One could wonder the same, to some degree, about Mike Elias. What does it say about the organization that, now eight years after he has been hired, there is still not a top-down standard all the way down to the lowest levels of the minors, such that players have good habits instilled all the way up the ladder and arrive at the major league level with fewer of these problems? That’s a colossal screwup!

If I was the billionaire owner of the Baltimore Orioles, I would not count on Elias being the guy to fix that mess, even if, belatedly, he has identified some of the deficiencies. Yet it seems that Rubes is giving him another year to sort it out. One thing that can be said about Elias is that he did shift gears in building out his roster for 2026, and it’s clear there are changes coming to the front office as well, even if the guy at the top is staying the same. Will it be enough? I don’t know. But, he’s clearly not stubbornly plowing ahead with a failed plan. Critiques of the O’s situation should acknowledge that.

Orioles stuff you might have missed

With Mike Elias still in charge, the Orioles remain stuck (The Baltimore Banner)
The Banner’s hot taker is back from covering the Ravens in Brazil to weigh in on the end-of-season presser and the state of the organization generally, musing whether Mike Elias is like Sisyphus. I might apply the myth differently, myself. Mike Elias is the guy rolling the boulder back down the hill every night so Sisyphus has to do it all over again.

Big question for O’s this winter: Is Mike Elias open to changes and new ideas? (Steve on Baseball)
It is a big part of the hundred-million dollar question for the Orioles this year. Steve Melewski offers his take.

Looking at important context to this year’s minor league numbers (Orioles On The Verge)
The folks at the Verge are looking at minor league park factors to see whether or how much that should change what to think about some Orioles prospects and how they did this season.

2026 All-Prospect team includes Eyanson, Dzierwa (MLB Pipeline)
There might really actually be a wave of interesting Orioles pitching prospects right now, for the first time in the Elias tenure.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1997, the Orioles beat the Mariners in game 1 of their division series, scoring five runs off Randy Johnson and four more off reliever Mike Timlin on the way to a 9-3 victory. Mike Mussina allowed two runs in seven innings to get the win for the O’s. This game featured six future baseball Hall of Famers. It was a stacked series.

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2025-26 two-game catcher David Bañuelos, 2018-25 outfielder Cedric Mullins, 2026 two-game reliever Lou Trivino, 2011 three-game pitcher Mitch Atkins, 2000-01 pitcher Chuck McElroy, and 1956-60 infielder Bob Boyd.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Boeing founder William Boeing (1881), Bonnie and Clyde outlaw Bonnie Parker (1910), 39th president Jimmy Carter (1924), actress Julie Andrews (1935), baseball Hall of Famer Rod Carew (1945), actor Zach Galifianakis (1969), and gymnast/social media star Livvy Dunne (2002).

On this day in history…

In 1791, the revolutionary French Legislative Assembly had its first session. More radical members were seated on the left side of its hall, where more conservative or reactionary members were seated on the right. This is the origin of “left” and “right” as political descriptors, which has continued with some evolutions on into today.

In 1903, the first modern World Series game was held, taking place between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Boston triumphed in what was then a best-of-nine with a 5-3 series victory. Pittsburgh took Game 1, though, by a 7-3 score where Cy Young was the losing pitcher.

In 1938, Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland region was annexed by Nazi Germany. This action was permitted by the previous day’s agreement in Munich, which European leaders at the time believed would prevent a war on the continent. This agreement is not so well-regarded today, rather instead an infamous instance showing that appeasement of a dictator never works.

In 1971, Walt Disney World opened in Florida. At its pre-COVID peak, Disney World was drawing nearly 60 million attendees annually. It’s just recently rebounded to about 50 million annually. (Exactly 11 years later, EPCOT Center, part of the Disney complex, opened to the public.)

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 1. Have a safe Thursday.

On Monday, MLB revealed their All-MLB ballot, and we covered the Brewers who were included. This is a fun exercise for me, because I’ve been keeping my own personal All-MLB teams for years, since before it was an official thing that the league did (they started bestowing the honor in 2019).

My own personal teams don’t look exactly like the ones MLB uses—they specify outfield positions instead of just choosing three outfielders, I only include one starting pitcher and one reliever, and if the situation calls for it, I’ll throw in a Wild Card selection (this is where I’ve put Shohei, and when I’ve gone back to look at historical seasons, that designation can be used for great two-way seasons). In my own exercises, I also used a “DH” spot not for a player who necessarily actually played most often at designated hitter, but instead I just gave that position to the next-best offensive player who did not make it at any other position. These choices were made mostly because I made All-MLB teams for each season going way, way back to before there was a DH, but I still wanted to honor players who sometimes had truly great seasons but were edged out because, for example, Jimmie Foxx and Lou Gehrig were playing the same position at the same time.

In any case, I’ll stick to the “rules” that MLB has put forth for this exercise, but I’ll rank my pitchers based on preference, so you’ll know which two would’ve made my personal team. I’ll also add that I’d include Shohei as a two-way player this year in my “wild card” pick; it was a “down” season for him, but he was still awesome.

On to the selections!

Catcher: Gabriel Moreno, Diamondbacks

Moreno was a big-time prospect a few years ago—he was the #7 prospect via Baseball America and MLB Pipeline before the 2022 season. He’s been a solid player as a pro—DRS really likes his defense, and he had a solid 108 OPS+ across 316 games in his first four (really three plus a handful of games near the end of 2022) seasons.

This year, he broke out offensively. He won the NL batting title by hitting .311, he hit for decent power, with 16 homers and 33 doubles, and he walked at a solid 10.4% rate. Moreno’s 143 OPS+ was the best of any catcher with real playing time this season by a pretty solid margin, and he played in 130 games, all of which led to 6.7 WAR via Baseball Reference. FanGraphs is a little more down on his defense, but he still led all catchers with 5.4 fWAR. Even if Dillon Dingler is a way better defensive catcher than Moreno (FanGraphs thinks so, Baseball Reference doesn’t), there was a huge gap between the two of them offensively this year, and this was a clear choice.

A nod also to Madison product Drake Baldwin, who basically recreated his Rookie of the Year campaign from last season. For stretches, he was Atlanta’s best offensive player, and that team won 94 games.

First Base: Pete Alonso, Orioles

Alonso played in 161 games this year; he’s played in at least 152 games in every season he’s been in the big leagues except 2020, when he played in 57 of the Mets’ 60 games. In his first season in Baltimore, Alonso was as good as he has ever been. He hit 43 homers and knocked in 113 runs, both of which led the American League, his second time leading his league in each stat category. His 149 OPS+ was the best of his career, and by WAR he had either his best (5.0 fWAR is a career high) or second-best (4.9 bWAR, slightly behind his 53-homer rookie season) season. Alonso is not a perfect player, but he’s become a metronomic source of 40-ish homers, and don’t look now, but he’s got a real shot at hitting 500 in his career despite not debuting until he was 24.

The players with the best case behind Alonso are both also in the American League East: the Yankees’ Ben Rice and the Red Sox’ Willson Contreras. Contreras, a BCB favorite, had what was probably his best overall season: he set career highs with 27 homers, a 153 OPS+, and 4.6 bWAR/4.0 fWAR. Rice, in just his second full season, carried the Yankee offense in the absence of Aaron Judge and hit 41 homers with a 146 OPS+ in 154 games.

Brief shout-outs to three other guys who had really good seasons but were a tick below the others mentioned here: the human metronome, Matt Olson; Rafael Devers, who after a drama-filled 2025 season quietly put together a monstrous offensive season in San Francisco; and Milwaukee’s own Jake Bauers, one of the nicest stories of the year.

Second Base: Brice Turang, Brewers

This is an easy one, and not just because Turang is Our Guy. Via bWAR, Turang was the second-best position player in baseball with 7.3, and while FanGraphs doesn’t view him as favorably (5.9) he’s still way ahead of the second-place player who is actually a second baseman (Brandon Lowe, 4.9; Fernando Tatis Jr. did play 50 games at second base this year, but that would be stretching it).

Turang, as we all know well, is just a complete player. He posted a .268/.366/.450 batting line (124 OPS+, 128 wRC+), showed power (37 doubles, 21 homers), knocked in runs (100 RBI), stole bases (19 stolen bases at a 79% success rate), and played defense that seems likely to win him the second Gold Glove of his career. No other second baseman—really no infielder in the league this season—can boast that diverse a skillset.

It also just wasn’t a great year for second baseman in the non-Brewers division. Lowe was quite good—he hit 35 homers and knocked in 96 runs, and the numbers suggest he played the best defense of his career; his 5.4 bWAR were a career high. St. Louis’s rookie megaprospect JJ Wetherholt played great defense and held his own at the plate, but he fell off quite a bit down the stretch and finished the season as basically an exactly league-average hitter. Luis Arraez was really bad after switching from San Francisco to Philadelphia, which tanked any chance it looked like he had early in the season.

Third Base: Junior Caminero, Rays

Ah, finally, a tight race. Caminero was fourth among third basemen in fWAR if you include Detroit rookie Kevin McGonigle, who split his time almost exactly evenly between third and shortstop, but I’m going with him here because those four are very tightly packed and because it’s a bit of a “team success” choice. The Rays spent most of the season as the clear best team in the American League, and Caminero was their best player.

Caminero—who was only 22 for much of the season!—has become one of the best offensive players in baseball. He hit .276/.360/.524 (144 OPS+) and popped 42 homers while knocking in 101 runs and walking 79 times. Sure, he’s the undisputed champion of the double play (it was his second consecutive season leading baseball) and he’s probably somewhere between “mediocre” and “pretty good I guess” defensively. But the man who was once traded straight-up for Tobias Myers is a bonafide star who will hit his 100th career homer well before his 24th birthday.

There’s a very real argument for Alex Bregman here, and who knows, if I wasn’t a Brewers fan I might have gone in that direction. Bregman started badly but hit .304/.389/.658 over the season’s last two months, and by defensive WAR on Baseball Reference, he had the best season of his career. He finished with 5.8 bWAR, the best season he’s had since he was a legitimate MVP candidate in 2018-19.

On the South Side, Miguel Vargas had an outstanding season for the White Sox, serving as that team’s “veteran presence” even though he’s only 26. He hit 31 doubles and 33 homers, stole 22 bases in 24 tries, and just had an all-around great season. But defensively he was worse even than Caminero, and he’s a pretty clear third for me. I’ll discuss McGonigle a bit more in the shortstop section.

Shortstop: Bobby Witt Jr., Royals

This is another hard one!

Witt might be getting a little bit of a legacy vote, here. He’s been what I’d consider the league’s best shortstop for three years running, now, and while this season wasn’t quite as good as either of the last two, it was still in the same universe. Witt hits (.281 batting average), hits for power (18 homers, 33 doubles), runs (45 stolen bases in 53 attempts), and plays great defense (he’s got a good shot at winning his third straight Gold Glove). None of the other players who Witt is contending with here do everything quite as well as he does. Via WAR, Witt is second among shortstops via Baseball Reference (6.7) and first on FanGraphs (7.0).

There is stiff competition, though. First, let’s talk about McGonigle, who led American League position players in bWAR this season. A rookie, McGonigle led the AL in plate appearances and hit .278/.376/.430 (126 OPS+) with 18 homers, five triples, and 28 doubles, and he walked 95 times, which added a lot of value. He’s not nearly the baserunner that Witt is, though, and there’s some disagreement about his defense; the DRS based BRef numbers think he was outstanding, while the OAA based FanGraphs numbers think he was merely “okay.” This disagreement is enough for me to give the edge to Witt, who was almost as good a hitter but was pretty clearly better as a runner and fielder.

Elly De La Cruz is also in this conversation. The Reds’ shortstop had his best season by far at the plate, where he hit .283/.365/.515 with 30 homers, 30 doubles, 5 triples, and 30 stolen bases (he was a fan of round numbers, I guess). He was caught stealing a lot, though (eight times), and his defense did not grade out all that well. Still, FanGraphs had him with 6.4 WAR, second to Witt.

The last guy I want to mention here briefly is Otto Lopez. He was definitely behind these other guys, but it was a great season nonetheless—Lopez is a good defensive shortstop and he hit .305 and led the majors with 191 hits, and was a menace on the bases (34 steals in 39 tries).

There’s also no “team success” consideration here: all four of these guys played for disappointing teams who missed the playoffs. So in that respect, it’s an even playing field!

Left Field: Randy Arozarena, Mariners

By happenstance, it just so happens that the three best outfielders in the league this year slot nicely into a left-center-right alignment, so I can stick to my non-generic outfield preferences while also choosing the three guys I’d have picked anyway if I was doing the MLB style “OF” that appears on their ballot.

Let’s start with Arozarena. The Mariners were an immensely disappointing team this year, but that can’t be put on their left fielder. Arozarena has, at times during his eight-year career, looked like a superstar, but he’s never really been able to sustain it for a whole season. That changed this year. He hit .281/.381/.484, by far the best batting line of his career, and he hit 34 doubles and 26 homers while playing in the extremely pitcher-friendly T Mobile Park in Seattle. His 113 runs scored led the AL, and he added 26 stolen bases, giving him his sixth straight 20/20 season (surprising to me!).

The guy who should get this second-team selection is a familiar face: Jackson Chourio. Chourio was fourth among all outfielders in fWAR this season (he is a more modest eighth in bWAR), and he played only 127 games; if he’d played the 154 games that Arozarena had, this very well may have been his award. He’s got a real case purely as an outfielder to make that second team, but if you’re strict about left field, I think he’s a pretty obvious selection.

Center Field: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs

This is an extremely obvious choice. Via Baseball Reference, Crow-Armstrong’s 9.8 WAR were 2.5 more than any other position player in the league, and via FanGraphs, that gap was 3.6 (10.6 to Witt’s 7.0). Sarah Langs tells us that he was the first player under Statcast (since 2016) to finish in the 99th percentile in all of batting, fielding, and baserunning run value; I wonder if that would still be the case if we had Statcast for another 100 years prior to 2016. He led the majors in homers, led the NL in OPS+, stole 41 bases, and was arguably the top defensive player in baseball. It was a truly historic season.

Even if PCA’s season was only “great” instead of “historic,” there was no one else close in center. The next best options include Ceddanne Rafaela, who was only a slightly above-average hitter but played excellent defense, Andy Pages who started out incredibly strong but faded a bit in the second half, and Michael Harris II, who is a good but imperfect player.

Right Field: Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres

There could be some debate here, because our two major sites have vastly different views of Tatis’s defense. FanGraphs views him as solid defensively at both right field and second base this season; Baseball Reference has a similar view of his defense in the outfield but saw him as atrocious at second base. Of course, we’re choosing a right fielder, so even if Tatis was bad at second base, maybe it shouldn’t be a huge demerit against him here, even if it weighs down his WAR numbers (4.3 bWAR vs. 5.4 fWAR).

If we can’t agree on defense, let’s look elsewhere, then: Tatis, who played in 159 games this season, finished with a 131 wRC+ despite not hitting a home run until May 30th, one of the season’s weirdest stories. They kept coming once he hit them and he finished with 25 homers, 83 RBI, and 38 stolen bases (though he led the NL in CS with 13). He was San Diego’s best player as the Padres turned their season around, and he hit .295/.372/.563 in the season’s final three months.

If Tatis is not the answer here, the other contenders probably include the Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki, who has become a consistently good hitter, or Boston’s Wilyer Abreu, another player who has vast differences in defensive value between BRef and FanGraphs.

Designated Hitter: Yordan Alvarez, Astros

Alvarez was the best hitter in baseball this season, and it was not close. Alvarez’s OPS+ this season was 190; second place was Crow-Armstrong at 156. The gap between Alvarez and PCA was the same as the gap between PCA and 35-year-old Nolan Arenado.

The numbers are eye-popping. he led all of baseball in every slash category (.316/.432/.601). Despite walking more than anyone else in the league (109 times), he still managed to lead the AL in total bases (341). He was intentionally walked 33 times; the only player to be intentionally walked that many times in the last 17 years was Aaron Judge last season. He didn’t quite finish with the triple crown—he was probably walked too many times, and finished second in the AL to Alonso in homers and RBI—but he was in that race the whole season.

The only other player to really mention here is Ohtani, who played 19 fewer games than Alvarez and had his worst offensive season since 2020, posting “only” a 143 OPS+ while hitting 30 homers. Combined with the excellent pitching he was able to do when he was healthy, Ohtani still had a notable season, but this was clearly Alvarez’s spot.

Starting Pitchers (5): Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers; Cam Schlittler, Yankees; Dylan Cease, Blue Jays; Chris Sale, Braves; Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies

This wasn’t all that hard for me to choose five, though there are several other guys right on the outside, who I’ll list in a moment. Misiorowski I have covered; he would be my All-MLB pitcher if, like I traditionally do in my personal lists, I only chose one pitcher.

Schlittler was incredible for the Yankees, and deserves some real consideration for American League MVP. He led the AL in ERA and you’ve likely heard that he set a Yankee record in starts in which he allowed zero or one runs (21), and that doesn’t include three starts in which he allowed more than one run but only one of them was earned.

People haven’t been talking about Cease much because the Blue Jays were incredibly disappointing in their pennant defense this season. But Cease, a former Cy Young runner-up, had his best overall season, in my opinion: in 169 innings, he had a 2.40 ERA (184 ERA+) and AL best 2.56 FIP, and he led the AL in hits per nine, homers per nine, and strikeouts per nine.

Sale is going to the Hall of Fame—he had a borderline case even before he joined the Braves three years ago, but his three seasons in Atlanta, which have come from age 35-37, have been masterpieces that locked him in as a bonafide inner circle Hall of Famer. He was every bit as good this season as he was when he won the pitching triple crown and the Cy Young in 2024, he just had the misfortune of being in the same league as Misiorowski.

The last spot becomes a little complicated. Sánchez is ultimately my choice; he was the leader by a lot in WAR by a pitcher on Baseball Reference this year, with 8.1, but there’s some controversy in those numbers—they’re heavily buoyed basically because the Phillies defense is bad. He does also have an innings advantage on the other players I’ve mentioned here; Sánchez’s 207 innings are second this season only to Miami’s Sandy Alcantara, a pitcher who wishes so badly that he could’ve pitched in the 1970s when the Atlanta Braves would’ve let him throw 375 innings. Sánchez’s rate stats aren’t quite as good as the rest of these guys, but they’re still great—2.91 ERA, 2.80 FIP, 5.13 strikeouts per walk—and he played a major role for a Phillies team that needed someone to step up.

The other players who could be considered for this last spot and should be on (or in consideration for) the second team include Sánchez’s teammates Jesús Luzardo and Zack Wheeler; the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto; Cleveland’s Parker Messick; Tampa Bay’s Drew Rasmussen; Boston’s Sonny Gray; and Arizona’s Eduardo Rodríguez.

Relief Pitchers (2): Mason Miller, Padres; Louis Varland, Blue Jays

Miller was the most unhittable reliever in baseball this year; he had a 1.67 ERA and 1.17 FIP, struck out a mind-boggling 16.6 batters per nine innings (129 in 70 innings), and allowed only 4.8 hits per nine innings, and he tied for the NL lead in saves with 38.

Varland, playing for a worse team, had “only” 35 saves. But he pitched a ton for the Blue Jays (78 innings in 71 outings) and pitched to a 1.27 ERA, the best for any player who threw more than 45 innings this season, and backed it up with a 1.83 ERA. Varland had 97 strikeouts to 23 walks and was just a solid presence all season for a team that needed him.

There are a couple of tough cuts. Bryan Baker’s advanced metrics aren’t as good—he had a 3.07 FIP—but he tied for the major-league lead with 41 saves and had a 1.44 ERA, better even than Miller. Jhoan Duran had a 1.82 ERA and 1.42 FIP, struck out 84 batters, and walked only 10 (a minuscule 1.5 per nine innings). Garrett Whitlock and Abner Uribe were both great in setup roles, Cade Smith tied Baker’s league-leading saves mark, and the ageless Aroldis Chapman worked to another outstanding season as Boston’s closer.

The full list:

C: Gabriel Moreno, ARI
1B: Pete Alonso, BAL
2B: Brice Turang, MIL
3B: Junior Caminero, TBR
SS: Bobby Witt Jr., KCR
LF: Randy Arozarena, SEA
CF: Pete Crow-Armstrong, CHC
RF: Fernando Tatis Jr., SDP
DH: Yordan Alvarez, HOU
SP: Jacob Misiorowski, MIL
SP: Cam Schlittler, NYY
SP: Dylan Cease, TOR
SP: Chris Sale, ATL
SP: Cristopher Sánchez, PHI
RP: Mason Miller, SDP
RP: Louis Varland, TOR

You can’t take anything for granted in the playoffs, especially a short series like the Wild Card. In the short time that it has existed, the Wild Card Series has humbled several teams that stood a head above the rest of the first-round field by record, and it’s had a habit of favoring teams that strike first — all but one series has seen the team that wins first advance, with only their own performance in last year’s Wild Card Series against Boston standing out (though the Phillies still have a chance to change that this year). Playing in it is meant to be a punishment, a risk, and it has acted accordingly, but the Yankees faced little challenge this time around in embarrassing their archrivals to open the postseason.

The Red Sox kept it close early again on Wednesday, and there was definitely some tension for the first hour or so of each of these two games, but much like Game 1 as soon as Chad Tracy went to his bullpen it became a party for the Yankees’ offense. A plethora of batters contributed this time around, from Luis Garcia Jr. getting it started with a solo home run to George Lombard Jr. coming up with an RBI knock as the lone right-hander starting in last night’s lineup to Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon providing productive outs before Cody Bellinger delivered the death blow with a three-run porch job: the entire offense had a part in the dismantling of the Sox bullpen.

Sonny Gray commented after the game that he wasn’t pleased with his manager pulling him in the middle of the fifth inning set to face the top of the order for the third time with the score still 1-0, and perhaps he and Payton Tolle could both make that argument after they were forced to watch the game unravel right after they left, but at the end of the day the Red Sox offense was completely flummoxed by the Yankees’ pitching and the dam that was Boston’s bullpen seemed destined to burst eventually. Cam Schlittler reasserted his dominance over the Sox on Tuesday, but Max Fried took the baton and continued shoving with six innings of one-run ball to make it miserable on Boston. The Yankees were the better team, evidenced by the record entering play before this series as well as the results during it. Now the team with the second-best record in the American League will get to move on, and they couldn’t have drawn it up any better.

Critically, New York won this series so handedly that they can effectively line themselves up again for a fresh start against the Rays instead of needing to scramble towards their next destination like they had to last year. Needing all three games against Boston in 2025 pushed them into the scenario where they had to start Luis Gil in Game 1 of the ALDS, the first of several unsuccessful moves that didn’t pan out as their pitching simply couldn’t handle Toronto’s bats. This time around, they’ve got Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon both waiting in the wings and can make a decision on which of them they want to start opposite Drew Rasmussen before slotting their presumptive Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler in for Game 2. Since Cole was named the ALWCS Game 3 starter ahead of time, I’m going to assume they’ll stick with him for Game 1, and if you told Aaron Boone before the season started that you could guarantee him he’d get to start Cole, Schlittler, and Fried in a row to open the ALDS he’d probably take that deal, even if it didn’t come with home field advantage. The blowouts also allowed the team to avoid taxing their bullpen, Boone tossing Brent Headrick and David Bednar to close out Game 2 simply to get them some work with minimal stress involved.

Nothing is guaranteed in the playoffs, but the opportunity for the Yankees right now is massive. Their offense picked the perfect time to break out and did so without Aaron Judge, who may or may not be active for the ALDS (for the sake of his health, he probably shouldn’t play yet but it’s only going to get harder to tell him no). Their pitching looked as lights out as they have all year, and the biggest road block on the American League side of the bracket is now directly in front of them in another short series. Win this one, and all that stands in your way of returning to the World Series is the winner of an AL Central matchup between two of the weakest teams in the whole dance. You can’t get caught looking ahead, but the path is right there. The Yankees didn’t break a sweat denying the Sox from playing in October, and it may have just been the jump start they were looking for all year. We’ll see how well they can carry this momentum into the Trop on Saturday.

We’re basking in the high of the Wild Card sweep to open the day, as Michael gives us his Player of the Game from the Game 2 victory. Jeremy then previews the ALDS matchup against the top-seeded Rays, Andres discusses how the young core has made their mark on this postseason run already, and Peter recaps the action around the rest of the Postseason as two other Wild Card Series wrapped up alongside the Yankees. Nick reminisces on the man who patrolled center before Burnie arrived in the Bronx in Roberto Kelly on his 62nd birthday, and then Peter will return to break down Cam Schlittler’s latest postseason gem in the Sequence of the Week.

Today’s Matchup:

Off-day, ALDS begins on Saturday, October 3rd

CBS Sports: Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt tried his best, but the timing just wasn’t right. According to manager Aaron Boone, the former first-round draft pick will be shut down for the rest of the postseason as he couldn’t quite recover from his right biceps neuritis, the injury that landed him on the list before the end of the regular season. The focus will now shift to Schmidt being ready for the start of the 2027 campaign.

NY Post | Greg Joyce: Aaron Judge is in the middle of a battle against time and his own body to be ready for the AL Division Series. On Wednesday the captain and three-time AL MVP was in Somerset, where he was scheduled to get some live at-bats with a group of players staying ready in case they are needed, such as Luis Gil, Eli Morgan and Justin Topa. There’s still a couple hurdles for Judge to clear, including running the bases, but he’s got a few more days to make his case before the Yankees finalize their ALDS roster.

MLB.com | Jonathan Mayo & Sam Dykstra: The always exciting Arizona Fall League starts this weekend on Saturday, and MLB.com went through every organization’s sleeper prospect. The Yankees’ representative is right-hander Antonio Gómez. The former catcher now has a potentially deadly fastball-slider combo on the mound and has shown the ability to touch the triple digits with the heater. He is still very much a project, but there’s a lot of potential in his arm.

NY Daily News | Gary Phillips Ben Rice is a Statcast darling. Even when he struggled in 2024 as a rookie, he boasted elite barrel, chase, and walk rates. His personal page Baseball Savant was full of red in 2025 and 2026, which is fitting because he is one of the most data-driven and analytical hitters on the Yankees.

“He’s a little more analytical in how he processes the opponent and what they throw and what their specific pitches do,” Boone said. “He has a really good knowledge and idea of that, so he’s really good at developing his plan on a given night.”

“He dives into the numbers because I think that’s a tool that is helpful for him. He dives into a lot of the shapes and the movement of pitches, he dives into certain counts and how guys will attack him or pitch him,” added Judge. “He just eats that up.”

It’s safe to say the approach seems to work for him.

At various points across Tuesday and Wednesday night, Giancarlo Stanton stood in the Yankees dugout with a bat in hand, ready to take his shot.

It just never came.

After the veteran slugger missed five-plus months with three different calf strains, the Yankees carried Stanton on their roster for the AL wild-card series to potentially combat the Red Sox’s toughest lefties as a pinch hitter. Instead, they were able to do it without him, finishing a sweep on Wednesday with a 9-2 win over the Red Sox in The Bronx.

It remains to be seen whether the Yankees will keep Stanton on the roster for the ALDS against the Rays — especially if Aaron Judge can get back in time from his own calf strain — though it seems doubtful given that they will need to even out their balance after carrying 16 position players and 10 pitchers for this opening round.

It looked like Stanton might get his chance in the sixth inning Wednesday, when the Red Sox brought in lefty Garrett Crochet, who like Stanton had not appeared in a game since late April.

But Aaron Boone stuck with his left-handed hitters and it paid off, with Spencer Jones, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham playing roles in the rally against Crochet that turned into a six-run inning.

In Game 1, Boone had nearly used Stanton to pinch hit for Jones to lead off the seventh inning against lefty reliever Alec Gamboa before deciding to stay put, which gave way to Jones starting another rally.

“Hopefully the threat that he is can play a factor for us in this series,” Boone said before Game 1.

In the end, though, Stanton proved to be just that — a threat, one that never came into play.

Thanks to the sweep, the Yankees will have their pick between Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón for who should start Game 1 of the ALDS on Saturday, with Cam Schlittler expected to start Game 2.

“We’ll talk about that,” Boone said. “Obviously, Gerrit’s lined up for that. Carlos is very much in play for that. We have a ton of confidence in both guys. I think they’re both throwing the ball really well. That will be what we do here these next couple of days as we get ready.”

Clarke Schmidt, who came back from Tommy John surgery to pitch in one game before landing back on the injured list last week with right biceps neuritis, is shut down for the rest of the postseason, according to Boone.

Ryan Weathers (left forearm flexor strain) threw a bullpen session Wednesday afternoon, keeping him in play to join the roster in the ALDS.

NEW YORK — Remarkable what two playoff games can expose.

In this blink-and-you-missed-it American League wild-card series that pitted the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees against each other for the second consecutive year, the Yankees’ pair of victories – 9-0 in Game 1 and 9-2 in Game 2 Wednesday, Sept. 30 – illuminated the significant gulf between the 93-win Yankees and 87-win Red Sox.

That was obvious enough when the home team shut out the visitors for the first 14 innings of the series.

Yet for the Red Sox, these two games felt heavier, that they weren’t actually right there with the Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, the East trio looking down on the flailing plebes dotting the rest of the AL.

More: MLB should be terrified of Yankees without Aaron Judge

No, after the Red Sox mismanaged and meekly hit their way out of Yankee Stadium and into a winter of indeterminate length, a deeper question must be pondered:

Was their feel-good, improbable summer of winning simply a mirage?

Now, they certainly weren’t as bad as the 10-17 club that got World Series-winning manager Alex Cora fired in April. And absolutely not as good as the guys who went 26-5 across June and July and posted a 15-game winning streak as they went from the cellar to firmly in control of the second AL wild card.

But the questions they have going into a likely lockout-extended winter are many, and significant.

Can Roman Anthony stay healthy?

The hitting prodigy they signed to a $130 million extension just weeks into his career aggravated and worsened a hand sprain that affects his wrist, as well. He played in just 56 games this season.

Is there anywhere close to enough offense in this organization?

Red Sox club president Craig Breslow bemoaned the many injuries bedeviling his club late in the year as he broke down Anthony’s hand/wrist issue Wednesday. Yet Triston Casas, Anthony, Mickey Gasper and Eli White likely would not have made a material difference in this series.

Kind of like sot spots in their lineup manned by Nick Sogard, Nate Eaton and Jahmai Jones in Game 2, along with their feast-or-famine third baseman, Caleb Durbin.

Is Tracy championship-caliber as a dugout leader?

The amount of unforced errors he made were staggering for just a two-game series. Hooking lefty Payton Tolle after 4 1/3 innings and veteran right-hander Sonny Gray after 4 ⅔ were the type of overanalyzed, front-office driven game calls that are a pox on the game.

Believe it – there were plenty of first-guesses on these calls before Erik Miller gave up the crucial Ben Rice Game 1 home run, and then almost exactly by Cody Bellinger’s crucial RBI single in Game 2 – both hits extending Yankee leads from 1-0 to 2-0 in taut pitching duels.

Thanks to a pair of emphaticvictories over the rival Red Sox in the American League Wild Card Series, the Yankees punched their ticket to their eighth Division Series in the past decade. The parameters of how to get to the ALDS have evolved some since that streak began in 2017 (when they won a memorable one-game playoff against the Twins), but the Yankees have found their way there more often than not.

This will be the Yankees’ third consecutive ALDS trip. In 2024, they had the first-round bye, and though there were some nervous moments, they ultimately handled the upstart Royals in four games before eventually falling to the Dodgers in the World Series. Last year, they were shunted to the Wild Card Series and had to win twice against Boston before they could face the upstart Blue Jays, who narrowly beat them out for the AL East crown. That put them on the back foot, and most of the team didn’t play particularly well in a four-game loss.

The story for 2026 is quite similar to the one for 2025, as the Yankees were again the preseason favorites for the AL East, only for the surprising Rays to usurp them for the division and force them to fend off the Red Sox to survive the Wild Card round. Well now we’re here, and though the Yankees have to cut through that path to make it back to the Fall Classic, the opportunity is there for the taking.

This is just the second time that the Yankees and Rays have ever squared off in October, with the only other occasion being an ALDS loss in 2020 that saw all five games played at empty Petco Park in San Diego due to COVID restrictions. Since fans will actually be at these games—including the Yankees’ first official postseason trip to Tropicana Field—this will be a much more representative series.

It seems likely that the planned Game 3 starters for the Wild Card Series, Gerrit Cole, will get the ball in the ALDS opener at the Trop on Saturday against the Rays’ ace, righty Drew Rasmussen. The Yankees’ own No. 1, Cam Schlittler, will be able to come back on normal rest for Game 2. Beyond that, including captain Aaron Judge’s possible availability? Stay tuned.

We’ll have more on this ALDS battle in the coming days (here’s Jeremy’s general series preview, for one), but here’s what we know about the tune-in info for the best-of-five as of late on September 30th.

How to watch Yankees vs. Rays in ALDS

Game 1

Date: Saturday, October 3
First Pitch: 6:30 p.m. EST
Channel: TBS/truTV
Streaming: HBO Max
Venue: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL

Game 2

Date: Monday, October 5
First Pitch: 8 p.m. EST
Channel: TBS/truTV
Streaming: HBO Max
Venue: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL

Game 3

Date: Wednesday, October 7
First Pitch: 8 p.m. EST
Channel: TBS/truTV
Streaming: HBO Max
Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

Game 4*

Date: Thursday, October 8
First Pitch: 8 p.m. EST
Channel: TBS/truTV
Streaming: HBO Max
Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

Game 5*

Date: Saturday, October 10
First Pitch: 8 p.m. EST
Channel: TBS/truTV
Streaming: HBO Max
Venue: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL

*if necessary

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge always has the best vantage in any room, one of many perks that standing 6 feet, 7 inches affords a man. And as Wednesday turned to Thursday and September gave way to October, he could be found near the back of the New York Yankees’ clubhouse, watching the champagne shoot and the beer fly in the room before him.

The New York Yankees celebrated this conquest – a two-game sweep of the rival Boston Red Sox in their American League wild-card series, capped by a 9-2 Game 2 rout – in the usual fashion, albeit a bit abbreviated. The lights came on before midnight, halting the party and reminding them there’s a plane to catch and an AL Division Series matchup with the division champion Tampa Bay Rays on deck.

Beyond surviving and advancing, though, there was something grander to celebrate: The Yankees played a postseason game without Judge for the first time since 2015 – and not only did they move on, they flourished.

Judge, their three-time AL MVP, sat out from June through mid-September this year due to a rib fracture. The Yankees won 93 games, anyway.

Judge suffered a calf strain in the final week of the season and, through gnashed teeth, sat out this wild-card series as his comeback attempt fell just short.

More: Bellinger caught first pitch from his dad then sent Yankees to ALDS

The Yankees put on a punishing display of all-around excellent baseball without him, crushing the Red Sox by an aggregate 18-2 score over the two games and certainly making the Rays sit up in their easy chair and take notice.

Until ALDS Game 1 Saturday at Tropicana Field, the Yankees, their fans and the news media will engage in two more days of will-he-or-won’t-he, right up until ALDS rosters are released. Even with a little liquid courage – most of it worn on the skin rather than down the gullet – Judge stopped well short of predicting his availability.

“I’ll be ready,” he said, “as fast as I can.”

Judge loves to play coy, though he’s not nearly as good as it as he probably believes. Yet he could not suppress his satisfaction at the manner in which “his boys,” if you will, fileted the Red Sox:

Starting pitchers Cam Schlitter and Max Fried combined to give up one run in 12 1/3 innings, and their staff held the Red Sox scoreless the first 14 innings of the series.

Shortstop George Lombard Jr. had four hits in the two games, the first Yankee since, yes, Derek Jeter to record four hits in his first two playoff games.

Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice, the lineup bulwarks in a Judge-less Yankee universe, combined for three home runs and 10 RBIs; each had crucial fifth-inning hits on consecutive nights to turn a 1-0 Yankee lead to 2-0, only to follow with back-breaking bombs later.

And the Yankees ran wild in Game 2, stealing four bases, Spencer Jones keying a six-run sixth inning by lumbering down to first after striking out on a passed ball. They laid down  bunts for base hits, guided line drives into the outfield rather than swinging wildly for the fences and strafed the Red Sox bullpen.

Luis Garcia Jr. was not a perfect fit for the Yankees when they traded for him. 

They needed an offensive catcher and relievers, and maybe a guy who could hit more than the people they had playing third, depending on one’s perspective. But a lefty-hitting first baseman with defensive limitations? They already had a few of those. 

And yet, with a Division Series bid at stake against their most ancient rivals, Garcia delivered a resounding fourth-inning homer that broke a scoreless tie -- exactly what the Yankees needed. He finished with a three-hit night. 

“My mom has a good saying. She’s always telling me never stop dreaming,” Garcia said through an interpreter before the game. “…Having this opportunity to be here, being able to go out there and be part of the playoffs, go out and represent the Yankees, it feels great. And just hoping that I'm able to go out there and do the little things that can help us keep winning.”

Luis Garcia Jr. home run! 1-0 Yankees lead!! pic.twitter.com/m33ErQtpLW

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) October 1, 2026

When the Yankees weighed options at the deadline, they had a perfectly functional first base situation that centered around Ben Rice and made room for Paul Goldschmidt against tough lefties. With Giancarlo Stanton on the way back from injury, they did not plan to have at-bats to spare at designated hitter, so they looked ill-equipped to navigate a logjam.

But Garcia was the best bat available -- at least of those players who were actually traded -- so they added him to a lineup that sometimes resembled a revolving door, but sometimes would need to revolve around him.

Garcia seemed to adjust to New York quickly. He was born here and grew up a Yankees fan, so playing at Yankee Stadium was aspirational, not intimidating. The 26-year-old isn’t the type to stress much anyway. His demeanor is as easy as his swing and just as level. He hit .290 with an .842 OPS in August. He did not look overwhelmed.

Then, just as the Yankees began their final push for the postseason, Garcia stumbled into a vexing slump. He hit .105 with a .255 OPS and no extra-base hits in their last 10 games. The contact savant struck out 11 times in 38 at-bats. He pinch-hit in Game 1, his first career postseason at-bat, and grounded into a double play.

Aaron Boone chose to hit him third in Game 2 of his first ever playoff start anyway. And with the game still scoreless in the fourth, he clicked. He pulled a homer to right center that gave the Yankees the lead before singling twice more – once to left, once to right, a perfect display of the evolution that has turned him into a crucial piece of a World Series contender.

In the early years after the Nationals signed him, Garcia earned comparisons to Juan Soto, not necessarily because of his style, but because of his talent. Then, as now, Garcia had incredible bat-to-ball ability -- a smooth flick of the wrists he designed to mirror Robinson Cano and succeeded.

But through parts of six major league seasons, some of which Nationals officials later admitted probably came before he was ready, as they filled needs instead of prioritizing development, Garcia never quite emerged as the star he seemed capable of being. He hit for a high average as a Nationals regular over the last three seasons, but he settled for hitting pitches because he could get his bat on them instead of prioritizing clobbering.

That changed this year when an overhauled Nationals coaching staff and front office encouraged him to choose more pitches he could drive while also helping him use his lower half to move the bat instead of just relying on his hands.

“I think the biggest difference has to be using my back leg in a better way to help me generate more bat speed. Previously, since I think I was able to use my hands, the quickness of my hands and rely on that more,” Garcia said through an interpreter. “But I worked really hard on incorporating my lower part of the body, especially my back leg, and I think that's what helped me get to where I am today.”

Garcia’s average bat speed jumped dramatically, from 72.4 miles per hour in 2025 to 74.3 miles per hour in 2026 – a jump that moved him from the 98th fastest in baseball into the top 50. He started pulling the ball in the air far more than he ever had before, and damage followed: Garcia’s .831 OPS was the highest of his career by more than 50 points.

“Part of his success this year is he’s a more mature player today,” said Amed Rosario, who played with Garcia in Washington in 2025. “He’s made adjustments over the years, and it’s showing. The talent is there, but I think that’s why he’s having such a great season.”

Rosario said he tried to help ease Garcia’s transition to the Yankees -- one Garcia admitted he was anxious about in the hours after being traded.

“All the teammates that you're leaving behind, all the relationships you've built over the years, you're leaving behind and you're starting from zero,” he said. So coming in, you feel a little afraid, if you will, that you have to do that over again. But I can tell you that from the moment that I walked into the clubhouse, that went away, that fear went away very quickly because the guys make me feel as part of this team immediately.”

Now, Garcia looks at home in New York, where he is surrounded by family so much that he said recently it reminds him of being in the Dominican Republic.

“The energy we have in this team, the fans, the clubhouse, everything that is part of this team, it’s a great spot to be here at this moment,” Garcia Jr. said after the game.

As his interpreter shared his answer, Rosario and a handful of teammates interrupted. It was time to shower the newest Yankees hero in Budweiser and champagne.

As the only Major League Baseball wild card series that didn't end in a sweep, the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies will play their winner-take-all Game 3 in primetime on Thursday, Oct. 1.

The NL East rivals had played the opening game (2 p.m. ET) of MLB's quadruple-header on Tuesday and Wednesday – and were penciled in for the same in Game 3 – but the other three series wrapping up in two pushed the lone game back to 8 p.m. ET.

Atlanta won the opener at Truist Park, rallying on Austin Riley's clutch three-run homer in the eighth inning, but Philadelphia survived Game 2 with its own late heroics, getting back-to-back home runs from Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper in the eighth inning to tie it up. Alec Bohm's solo home run in the top of the 10th gave the Phillies the win, forcing the decider in Georgia.

The winner of the Braves-Phillies series will head to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers in the best-of-five NL Division Series, which begins on Saturday, Oct. 3.

It ain’t over ‘til it’s over. But it’s over.

The Cubs lost Game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series 4-1 to the San Diego Padres. The Friars advance to the Division Series and eliminate the Cubs, 2 games to 0.

The Cubs came out just as mildly as they did in Game 1 with the team going down in order, striking out twice, in the first inning. Cubs starter Kevin Gausman, pitching with an injured left, non-throwing shoulder, got off to a better start than Matthew Boyd the game before, retiring the Padres in order in the first.

The problems started in the second inning for Gausman, who allowed a leadoff double to Ty France down the left field line. Next up, Jackson Merrill hit a slow roller to shortstop Dansby Swanson who had no choice but to eat the ball, putting runners on first and third and no outs. After Merrill stole second, Xander Bogaerts singled to right field to make it 1-0. Next up, a sac fly by rookie catcher made it 2-0. Gausman then got a pair of ground out to stop the bleeding, but with the Cubs offense stuck in park, 2-0 seemed like a tall mountain to climb.

But the Cubs did have chances. Matt Shaw walked and Carson Kelly singled to lead off the third inning to put runners on first and second with no outs. But Dansby Swanson struck out, Pete Crow-Armstrong popped up and Alex Bregman flew out to end that rally before it even got started.

The Cubs would finally break through, sort of, in the fourth inning. After Michael Busch flew out to start the inning, three straight baserunners would reach for the Cubs, leading to their first run of the series. Seiya Suzuki singled, Ian Happ walked and then Nico Hoerner singled home Suzuki.

At that point, Padres manager Craig Stammen pulled Pivetta in favor of Bradgley Rodriguez. He shut down the Cubs and they could not push the tying run across the plate, even after Kelly was hit to load the bases with two outs.

But the Padres struck back in the bottom of the fourth. After Bogaerts doubled with one out, manager Craig Counsell went to the bullpen and Daniel Palencia. Palencia struck out Salas, but then pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets crushed one 394 feet deep into the right field bleachers to make it 4-1. Honestly, it wasn’t a bad pitch. Palencia threw Sheets a 101 mile per hour fastball low and inside. But Sheets was ready for it and clobbered it.

Against the strong Padres bullpen, that was all they needed.  After Rodriguez, the Padres got one inning out of Jason Adam, two out of Adrian Morejon and one out of Mason Miller. Miller struck out Ian Happ and then gave up a double to Nico Hoerner, But Miller struck out pinch-hitter Michael Conforto and got Carson Kelly to ground out to short to end the game and the Cubs’ season.

It’s not hard to see what went wrong for the Cubs in this series. The team didn’t hit. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Alex Bregman and Michael Busch went a combined 0 for 20 with a walk. After three hits on Tuesday, the team only managed five hits tonight and the first extra base hit didn’t come until Hoerner’s double in the 9th. Of the Cubs eight hits in this series, Nico Hoerner had four of them.

That ends the Cubs 2026 season. Here’s to 2027 being better. Or even 2027 actually happening.

Al will have a full recap and/or post mortem with video at 8 am Central tomorrow.

Now that the Yankees are heading to the American League Division Series to take on the Tampa Bay Rays, the next question is: who will start Game 1?

Cam Schlittler took the mound in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series and is expected to be called upon to start Game 2 against their AL East rivals, so it makes sense for Gerrit Cole -- who was going to start WC Game 3, if it went that far -- to be the starter. However, the team isn't going to divulge that information just yet.

"We'll talk about that," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the Game 1 starter. "Obviously, Gerrit's lined up for that. Carlos [Rodon] is very much in play for that. We have a ton of confidence in both guys. I think they're both throwing the ball really well. That will be what we do here these next couple of days as we get ready It's possible. It's definitely possible. Again, it's a long ways away."

Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake told the media, including The Athletic's Chris Kirschner, after Game 2's win that a decision on the Game 1 starter has yet to be made and reiterated what Boone said -- it'll either be Cole or Rodon.

The ALDS starts this Saturday, so a decision will be made really soon. But who is better suited to start the pivotal first game of the series?

Cole's last start came against the Rays back on Sept. 23, a week after the Yankees' Wild Card Series clinching win. In that start, he struck out eight batters and allowed two runs on three hits and three walks across 5.2 innings. 

His last postseason start came in the now-infamous Game 5 of the 2024 World Series against the Dodgers. He pitched 6.2 innings, but allowed five unearned runs. His career postseason ERA sits at 2.77 across 22 starts.

"[Expecting] some good baseball. Just excited," Cole told SNY's Nikki Lattarulo of what he expects from the next series after Game 2. "I haven’t pitched in a while. Looking forward to getting back out there."

Despite being down for about 10 days before his potential Game 1 start, Cole didn't say whether it's difficult being down that long, but is looking forward to when he pitches.

"It’s the postseason, man. There’s no expectations," he said. "You play when you’re told to play and that’s a beautiful thing." 

Whether it's Cole or Rodon, the Yankees are confident in whoever toes the slab for them. It's been that way all season as they led all of MLB with a 3.24 team ERA. 

"There's no question I feel great about those guys, obviously. That's been the biggest strength for us throughout the year," Boone said of his rotation. "It sustained us. It got us through some difficult times. And I feel like they're all in a good place right now. That's one of the ways we're going to have to do it, obviously leaning on the strength of those guys. But I like where they're at."

"Stick to our evaluation process and what we do, and our preparation," Cole said of how the team can keep their momentum. "We played well, but we’ll look back, see what we could have done better and get ready for the next series."

The best-of-five series with the Rays begins Saturday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.  

Scouting ballplayers can be a grueling, inexact science and, as Damon Oppenheimer knows, “there’s times when we look dumb as hell.”

But Oppenheimer, the Yankees’ director of amateur scouting, and the rest of the folks who work in scouting and player development for the club had a moment in the AL Wild Card Series sweep of the Red Sox. The series was a showcase for homegrown Yanks, even with one of the best drafted-and-developed Yankees ever -- Aaron Judge -- missing because of a calf injury.

“The players are the ones who make us look smart, right?” Oppenheimer said. “We’ve got a great group that’s giving us a chance to look smart now.” 

Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice, both mid-round picks from Massachusetts, were the stars of Game 1. But other drafted and developed kids had impactful roles in the series, too. Six homegrown Yanks, including Schlittler, started Game 1; four started in Game 2. If Judge were playing, each number would be higher. 

So might these: The five homegrown position players who started in either or both games -- Rice, Spencer Jones, George Lombard Jr., Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe -- combined to go 15-for-34 in the series (.441) with 11 runs scored and 11 RBI. 

The Yankees are often thought of solely as big-money, big-game hunters who target the brand-name mercenaries hitting the free agent market every winter. Sure, they’ve got those on the roster -- Max Fried, Gerrit Cole, Cody Bellinger, etc. -- and they have baseball’s third-highest payroll overall. They’re not afraid to write a check to fill a need.

But the club is churning out contributors via their farm system, too. And that’s without having a top-10 pick since they selected a shortstop named Derek Jeter back in 1992. Since then, in fact, they’ve had just five first-round picks as high as the teens. 

Coming up together and contributing is, as Rice put it, “super fun. All of us came up with one another in a way. There was some overlap. Maybe a couple guys were ahead of others. But now we're all here in the big leagues. And it's been so cool seeing each guy have success and carve out their own role."

“Definitely a tight-knit group and we take pride in that.”

Schlittler, who dazzled with 6.1 shutout innings and 10 strikeouts in Game 1, was the fourth pitcher drafted and signed by the Yankees to start the opener of a postseason series for the team, joining Andy Pettitte (five times), Ron Guidry (three times) and Jim Beattie (once). 

Rice went 4-for-5 in Game 1 with a solo homer and a grand slam, driving in six runs overall. He’s the fifth player in club history with six RBI in a postseason game. He and Schlittler had the two loudest performances of what Aaron Boone called “one of those really special nights at Yankee Stadium.”

Lombard Jr., the 21-year-old former first-round pick who took over shortstop late in the season, became the second-youngest Yankee to make his postseason debut (a 19-year-old Mickey Mantle was the youngest). Lombard was only the fifth Yankee ever to have three hits in his first postseason game and he’s the first Yankee since Jeter in 1996 to total four hits over his first two playoff games. 

And there’s more: Jones reached twice in his playoff debut in Game 1. In Game 2, he was an unlikely catalyst for a six-run sixth inning that wrecked the Red Sox. Jones struck out, but reached first on a dropped third strike. Jones, who is 6-foot-7 and 240 pounds, is incredibly fast for such a big fella. Then he stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error and later scored. 

“That was just really impressive,” Bellinger said of Jones’ heady dash. “And, you know, it lit a fire in our dugout for sure.” 

“I couldn’t believe he was there,” added Boone. “I saw the ball squirt away a little bit, didn’t think that much of it, looked up and I was like, ‘Oh – he’s safe.’” 

Volpe, a player who perhaps has elicited as much fan handwringing as anyone in pinstripes, ever, did not play in Game 2, but he’s reached base in 18 of his 22 career games in the postseason, including Game 1. Before Rice, he was the last Yankee to hit a grand slam in the postseason, in the 2024 World Series. 

Wells, who had flopped against lefties this season, knocked in the first run of the series against southpaw Payton Tolle. He was 3-for-6 overall with two runs and four RBI and has a 1.136 OPS over his last 14 postseason games. 

“All the kids that the scouts saw and then our player development guys finished off,” Oppenheimer said. “It’s fun.” 

Oppenheimer said his phone was buzzing during Game 1: Texts from folks who work for the team or elsewhere in the industry, noting how many draft picks were soaring, especially Rice and Schlittler. “You get a lot of people reaching out to you and congratulating you,” Oppenheimer said. 

Afterward, when talking to the players, he heard it again. Schlittler, for instance, was talking up Matt Hyde, the scout responsible for Schlittler, Rice and Volpe. After Game 1, “Cam is telling me, ‘Matty Hyde’s the GOAT,’” Oppenheimer said. 

“I mean, that doesn’t happen. That’s not normal, that a guy’s made that kind of an impact on that kind of a player. So it’s really fun.” 

Schlittler even name-checked Hyde during his postgame news conference during his answer on him and Rice being proud of their status as “mid-round guys.” 

“Yeah, we love it,” Schlittler said. “We have a lot of conversations with Matty Hyde and I know he’s proud of us. And we wouldn’t be here without him.”

“He’s done a hell of a job for us, as have other guys that all took a part in these guys, too,” Oppenheimer said. “It’s quite a story.”

The whole series was a “watershed” moment for Yankees scouts, Oppenheimer said.

“The guys (scouts) work for this stuff for years and years and it’s just what culminates with the relationships that they’ve all built with these guys and maintained with them through their whole minor-league career,” he added.

“It’s about the players and that’s what scouts will always tell you. But our guys are obviously very excited and very happy and they feel satisfaction, sure.”