Boston and New York meet in the wild card round for the second straight October, and the Yankees are doing it without Aaron Judge.
The two-time defending American League MVP was left off the roster with a right calf strain. Giancarlo Stanton made it after playing 24 games all season and not appearing since April 24.
How to watch
The game is on NBC, free over the air with an antenna, and streaming on Peacock. Spanish broadcast on Universo.
Red Sox at Yankees, AL Wild Card Game 1
Tuesday, Sept. 29 — 8:00 p.m. ET
Yankee Stadium, Bronx
Also streaming: Fubo, DirecTV and Sling, all with free trials for new subscribers
Radio: WFAN 660 and 101.9 FM in New York, with Spanish on WADO 1280. WEEI 93.7 in Boston, Spanish on WCCM 1490 AM and WESX 1230 AM. ESPN Radio nationally.
Jason Benetti calls it with Joe Girardi and Lou Merloni, Anthony Rizzo on the broadcast and Caroline Piñeda reporting.
Probables: LHP Payton Tolle (9-6, 3.03) for Boston, RHP Cam Schlittler (14-6, 1.95) for New York.
Lineups
Boston: Roman Anthony DH, Adley Rutschman C, Willson Contreras 1B, Wilyer Abreu RF, Ceddanne Rafaela CF, Nick Sogard 2B, Jarren Duran LF, Trevor Story SS, Caleb Durbin 3B.
New York: Paul Goldschmidt 1B, Ben Rice DH, Heliot Ramos RF, Cody Bellinger LF, George Lombard Jr. SS, Amed Rosario 3B, Anthony Volpe 2B, Spencer Jones CF, Austin Wells C.
The infield calls
Anthony Volpe starts at second, Amed Rosario at third, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. is on the bench.
New York is stacking right-handed bats against Payton Tolle. Chisholm said Monday he expected to be in the lineup and made clear he wouldn't be happy otherwise — the same thing happened last October when he sat against Garrett Crochet in Game 1.
Volpe was called up this month to cover for Chisholm's thumb sprain and has looked comfortable at a new position. Rosario hit .208 with a .606 OPS against left-handers this season, but the Yankees are betting on his longer track record.
José Caballero is being held as a bench piece for pinch-running and defense.
Heliot Ramos starts in right. The Puerto Rican outfielder, from Humacao, came over from San Francisco this season and was a 2024 All-Star. He's hitting .198 in 38 games as a Yankee after hitting .264 with the Giants.
Schlittler has owned the Red Sox
Five career starts against Boston, including the postseason: 32⅓ innings, 39 strikeouts, a 0.56 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP. New York won four of the five.
He shut them out in Game 3 of last year's wild card series.
This season he's 14-6 with a 1.95 ERA, 239 strikeouts and a 0.92 WHIP — top four in the league in all three. He's allowed exactly one earned run in seven of his last nine starts. Against Boston specifically: 24 innings, a 0.74 ERA, 27 strikeouts.
Payton Tolle has been good too. A 3.03 ERA, 171 strikeouts, a 1.10 WHIP, and no more than two earned runs in eight of his last ten starts. In 13⅓ innings against the Yankees this year he has a 0.69 ERA.
Boston hit .199 with a .579 OPS against New York pitching across thirteen meetings this season.
New York carried only 10 pitchers
The Yankees are the only one of the eight wild card teams carrying ten pitchers. Three are starters — Schlittler, Max Fried and Gerrit Cole — leaving seven relievers.
Most teams carry eleven or twelve.
It's a bet on the rotation, and it means an early exit by a starter puts real strain on what's behind it. If this goes three games, those arms get thin.
Who's hitting for New York
Ben Rice carries the offense with Judge out — 41 home runs, 97 RBIs, a .264 average and an .897 OPS. Cody Bellinger hit 17 with 73 RBIs.
New York averaged 4.59 runs per game, second in baseball, and allowed the fewest runs in the league at 3.73 per game.
Amed Rosario and Austin Wells round out the infield and battery.
Boston fired its manager and went 32-5
The Red Sox dismissed Joey Cora after 27 games. Under interim manager Chad Tracy they went 32-5 at one point, including a 15-game winning streak, then finished 23-24.
Tracy got a three-year deal and lost the interim tag. Boston was 77-58 under him.
Wilyer Abreu, the Venezuelan outfielder, hit 24 home runs with 76 RBIs. Ceddanne Rafaela, from Willemstad, Curaçao, starts in center. Willson Contreras is Venezuelan and plays first.
Trevor Story returned from hernia surgery on Aug. 30 and is hitless in his last twelve at-bats. Jarren Duran hit 20 home runs with a .207 average.
Garrett Crochet made the roster despite not pitching competitively since late April.
The rest of the international presence: Brayan Bello from the Dominican Republic, Aroldis Chapman and Johan Oviedo from Cuba, Raymond Burgos and Jovani Morán from Puerto Rico, Masataka Yoshida from Japan, Tyron Guerrero from Colombia, Tsung-Che Cheng from Taiwan, and Curtis Mead from Adelaide.
The series
Game 1 — Tuesday, Sept. 29, 8:00 p.m. ET
Game 2 — Wednesday, Sept. 30
Game 3 — Thursday, Oct. 1, if necessary
All three at Yankee Stadium. The winner plays Tampa Bay in the Division Series.
The rest of Tuesday
Phillies at Braves — Atlanta won 5-3. Austin Riley hit a three-run homer off Jhoan Durán with two outs in the eighth. Chris Sale went 6⅓ with nine strikeouts. Full preview here.
White Sox at Astros — Chicago led 4-0 in the fourth. Full preview here.
Cubs at Padres, 10:00 p.m. ET — Peacock and NBC Sports Network. Matthew Boyd against Michael King. Nick Pivetta starts Game 2 for San Diego.
Lineups, probables, broadcast details and statistics via MLB and Baseball Reference. Roster and lineup reporting via the New York Post. Announcer assignments via Awful Announcing.