October 6, 2026

144 thoughts on “AL Wildcard Game 2: Yankees (1-0) vs. Red Sox (0-1) Wednesday, September 30, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT”

  1. The Braves had two on with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, down 4-3. PH Dominic Smith took a called strike three (on a called ball that the Phillies challenged and won the challenge). Tying the WC series at 1-1.

  5. • Fans at Daikin Park showered the team with boos as the Astros fell behind early and reliever Bryan King struggled in the second inning, followed by reliever Bennett Sousa giving up further trouble in the seventh.
    • Player Frustration: First baseman Christian Walker called the reception “extremely frustrating,” noting that the team needed energy and support rather than negativity.
    Astros manager Joe Espada moved to defuse the tension ahead of Game 2, stating that he understood both the fans’ frustrations and the players’ desire for backing.

    1. I’ll settle for the ‘W’ regardless of score. Of course, scoring early and often would be better.

  18. Grisham in 109 PA in the postseason, has a 160 BA, 275 OBP, 287 SLG, 562 OPS with 38 Ks.

    I guess it can’t get any worse, and a dead-cat bounce is possible.

  32. Amazing the way that camerawork worked out.
    That was AWESOME!
    It would be nice to have Sonny Gray fail again, big-time- in the Bronx, especially given his ridiculous blather.

  34. Did they … just say Babe Ruth would have trouble with fucking Sonny Gray? Oh sure, he could handle Walter fucking Johnson but SONNY GRAY, forget it. He may as well try to wear one.

    1. Ruth hit around .324 and 10 home runs against Walter Johnson with some calculations placing his official regular-season mark against him at .292 depending on the exact AB scope,

  39. Regarding Gray and NYC, every MLB player thinks they’re the best in the world, even if you’re a fringe 6th outfielder or the 13th bullpen guy. You have to be to succeed. Imagine then thinking waaaah I can’t play for the Yankees. Unless it’s some bullshit like “I can’t play in sin city!” in which case I have some bad news for you about the cops and pastors and politicians in Tennessee. You fucking hick.

  40. Kirschner Trent Grisham had a sprint speed of 23.5 ft/s on that Nate Eaton double.

    Only three players had a slower sprint speed than that this season:

    Christian Vazquez, Jose Trevino and Sandy Leon

    All three are catchers in their mid to late 30s

  56. I mean, it’s not like he plays deep to compensate for lost speed and races in, but it’s to far.
    He doesn’t race, he barely jogs. Stanton runs the bases harder than Grisham runs in the outfield.

  106. Hey, how come good-time Charlie Payton Tolle looks so sad? I thought he was a walking party. He looks really sad. Is he sad? Did he have a bad time? I feel horrible about this.

  108. Yankees win but the real story is Boston’s resilience, Chad Tracy’s managing, Durbin’s courage, and Tolle’s loveabilty. The Red Sox were the real winners.

  109. This was a very diminished Boston team. Not that there’s anything wrong with crushing them mercilessly. But my optimism for the Yankees is not because of the score. It’s because the starting pitching looked solid and the offense seemed capable of manufacturing a run here, a run there.

    I worry that Tampa could limit our starters to 4 or 5 innings. Even Schlittler. I would definitely plan to piggyback Rodon onto Cole after two times through the order – would give Schlittler and Fried the leash for a third time through if they’re dominating, but keeping a low threshold to piggyback Warren onto Fried, or a lefty onto Schlittler.

    1. That seems a bit pessimistic, these are starters who can handle any lineup.
      Except for the part about Warren coming in early for Fried, which seems unjustifiably optimistic.
      But I certainly do have to agree that two games of offensive productivity against this Red Sox team has limited predictive value.

    2. Fried is usually good for a third time through the order, but I worry that Tampa will make everyone throw a ton of pitches, and will put pressure on the defense.

      Warren was throwing pretty well toward the end of the season, and despite giving up a homer today, I think he might still have it.

      But then the games will surely be a lot closer this time around, and I guess maybe it makes sense to keep the backup starters for extra innings, because who knows how long things will go.

      I still like Cole±Rodon for games 1 and 4, and Schlittler for games 2+5, leaving Fried for game 3. But an argument could be made that Fried has so many different pitches that he’s better suited to being seen twice in one series.

  110. NYY/TB -110 each way in the series at DraftKings. NYY 56% at Kalshi, TBR 49%. Wide bid-ask for the series bet there. I’d expect that to tighten and land closer to 51/47, maybe.

  111. Katerina Ess

    Yankees Pitching vs Red Sox:
    2 R, 7 H, 3 BB, 19 K

    Yankees are the only AL team to allow 2 or fewer Runs, 10 or fewer Baserunners and have 19+ K in any 2-game span in the Postseason.

  113. Since the Rays play murder-by-BABIP, this will definitely be a series where the Yankees have to play their best defensive lineup (aside from Goldy, he’s a late innings defensive replacement only), and the batters should just keep trying not to do too much – see lots of pitches, foul things off, put things in play, get to the bullpen.

    The question is, does your best defensive lineup have Grisham who can’t run to the ball in CF, or Ramos who can’t read where the ball is going in RF? Neither one of them will hit Rasmussen or Martinez. I wonder whether you might as well put Caballero out there instead.

    1. Yes. Like Michael Pineda and Gerrit Cole, but in the playoffs.

      Like Kenny Rogers, but in a loss.

  115. Sonny not happy ESPN: YORK — With the Boston bats ice cold at Yankee Stadium again, a couple of quick hooks by Red Sox rookie manager Chad Tracy led to another early postseason exit.

    And top starter Sonny Gray wasn’t happy about being lifted after only 70 pitches.

    “I think I’m the best pitcher in the American League going through the order a third time. I think that’s a fact,” Gray said. “I would have liked to have been trusted in that moment.”

    I thought pulling Sonny was crazy but we all know what a great job Tracy did getting Boston to the playoffs.
    Did anyone know Boston was struggling into June? I didn’t.

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