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The MLB playoffs are finally upon us. It might have been a short stay from the Yankees, but a full month in the spotlight remains for the sport as a whole. To track baseball’s biggest games across this final month, PSA will do a short daily roundup on all of the previous day’s action as we creep up to the World Series.
Considering that the opening game on the postseason docket was Yankees/Red Sox, there is a 0.00000001% chance that we are the first to tell you about it in this specific post, but we’re going to do it anyway since we didn’t exactly control that! We’ll also take a look ahead at the day’s upcoming matchups.
What happened last night?
AL Wild Card Game
Boston Red Sox 6, New York Yankees 2
(BOS advances to ALDS)
Yup. The Yankees’ rollercoaster season came to a screeching halt at Fenway Park on Tuesday night. Gerrit Cole couldn’t locate his fastball at all and the Red Sox were able to tee off on some bad pitches. He was gone by the middle of the third inning after allowing a pair of homers to Xander Bogaerts and Kyle Schwarber.
Only a nice bit of relief pitching by Clay Holmes allowed the Yankees to stay in it at 3-0, and the sixth represented their best chance to get back in it. Anthony Rizzo hit a solo shot, Aaron Judge reached on an infield single, and after an early hook from Boston skipper Alex Cora, out went Nathan Eovaldi, who’d dominated thus far. Giancarlo Stanton destroyed a ball 400 feet off the Green Monster, and an odd send by third-base coach Phil Nevin cut Judge down at the plate. It was a perfect relay, but the time to push wasn’t then; Judge wouldn’t have been the tying run, anyway.
The Red Sox easily ended the inning, got the run right back in the bottom of the sixth off Luis Severino, and put the game to bed in the seventh with two more against a shaky Jonathan Loáisiga. The Yankees’ hitters outside of the top three went a combined 1-for-20 with an 0-for-11 from Joey Gallo, Gleyber Torres, and Brett Gardner really standing out in the middle of the order. They deserved to lose, and they are gone. Auf wiedersehen.
What’s on deck?
NL Wild Card Game
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals
(Max Scherzer vs. Adam Wainwright)
Time: 8:10 p.m. EST
TV: TBS
Venue: Dodger Stadium
More Wild Card action! It’s just the less interesting edition where pitchers bat.
I kid, I kid. This matchup is actually fascinating. The Dodgers set an all-time record for most wins by a team that failed to win its division, as 106 weren’t enough to surpass the stunningly good Giants, who snapped their streak of eight consecutive NL West crowns. So while the Dodgers will host the Wild Card, they have to face a Cardinals team that came out of nowhere to reel off 17 straight wins, running away with the final NL playoff spot.
It would be another act of Cardinals Devil Magic™ to upset a team that finished 16 W’s better than them in 2021, but squint and you could see it. St. Louis has its ace on the mound in Adam Wainwright, who turned back the clock in 2021 with a tremendous season, and the L.A. will be without offensive MVP Max Muncy, who suffered an ugly elbow injury in the season finale. Between Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, and breakout star Tyler O’Neill, the Cardinals don’t exactly have schmucks in the lineup, either. It could happen!
But screw it. Max Scherzer’s going for the Dodgers and they still have Mookie Betts and Corey Seager and Trea Turner and Justin Turner and Will Smith and Chris Taylor and oh my god this team is still so friggin’ loaded. I say the Dodgers take it, 8-2.