Red Sox suffocate Yankees to open MLB playoffs, immediately push NY to brink

The 2025 MLB playoff bracket is set. Here are the American League and National League teams that have made the postseason.

NEW YORK – Garrett Crochet and Max Fried were imported to Boston and New York, respectively, for nights like these: Game 1 of the American League wild-card series, Red-Sox Yankees, zero margin for error and the postseason fate of these mega-billion dollar franchises on the line.

And in the first postseason start of his career, Crochet was the last southpaw standing at Yankee Stadium.

He gave up just one run to the Yankees – on an opposite-field second-inning home run by Anthony Volpe – and proceeded to retire 17 consecutive Yankees, eight by strikeout. All he needed was a couple runs – and Fried’s exit and the subsequent shift change in the Red Sox lineup provided it.

Masataka Yoshida’s first-pitch, pinch-hit two-run single off Yankees reliever Luke Weaver provided the winning margin in Boston’s 3-1 victory over New York in Game 1.

And now, New York’s highly successful season is on the brink of termination.

The Yankees, who came in winners of eight in a row and 11 of their last 12, now must defeat the Red Sox each of the next two nights to advance out of the wild card round.

They must buck Boston and also history: In the first three years of Major League Baseball’s wild-card format, the team that won Game 1 went on to win all 12 series.

Still, the Yankees nearly battled back in a miracle ninth. Consecutive singles by Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger loaded the bases with nobody out, but closer Aroldis Chapman got a strikeout of Giancarlo Stanton to steady himself and closed out the win.

In the bigger picture, the Red Sox can thank Crochet, who emptied the tank like never before.

The one-time reliever, who the Red Sox acquired in a winter blockbuster to front their rotation, hit 100.2 mph on his career-high 117th pitch – a full-count fastball to catch Austin Wells looking in the top of the eighth inning.

Manager Alex Cora came out to relieve Crochet, the men exchanging pats on the jerseys, and summoned closer Chapman with a man on and two outs. Chapman retired Jose Caballero on a fly to right, got an insurance RBI double from Alex Bregman, who was playing in his 100th career playoff game and then worked a scoreless ninth to save it.

And thus ended an epic battle. It takes two to make it so and Fried, signed to a $218 million contract the same month Boston traded for Crochet, was up to the task in his first playoff start as a Yankee.

He pitched 6 ⅓ scoreless innings, pitching out of jams of exceeding difficulty in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, ending the latter frame with a double-play grounder off the bat of Nate Eaton.

The Yankees coaxed one more batter out of him, a left-on-left matchup against Jarren Duran, and he left to a standing ovation, a 1-0 lead and one out in the sixth.

Yet it all unraveled on Weaver, who did not retire any of the three batters he faced. And Crochet just kept taking the ball and setting down the Yankees, needing just six pitches to suppress them in the seventh, striding off the mound with his lanky, laconic stride.

Crochet’s final line: 7 ⅔ innings, four hits, 11 strikeouts and Volpe’s home run. A phenomenal first playoff start for a guy in his first season with virtually unrestricted inning counts after Tommy John surgery and his time in the bullpen.

One more win at Yankee Stadium, and Crochet will earn another assignment: AL Division Series Game 2, at the top-seeded Toronto Blue Jays.

– Gabe Lacques

Red Sox take 2-1 lead into the ninth

The book is closed on Garrett Crochet after 7⅔ innings and a career-high 117 pitches. He struck out 11 while allowing one earned run on four hits and didn’t walk a batter, throwing his last pitch of the night at 100.2 mph. Crochet retired the last 18 of the last 19 Yankees he faced before Anthony Volpe singled in the eighth. He struck out Austin Wells and then was relieved by former Yankee Aroldis Chapman.

Red Sox pounce on Yankees bullpen to take 2-1 lead

Luke Weaver replaced Yankees starter Max Fried in the top of the seventh and immediately walked Ceddanne Rafaela in an 11-pitch at-bat. Nick Sogard then doubled, Masataka Yoshida pinch-hit for Rob Refsnyder, and scorched the first pitch he saw from Weaver for a single to score two. Fernando Cruz relieved Weaver, striking out Trevor Story and getting pinch-hitter Nathaniel Lowe to fly out to end the inning.

Max Fried done after 6⅓ scoreless

Max Fried is done for the night after 102 pitches in 6.1 innings. He allowed four hits, walked three, and struck out six, leaving a runner on first as the Yankees cling to a one-run lead. Fried received a big applause was replaced by reliever Luke Weaver.

Crochet settling down, retired last 10 Yankees

Garrett Crochet isn’t doing too badly either, striking out eight, allowing three hits through five innings, but one of those hits went over the Yankee Stadium right field fence for a home run by Anthony Volpe in the second. Volpe’s 382-foot home run would have cleared the fences in every major league ballpark - except Boston’s Fenway Park.

Max Fried escapes trouble in 4th

Fried got the first two batters of the inning, but a walk and a double put two runners in scoring position. The major league leader in wins escaped any damage by striking out Jarren Duran to end the threat.

Anthony Volpe homer gets Yanks on the board

Volpe deposited a 97 mph sinker from Garrett Crochet into the right field to break a scoreless tie. It was Volpe's second career postseason home run. New York 1, Boston 0.

Yankees waste opportunity to strike first

Garrett Crochet allowed a lead off single to Paul Goldschmidt, and AL MVP candidate Aaron Judge did the same on the first pitch he saw. Crochet then struck out Cody Bellinger, before getting Giancarlo Stanton to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Red Sox go down in the first

On a nice 77-degree night in the Bronx, Yankees starter Max Fried got things started by sending the Red Sox down with relative ease, allowing only a single to Alex Bregman.

Update on Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito

NEW YORK - Red Sox manager Alex Cora said that Giolito is unlikely to pitch again this season because of an elbow injury, which will keep him off the wild card roster against the Yankees.

He is on his way back. I am not 100% sure where we are at. From everything I am hearing, there's no structural damage -- which is great. There's a slight chance he can pitch. Rule him out probably," Cora said.

I think from a personal standpoint, those are good news for him, right? Kind of like hard to have surgery going into the offseason, all of that. Hopefully that's right. I will talk with B and talk to him later, but that's the last I heard.

Boone explains lineup changes for Game 1

NEW YORK - Jazz Chisholm, the Yankees' regular second baseman, is sitting in Game One and will be replaced in the lineup by Amed Rosario. Yankees manager Aaron Boone explained his decision in the pre-game press conference. Rosario is 6-for-9, with one home run lifetime against Red Sox starter Garrett Crochet.

"Jazz is doing good. I wouldn't hesitate to use Jazz. He could be in this game early. But, yeah, obviously as tough as Crochet is, you know, he has been especially tough on lefties," Boone said. "There's no great matchup. Amed has good history with him. Hit him well, faced him a lot this year. Felt like I wanted that extra right-handed bat in there.

"But Jazz is good to go. Will be ready to go. Also with Max, want the strength on the left side with my defense, all those kind of things come into play."

Yankees-Red Sox postseason history

This is the sixth time the Yankees and Red Sox have met in the postseason (ALCS: 1999, 2003, 2004; ALDS: 2018; AL wild card Game: 2021).

The teams are 12-12 in the postseason, but Boston has won eight of the last nine playoff games against New York.

During the 2025 regular season, the Red Sox went 9-4 against the Yankees, which included an eight-game winning streak.

Red Sox lineup today

Rob Refsnyder (R) DH
Trevor Story (R) SS
Alex Bregman (R) 3B
Romy Gonzalez (R) 1B
Carlos Narváez (R) C
Nate Eaton (R) RF
Jarren Duran (L) LF
Ceddanne Rafaela (R) CF
Nick Sogard (S) 2B

Yankees lineup today

Paul Goldschmidt (R) 1B
Aaron Judge (R) RF
Cody Bellinger (L) LF
Giancarlo Stanton (R) DH
Amed Rosario (R) 2B
Trent Grisham (L) CF
Anthony Volpe (R) SS
Austin Wells (L) C
José Caballero (R) 3B

Yankees playoff roster for wild card series

NEW YORK — Yankees manager Aaron Boone and his staff have settled on a 26-player roster - 12 pitchers and 14 position players - for the best-of-three AL wild card series against the Boston Red Sox.

Pitchers Ryan Yarbrough and Luis Gil and right-handed hitting outfielder Austin Slater did not make the cut, while lefty-hitting catcher J.C. Escarra and right-handed pitcher Paul Blackburn were added. — Pete Caldera, NorthJersey.com

MLB playoff bracket 2025

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Red Sox suffocate Yankees to open MLB playoffs, immediately push NY to brink

Reporting by Gabe Lacques and Scooby Axson, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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