Thoughts after Game 3 of the 2025 Wild Card Series

The AL East will be settled properly. It’ll be Yankees vs. Blue Jays in the ALDS after Thursday’s win over the Red Sox in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series. The Yankees are the first team since the Wild Card Series became permanent in 2022 to win the series after losing Game 1. Also, the home team won only four of 12 Wild Card Series from 2022-24. They won three this year. (Sorry, Guardians.)

“You go into that best-of-three and it is pressure-filled, and it is against the team that you know so well and is your rival, and they win Game 1,” Aaron Boone said Thursday. “You know, these guys just kept playing. Honestly, going into the night for me personally, it felt like as pressure-packed a game as I have ever been in as a player or manager … A great opponent. A storied opponent. Here, down one, the boys answered the bell and played great baseball these couple days.”

We can finally retire the “the Yankees haven’t beaten a non-AL Central team in a postseason series since 2012” narrative, and the Yankees slayed the Red Sox dragon. This was their first postseason series win over Boston since the 2003 ALCS. Also, the Yankees went 4-9 against the Red Sox during the regular season, including 2-5 at Yankee Stadium. Good reminder that the regular season has no bearing on what happens in October. Now the Yankees need to do the same against the Blue Jays. Let’s get into Game 3.

TRIVIA: The Blue Jays are one of four teams the Yankees have never played in the postseason. Who are the other three? Answer in the Up Next section.

Historic Schlitt

Before Game 3, I noted the Red Sox have trouble with high velocity fastballs, particularly hitting them with authority and especially since losing Roman Anthony to injury. Cam Schlittler knew the scouting report. In one of the most “I’m going to shove it down your throat” performances I can remember, Schlittler threw 96 fastballs among 107 pitches in Game 3. Apparently Red Sox fans made it personal.

"I’m not gonna get into it, but there’s a line and I think they crossed it a little bit,” Schlittler, a Boston native, said after Game 3. “I’m a competitor, and I’m gonna go out there and make sure I shut ‘em down. You know Boston fans, that’s just how it is. We’re aggressive back home and we’re gonna try to get under people’s skin. They just picked the wrong guy to do it to and the wrong team to do it to."

Schlittler threw the two fastest and six of the seven fastest pitches of his career in Game 3. He hit 100 mph 15 times (25 times if you round up) after hitting 100 mph five times in his 15 regular season starts. Schlittler’s four-seamer averaged – averaged – 98.9 mph. Here are his 18 swings and misses. They all came on heaters and most were in the strike zone. This is pure dominance. Cam pitched angry.

“Every time he has taken the ball, I feel so good about him because he is such a good strike thrower and with that stuff,” Boone said after Game 3. “… When you throw 100 and command the baseball and can land your secondary pitches, you can be a problem for the opposition.”

The Red Sox had some traffic. They put the leadoff man on base in the second, fourth, and fifth innings, but not only did they not score, Schlittler never allowed a runner to get as far as third base. In about the sixth inning, Schlittler went into Terminator mode. He retired the final nine batters he faced, four via strikeout, and needed only 28 pitches to do it. I thought he might go out for the ninth, but alas.

The eight innings are a career high. The 107 pitches are a career high. The 12 strikeouts are a career high. I’m talking majors or minors here. Schlittler had never done any of that before. The 12 strikeouts are the most by a rookie in the postseason since Livan Hernandez’s 15 in the Eric Gregg Game in 1997. Only four Yankees have ever struck out 12 in a postseason game:

1. Roger Clemens: 15 (2000 ALCS Game 4 vs. Mariners)
2. Gerrit Cole: 13 (2020 Wild Card Series Game 1 vs. Cleveland)
3. Orlando Hernandez: 12 (2000 World Series Game 3 vs. Mets)
4. Cam Schlittler: 12 (2025 Wild Card Series Game 3 vs. Red Sox) (video)

Schlittler is the first pitcher ever to strike out 12 and walk zero while throwing eight shutout innings in a postseason game. Not the first rookie ever, the first pitcher ever. Given the context – a win or go home game against the Red Sox – Schlittler’s Game 3 masterpiece should go down as one of the greatest pitching performances in history. Certainly in Yankees’ history, and really in all of baseball history.

"It is electric. Yankee fans are very passionate. It was very loud from the jump," Schlittler said about the Yankee Stadium crowd. "That's what they told me would happen. It was a great feeling and I was able to channel that energy. They were definitely behind me and the team. That was a great feeling."

Yankee Stadium popped when Schlittler came out of the dugout to start the eighth inning and part of me wanted him to come out mid-inning so he could have his own moment and get his own ovation, but eight scoreless is pretty cool too. It was clear to me Schlittler should be the Game 3 starter weeks ago – he’s a Ferrari and you don’t keep a Ferrari in the garage – but I can’t say I say that coming.

“I woke up and I was locked in,” Schlittler said. “I knew exactly what I needed to do and go out there, especially against my hometown team. As I told Andy (Pettitte) yesterday, I wasn't going to let them beat me. I was just overconfident in that fact. Making sure I wasn't getting too carried away with it.” 

What a night for the organization too. For Matt Hyde*, the scout who discovered and signed Schlittler, the countless player development people and analysts we’ll never know, all the coaches and teammates that helped Schlittler along the way. He’ll be the first to tell you he didn’t do this on his own. Nights like Game 3 are a great win on a field and are made possible by all those people behind the scenes.

* Heck of a year for Hyde, the Yankees' longtime Northeast scout. He dug up Schlittler and Ben Rice, another Massachusetts kid. Hyde also put the Yankees on Anthony Volpe, who had a great Wild Card Series on both sides of the ball, and was among the first to bang the table for Aaron Judge after seeing him in the Cape Cod League a lifetime ago.

The Yankees lost Gerrit Cole to Tommy John surgery in Spring Training and you can’t tell me this version of Schlittler doesn’t look like Gerrit Cole. That’s a lot to put on a kid, but Schlittler had Cole-esque power and precision working in Game 3. An unflappable rookie shutting down the Red Sox with ruthless efficiency with the season on the line. And to think, I thought the Yankees would demote Schlittler so they could keep Marcus Stroman and preserve depth after the trade deadline. Good thing that didn't happen, huh?

“There are different paths to greatness up here, but this guy has come up and delivered right away,” Cole said. “He’s got ‘it.’ I don’t know exactly what ‘it’ is. It’s hard to define it, but he’s got ‘it.’"

Boone outdoes Cora

The Red Sox started their own rookie in Game 3 and Connelly Early looked pretty darn good in the first three innings. The at-bats got better the second time through the lineup though, plus Boston’s defense was sloppy. The four-run fourth inning (video) started when Cody Bellinger’s bloop dropped in for a double – right fielder Wilyer Abreu said the outfielders couldn’t hear each other because the crowd was so loud – and was extended when Nate Lowe booted a grounder at first.

“We didn't play defense. The pop up drops, it’s a double, and there's a walk. They didn't hit the ball hard, but they found holes. It just happened fast,” Alex Cora said about the fourth inning. “The kid did a good job. He threw the ball well, induced them to weak contact, but it didn't happen for us tonight.”

The at-bat of the night (and of the series, really) was Austin Wells against Early in that fourth inning. Wells fouled away the first two pitches, battled back to a 3-2 count, worked it to nine pitches, then hit the ball that Lowe booted. A fortunate break, for sure, but you make your own luck in this game. Wells had a terrific at-bat against a tough lefty and was rewarded with poor defense. It gave the Yankees much needed breathing room.

A few of those Red Sox lefties tied him up for called strike threes, but I thought Wells had great at-bats throughout the three games. Too often during the regular season he swung almost aimlessly at the first or second pitch, and made weak contact for a quick out. Wells went 2-for-9 with a walk in the Wild Card Series and averaged 4.80 pitches per plate appearance. The at-bats were better than the results.

Anyway, the Yankees won Games 2 and 3 because Boone out-managed Cora. Other than riding Garrett Crochet in Game 1, when the lefty made life easy on the manager, Cora straight up had a bad series. The Yankees won Game 2 because Cora let Garrett Whitlock face Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Wells with his tank on E even though he had three lefties available in the bullpen (Aroldis Chapman, Kyle Harrison, Payton Tolle).

In Game 3, Cora’s was way too slow to get the bullpen going when the at-bats got heavier against Early. It wasn’t until Volpe’s single that made it 2-0 that the bullpen got going. It seemed like Cora was determined to get Early through 19 batters – twice through the lineup plus Trent Grisham – and either wasn’t going to deviate from the plan, or was too slow to react. My guess is the latter. Cora was just too slow.

“We needed to be perfect tonight because (Schlittler) was perfect,” Cora said. His slow hook with Early falls under the “we weren’t perfect” umbrella, I think.

Boone was criticized, not unfairly I don’t think, for his Game 1 lineup decisions, but he pushed the right buttons in Games 2 and 3. He kept Chisholm in Game 2 even though Boston went to their parade of lefty relievers, and Jazz was impactful with his glove and his legs in the late innings. Going with Amed Rosario at third in Game 3 paid dividends with his single to start the scoring, plus Boone let Schlittler go deeper into a game than ever. Props, Boonie.

The Yankees didn’t do much against Boston’s bullpen. Four Red Sox relievers retired 13 of 16 Yankees after Early was out of the game. The Yankees won Game 3 because the Red Sox played sloppy defense (don’t forget Jarren Duran’s missed diving catch in Game 2) and because Cora didn’t have the right pitcher in the game in the fourth inning. Boone put his team in better positions to win the last two games than Cora. What a world.

A productive trade deadline

Three players who came over at the trade deadline appeared in Game 3, and all played a role in the win. Rosario opened the scoring with his single. Ryan McMahon replaced Rosario for defense in the sixth, and with zero sense of self-preservation, went over the visitor’s dugout railing to catch the second out of the eighth inning (video). “I thought he was dead,” Wells said about McMahon’s catch.

In the aftermath, it kinda gets tucked away as an awesome play in an awesome win, but that was a big out, right? If McMahon doesn’t make that catch, who knows what happens? Duran, the leadoff hitter, was at the plate. If he gets on, then Schlittler might be out of the game, and you’re asking a tired bullpen to get five outs before allowing four runs with the middle of the lineup coming up. Is that a safe lead? Safe-ish, maybe. A big out, it was.

David Bednar closed the door in the ninth inning. He was pitching for the third straight day and the sixth time in eight days (!). I’m sure he’s feeling it today, but Bednar was up to 97 mph and looked good. That is one gutsy dude right there. Hard to believe he was demoted to Triple-A for performance reasons in April. Rosario, McMahon, Bednar. July pays off in October.

Miscellany

We can laugh about it now, but Giancarlo Stanton’s double (video) almost turned out terribly. He thought it was gone, celebrated with the dugout, then had to hustle to get to second. "Kids, at home, don't do that. Future opponents, please do that,” Big G joked after the game … As expected, everyone was available in the bullpen. Fernando Cruz, Luke Weaver, and Devin Williams all warmed up in Game 3 (I think Tim Hill did too? I forget) but thankfully were not needed. It would have been three straight days and four times in five days for Cruz and Williams. Those two plus Bednar earned Friday’s off-day … Rice went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in Game 3, but credit to Boone for putting his best players on the field despite the left-on-left thing. He said he changed his mind about playing Paul Goldschmidt against the lefty starter because Rice has been so good the last few weeks. Goldschmidt is giving me late-1990s Wade Boggs/Tim Raines vibes. Great player chasing a ring near the end of his career, and willing to accept a reduced role. I can feel it, Goldy's gonna have a big moment this postseason. A big hit against a lefty off the bench or something.

Injury updates and roster notes

Bellinger’s hurt. It’s his left foot or ankle or leg. Seems like he hurt it sliding into home in the fourth inning. He finished the game, but limped the entire time. Bellinger confirmed it’s not a soft tissue injury (maybe he broke a toe?) and said he’ll get treatment and be good to go for Game 1 on Saturday. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Jasson Domínguez’s defense if the Yankees preferred an injured Bellinger in left field in an elimination game, eh? … And finally, Brent Headrick and Ryan Yarbrough threw simulated games to Domínguez, J.C. Escarra, and Austin Slater on Thursday. That doesn’t mean they will be added to the ALDS roster. They’re just staying ready.

Up next

TRIVIA ANSWER: The Expos/Nationals, Rockies, and White Sox are the other three teams the Yankees have not played in the postseason. The first two make sense given their lack of World Series appearances. The White Sox have been around forever, but they've mostly been bad since the LCS became a thing in 1969. Only seven postseason appearances since then, and the Yankees have yet to run into them. It’ll happen eventually.

Anyway, it is Yankees vs. Blue Jays in the postseason for the first time ever. Here is the ALDS schedule:

• Saturday: Game 1 in Toronto (4pm ET on FOX)

• Sunday: Game 2 in Toronto (4pm ET on FOX)

• Monday: off-day

• Tuesday: Game 3 in New York (TBA on FOX/FS1)

• Wednesday: Game 4 in New York (TBA on FOX/FS1)

• Thursday: off-day

• Friday: Game 5 in Toronto (TBA on FOX/FS1)

The Blue Jays haven’t made it official but I can’t imagine it will be anyone other than Kevin Gausman in Game 1. Figure Shane Bieber, Max Scherzer, and rookie Trey Yesavage in some order after that. Chris Bassitt (back) and José Berríos (elbow) are banged up. Berríos is probably going to miss the postseason. Bassitt is expected to be on the ALDS roster, but I don’t think he’ll start. We’ll see.

Boone said the Yankees are deciding between Luis Gil and Will Warren for Game 1. Warren made just one start against the Blue Jays this year and it went poorly. Gil not being able to miss bats could be a problem against the team with baseball’s lowest strikeout rate during the regular season (17.8%). If it is Gil, the Yankees will have to make a move to add him to the roster. That won’t be too difficult.

Max Fried can start Game 2 on normal rest. That lines up Carlos Rodón for Game 3 with an extra day and Schlittler for Game 4 with an extra day. I don’t think they would flip Rodón and Schlittler and have Schlittler start Game 3 on normal rest. Schlittler could probably use an extra day after eight innings and 107 pitches this late into the longest season of his career. Fried could start Game 5 on normal rest.

Because of the off-days, the Yankees can continue to roll with 12 pitchers and 14 position players in the ALDS. There's rest built into the schedule for the bullpen. Warren or Paul Blackburn would be the roster move for Gil, I reckon. We’ll find out more when the ALDS roster is announced Saturday morning. I’ll have more then.

(Send your questions for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com. I will get to them as I can during the postseason. The random Yankee series is on hiatus, but feel free to send in requests for when it returns.)