What we learned: Red Sox could've beaten Yankees but were never real contenders originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
To be as clear as humanly possible, the Red Sox could have won the Wild Card Series over the Yankees. To be blunt, they should have won the series, as the miscues in a winnable Game 2 — a dropped liner in left, a popped-up bunt, a base-running blunder — were plays that Major League Baseball players have to make.
They could have won. They should have won. But they didn’t. They lost Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, losing 4-0 and getting just one single baserunner as far as second base, and now it’s off to a long, cold winter for the Red Sox.
Still, at no point in this brief postseason run did any reasonable person believe the Red Sox had the roster to really make a run to the World Series. The presence of Connelly Early — who looks like a high schooler and made his MLB debut 23 days ago — on the mound in a do-or-die Game 3 displayed that reality better than any words ever could.
This was a team that overachieved, and their eight-win improvement from a year ago provides plenty of reason to celebrate Alex Cora and the players who made that happen. But this was not a team built for a deep October run.
And that has to be the takeaway from every decision-maker with the Red Sox, from Alex Cora up to Craig Breslow up to Sam Kennedy up to the owner in John Henry. This team came this far with a lineup that included Masataka Yoshida and Romy Gonzalez as cleanup hitters in the playoffs and also had career minor leaguers Nick Sogard and Nate Eaton for the first two games of the series.
It’s a team that tried to patch holes with Nathaniel Lowe (DFA’d by the last-place Nationals) and Dustin May (let go by the reining-champion Dodgers amid another World Series run) while leaning entirely on a 21-year-old rookie in Roman Anthony to carry their offense.
The Red Sox, quite simply, were not good enough.
That has to be the takeaway for the front office if this team is to make something of this year’s step forward. But it’s not a given that they feel that way.
Surely, everyone can recall the 2021 postseason run, when the Red Sox made it to a sixth game of the ALCS. They did lose that series — getting outscored 23-3 by the Astros over the final three games — but hearing Henry and Kennedy speak at that infamous “Winter Weekend” event in front of booing fans, you wouldn’t know it. The powers that be used that postseason run as a shield, evidence that their plans were working, that they knew best, that the angry mob was wrong.
Yet clearly, with a couple of last-place finishes after the ALCS run and then an 81-81 record in 2024, the Red Sox were not actually built to contend — not in the short or long term. Everyone on the outside had known that for years.
On the inside? There seemed to be a bit of misplaced confidence in the direction of the club after the ill-fated Mookie Betts trade. There was a level of smugness that reared its head once again in the wake of the Rafael Devers trade.
Had the Red Sox advanced past the Yankees, perhaps there’d be some more self-assuredness. Cutting Devers loose while getting almost nothing in return was objectively a bad move, but a run to the ALDS and perhaps beyond could have emboldened them into believing whatever they wanted to believe.
Yet after scoring six runs in three games and getting bullied in Game 3 in Yankee Stadium, will the decision-makers feel the urgency in the months ahead? There are no cutting corners on the path to true contention, and a don’t-you-remember-we-made-the-ALCS-in-2021 refrain can’t be used a shield for any mismanagement that lies ahead.
This lineup is not built to contend, and the rotation needs serious investment. The Red Sox aren’t miles away, and with the proper attention, they can be in contention as soon as next year. They just need to remember that they’re the Boston Red Sox and then act — and spend — accordingly.
As for this one, let’s check in with some of what we learned in the disappointing season finale.
Defense was a problem again
After Jarren Duran butchered a shallow pop in Game 2, you’d think he’d be entering Game 3 with a renewed focus. Instead, he stood by idly as Giancarlo Stanton’s moonshot … hit the base of the wall in left-center field. Stanton should have had an all-time blooper moment by getting gunned down at second after standing and admiring his wall ball, but Duran took so long to get to the ball and got absolutely nothing on his throw into the infield, giving second base to Stanton.
Stanton didn’t score, but Connelly Early had to throw 18 high-leverage pitches with the runner in scoring position after the missed opportunity by Duran.
The much costlier mistake came form an unlikely source in Ceddanne Rafaela. He is, without question, one of the best center fielders in baseball at tracking and closing in on everything hit anywhere in the outfield. Yet in the fourth inning, he took a puzzling, slow route to a shallow fly, missing on his diving attempt and giving Cody Bellinger a double. The ball had a 90 percent catch probability for Rafaela off the bat.
Prior to that misplay, Rafaela had seemingly backed away from a couple of balls in the right-center field gap, leaving plenty of space for Wilyer Abreu to make two catches. You’ll recall that Abreu nearly freight-trained Rafaela in Game 1. Alex Cora was asked before Game 2 if he needed to impart any wisdom on how his outfielders can communicate, and the manager largely pooh-poohed the suggestion.
“No, no, it’s two guys trying to make a play. Obviously communication has to be better, and they know it,” Cora said. “We got an out. A lot of people in the dugout are kind of like, ‘Oh!’ I’m like, ‘Wait, we got an out. Let’s go. Move on.’ But they know. … They know what they have to do. They are big leaguers, and they understand sometimes, you know, like mistakes like that, what am I going tell them? Communicate better? They know it.”
It didn’t seem like they did in Game 3, and it was costly, as the bloop double kick-started a four-run fourth inning — the only frame of the ballgame when runs crossed the plate.
Nathaniel Lowe also kicked away what could have been an inning-ending double play ball, which would have stopped the bleeding at two runs. That wasn’t an easy play, per se, but this is the big leagues. It’s one that should be made more often than not.
Ryan McMahon risked his neck for an out
This might be unfair, but this photo of Ryan McMahon flipping into the Red Sox dugout to make a catch with his team up 4-0 in the late innings kind of presents the proper perspective on the defensive effort levels on display in Game 3.
Cam Schlittler was nasty
While five hits and no runs is a miserable night of offense for the Red Sox, you do have to give credit where it’s due. Cam Schlittler was unbelievable. Elite velocity, total control, complete dominance.
This wasn’t, say, Jon Lieber silencing the Boston bats in the 2004 ALCS. The Yankees have themselves a good one in Schlittler.
Masataka Yoshida had … some singles
Designated hitter Masataka Yoshida batted .571 in the series. That’s good, right?
Sort of.
He did drive in the key runs in Game 1, but he also had four singles. One of which stayed in the infield. Which is fine, but the Red Sox need a cleanup hitter. And a DH.
Trevor Story (.385/.385/.615, HR, 3 RBIs) had a good series at the plate. Alex Bregman was 3-for-10 with a double, an RBI and two talks. But that was it.
The quintet of Ceddanne Rafaela, Carlos Narvaez, Romy Gonzalez, Rob Refsnyder and Wilyer Abreu were a combined 1-for-37. Jarren Duran was 1-for-11. Nathaniel Lowe was 1-for-7. Nick Sogard and Nate Eaton, guys who weren’t even supposed to be on the team, accounted for 21 percent of the team’s hits and two of their three doubles.
Ultimately, the offensive concerns from the regular season caught up to them in the brief series.
Connelly Early was a bright spot
There wasn’t too much to like on Thursday night, but Connelly Early’s temperament would have to make the list. The kid wasn’t afraid of the moment, and if Rafaela had simply made a play that he needs to make, it’s anyone’s guess what Early’s final line would have looked like.
Early obviously doesn’t have the raw power that his counterpart, Schlittler, had. But he mixed his pitches to keep batters off balance, showed off his big sweeper, and looked like a young player who should have a spot in the rotation at the start of the 2026 season.
Payton Tolle was the rookie who had the most electric debut, but Early is the one with the best finish.
