NEW YORK — For about 10 minutes, there was a ballgame.
The window opened around 9:56 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Boston first baseman Willson Contreras sliced a Max Fried fastball through the crisp Bronx air into the first row in right for a solo home run. That cut New York’s lead in half. For the first time in this best-of-three wild-card series between longtime rivals, a Red Sox hitter touched home plate. And so, a glimmer of hope flickered in the visiting dugout as Game 2 flipped to the bottom of the sixth.
By 10:06 p.m., when rookie George Lombard Jr. laced an RBI single over the second baseman’s head, that flame had already begun to falter. By the end of the inning, it was thoroughly extinguished.
Ten Yankees hitters came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth; six scored. 2025 AL Cy Young runner-up Garret Crochet, injured for nearly the entire regular season, entered as a reliever and did not record an out (though he did strike out a batter). Boston’s most trusted setup man, Garrett Crochet, then entered the ballgame to serve up the final blow: a moon-scraping, three-run homer via Cody Bellinger that pushed New York’s lead to seven.
Yankee Stadium rumbled as Bellinger’s ball returned to Earth. Libations sprung into the sky like a Bellagio fountain of booze. Popcorn rained from the heavens. Bellinger rounded the sacks and entered the dugout to a tunnel of high fives and atta-boys. The rest of this lopsided laugher was merely epilogue. By the ninth inning, Yankee fans were serenading the defeated Sox with “na, na, na, na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye.” A few minutes later, they were hollering Sinatra’s “New York, New York” as the Yankees strolled onto the diamond in a casual celebration.
No doubt — not a crumb — was left as to which is the better team.
“Total domination,” a Yankees employee could be heard saying to a colleague in the champagne-soaked afterparty.
Predictably, New York skipper Aaron Boone offered Boston its flowers, but it was incredibly telling that the first question asked to him at his postgame media conference was: “Were you surprised by the margins of victory?”
“Yes,” Boone, ever the politician, replied. “As I said, kind of all year, but even going into this series, that was a scary team to us, especially as well as they pitch. So for us to have the offensive outbreaks that we had here these last two nights and late, credit to those guys.”
No more than 30 minutes later, Boone could be seen stampeding past the Yankees clubhouse with neither a shirt nor a worry in the world. Nothing about this wild-card matchup provided any reason for him or any other Yankees employee to view the Red Sox as a scary team. No, this was a drubbing.
The Yankees outscored the Red Sox 18-2 across the two games. Boston mustered seven total hits, the fewest ever in a wild-card series (this format was implemented in 2022). It was a damning, telling offensive performance by a lineup that lacked both the impact and the depth of a legitimate championship contender. And while the Sox certainly felt the absence of Roman Anthony — the young slugger was scratched from the roster after suffering a wrist injury in Game 1 — not even a resuscitated, cryogenically unfrozen Ted Williams could’ve helped this Boston ballclub.
“You’re thinking we’re going to play closer games,” Red Sox manager Chad Tracy admitted postgame. “They swung the bats extremely well. You’ve got to give them credit. It was frustrating.”
Also frustrating, for Tracy, must have been the noticeable chasm in talent between the two clubs. The Red Sox drew deserved plaudits ahead of the series for their run-prevention prowess. And yet, on paper, the Yankees’ rotation looked far more dangerous. And that’s how it played out, with soon-to-be Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler dicing in Game 1 and Fried cruising in Game 2.
New York’s decision to roster just 10 pitchers for this series was also an indication of the organization’s immense level of confidence in its own staff, particularly its starting pitchers. Why enter the battle with an army when a small special-ops unit can do the job?
“That’s been the biggest strength for us throughout the year,” Boone said of his team’s rotation. “It sustained us. It got us through some difficult times. And I feel like they’re all in a good place right now.”
The Yankees’ lineup is also clearly in a very good place. With captain Aaron Judge off the roster and watching from the dugout in a hoodie, New York’s offense impressed. In both games, the Bombers needed a few innings to get revved up but eventually bludgeoned Boston’s bullpen into submission. They tallied 26 total hits, the most by the Yanks in a two-game playoff span since 2004.
Judge’s status for the ALDS against Tampa Bay remains a mystery. Fellow injured large man Giancarlo Stanton was on the roster for the wild-card round but wasn’t called upon for a plate appearance. The Rays will likely present a stiffer challenge than whatever this was, but New York’s lineup is humming at the perfect time.
Boston, meanwhile, didn’t even get to play October baseball. When closer David Bednar punched out Caleb Durbin to conclude the proceedings, the clock read 11:14 p.m. ET.
September lived on. The Red Sox did not.
