Thoughts after Game 2 of the 2025 Wild Card Series

The Yankees aren’t done yet. Wednesday night the Yankees forced a Game 3 against the Red Sox with a Game 2 win, and they did it thanks to two players who were not in the lineup in Game 1. Ben Rice struck early, Jazz Chisholm Jr. made an impact on both sides of the ball late, and now the Yankees will play for a chance to go to the ALDS on Thursday.

“It has been two great games,” Aaron Boone said. “I think both sides have played really well. Been a lot of impactful plays, whether it is on the bases, in the field. So I look forward to tomorrow and try and move on.”

Here are the Game 3 ZiPS odds:

Because the Dodgers swept the Reds, MLB flexed Yankees/Red Sox into the 8pm ET slot. Game 3 is not another 6pm ET start. Too bad. I like those. Anyway, it’ll be Cam Schlittler vs. Connelly Early in the first ever postseason matchup between two starters with fewer than 15 games of big league experience each. Here are a few thoughts on the Game 2 win.

1. I know Early is a lefty, but man, how can you keep Rice out of the lineup in Game 3? I doubt Early will be in it for the long haul. This isn’t a Garrett Crochet situation, you know? It’s a win or go home game. Put your best players in the starting lineup and ride them. Sitting Rice (and Chisholm) in Game 1 didn’t work. Playing them in Game 2 did. Ergo, they should start Game 3. That’s analytics, baby.

“I know my role,” Rice said about sitting Game 1. “And yesterday my role was to be ready for a big at-bat off the bench, and today I was starting. The approach doesn't change. I mean, I am just going to be prepared for every at-bat I get and every chance I get.”

Rice is pasting absolutely everything right now. Well, except for that excuse me swinging bunt single in the sixth inning Wednesday. The home run was crushed (video). The third inning line out with two runners on base was crushed, albeit it right at the right fielder. It feels like Rice has had a ton of those this season. They’ll even out, right? We did watch Gary Sánchez smash line drives at defenders for three years. I hope Rice doesn’t fall victim to the same fate.

"I have had a good amount of those this year," Rice joked about the third inning line drive after the game. "So I figured I honestly hit it a little too hard, so ended up going right at them."

Rice hit .316/.349/.582 (157 wRC+) with a 9.5% strikeout rate (!) in September. The at-bat quality is so good. The contact is excellent both in terms of quality and quantity. If he didn’t share a roster with Aaron Judge, I’d say Rice is the best hitter on the team, at least with the way he’s swinging the bat right now. I don’t just want him in the lineup in Game 3. I want him at the plate in the biggest moments.

2. Chisholm didn’t hide the fact he didn’t like being out of the Game 1 lineup, and that’s fine. Players don’t have to be happy or agree with the manager on everything, but they do have to play hard, and Jazz’s hard-nosed play made a meaningful difference on the scoreboard in Game 3. His diving stop in the seventh inning, on the same ground ball Masataka Yoshida hit for the go-ahead two-run single in Game 1, was sensational (video).

“You know what's going on. It is a 3-2 count, runner on second base, runner on first base. They are moving,” Chisholm said. “You see a ground ball, you gotta stop it. You have to keep it in the infield. You have to stop that run from scoring. I felt at that point it would have been a really crucial run. I was doing what I could to keep the ball in the infield.”

Chisholm did not record an out on the play, but he kept the ball on the infield and saved a run. The runners were going in a 3-2 count with two outs too. That’s the very fast Jarren Duran in front of Jazz. If Chisholm doesn’t stop that ball, there’s a chance it goes into the gap, and Duran scores on the play. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Chisholm drives me crazy sometimes, but man, what a ballplayer. He does everything.

The Yankees had some shockingly bad at-bats in Game 2, including a few straight up bad swing decisions in three-ball counts (cough Cody Bellinger cough). It was frustrating. Chisholm had a really good at-bat against Garrett Whitlock in the eighth though. He went from 2-2 to a seven-pitch watch as Whitlock was trying to jam him inside. When I saw Austin Wells’ single plop into right field (video), in a nanosecond my brain went:

“That’s in the corner! That’s a double!”

“Ah crap, it hit the side wall.”

“Oh crap, it deflected away from the outfielder!”

“Jazz is going home! This will either be amazing or suck badly!”

It was amazing. Chisholm was off and running in the 3-2 count with two outs, and as soon as the ball hit the side wall, I knew he was going home. You have to send him home. Other than the Dodgers, it has been damn near impossible to score runs this postseason. You have to take that chance in the eighth inning of a tie game with your season on the line, even with Nate Eaton and his 94.9 mph fastball making the throw home.

“Going through my head, I am already running,” Chisholm said about the play. “So any ball that an outfielder moves to his left or right, I have to score, in my head. That's all I was thinking.”

The Boone/Chisholm not in the Game 1 lineup thing was never gonna be an issue. Jazz was disappointed but he wasn’t gonna sulk. He played his ass off in Game 2. He played his ass off on defense (he also turned a great double play in the third) and on the bases when he scored all the way from first base on the Wells single. With the season on the line, Chisholm had two game-changing moments.

3. Nothing good ever happens when the nonexistent blue D train wins the Great Subway Race. The first batter after the race? Trevor Story’s game-tying homer in the sixth. Groan. Carlos Rodón was fine. Great early, wobbly late. He didn’t have that signature start to save the season nor did he put the Yankees in a big hole and become the goat. Rodón was good enough to help the Yankees stay alive.

You know who has been really good? Hi Lev Dev. Devin Williams allowed the leadoff man to reach base in his two innings this series, but he escaped both times, including a 1-6-3 double play in Game 3. I’m always amazed when a pitcher doesn’t throw the ball into center field on one of those. Fernando Cruz, who was on the mound for Chisholm’s diving play, is a lunatic, and I love him for it.

That said, Cruz wasn’t exactly lock down. Ceddanne Rafaela, who the Yankees have walked twice this series (4.8 BB% during the regular season), popped up a bunt, then Cruz needed that play from Jazz to keep a run off the board. Story laid into middle-middle four-seamer in a 2-1 count and flew out to the warning track in center. I definitely thought it was gone off the bat. That was scary. That was also an out.

Also scary: Rafaela’s fly out to the warning track for the 27th out. I did not need that. David Bednar has pitched two straight days and five times in the last seven days. I have no doubt he will be available in Game 3, but how effective will he be? Pitching him Sunday, after the Blue Jays took their huge lead, was such a dumb, unforced error. The bullpen put up three zeroes in Game 2, even if it wasn’t pretty.

4. I figured Brayan Bello would have a very short leash. He got seven outs. Five Red Sox relievers held the Yankees to one run (on a dropped diving catch) spanning the third through seventh innings. Alex Cora got greedy with Garrett Whitlock and asked him to pitch a second inning, something he hasn’t done since Aug. 11th. His 47 pitches were his most as a reliever since August 2023. Whitlock admitted he was on fumes when he walked Jazz. His availability/effectiveness is in question for Game 3. The rest of Boston’s bullpen is in good shape. They don’t have anyone who’s worked back-to-back days going into Thursday.

5. Rapid fire thoughts. Here’s a fun one: Trent Grisham’s seventh inning double was his first double since June 21st in Toronto. Grish Chambliss went 267 plate appearances between doubles. And he’s good! It’s not like he’s a zero at the plate. I answered a mailbag question about Grisham’s lack of doubles recently … How did Chisholm blow off steam after not being in the Game 1 lineup? “I played MLB The Show and mercy ruled someone,” he said. I can relate, Jazz … Giancarlo Stanton is 0-for-8 in the Wild Card Series with a lot of missed hittable pitches and ground balls to the left side of the infield. His timing is not right and the Yankees need him to find it soon, as in tomorrow … And finally, Rice is the first Yankee to hit a home run in his first career postseason at-bat since Shane Spencer the Home Run Dispenser in 1998. Something tells me Rice will have more long-term staying power than Shane. Or at least I hope he will.

(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.)