Welcome back to postseason baseball.
After finishing the regular season in third place in the AL East, the Red Sox are in New York to open a best-of-three wild-card series. Both teams have lined up their ace lefthanders for Tuesday’s opener.
Garrett Crochet will take the mound for the Sox; it will be his first postseason start. He appeared in four playoff games with the White Sox as a reliever in 2020 and 2021, recording six strikeouts in three innings without allowing a run.
“I’ve pitched here twice already this year and faced this lineup four times,” Crochet said Monday. “I don’t want to say it’s comfortable, because it’s a tough opposing lineup, but there is a sense of comfort there in just knowing the faces that I’m going to be going up against.”
Advertisement
Max Fried gets the nod for the Yankees and is no stranger to the postseason. He appeared in 20 playoff games in seven seasons with the Braves, including 12 starts, and went 5-6 with a 5.10 ERA. He recorded the win in Game 6 over the Astros to clinch the 2021 World Series.
First pitch is at 6:08 p.m. on ESPN. Follow along with live updates.
pinned
Game 1 lineups and notes
RED SOX (89-73): Refsnyder DH, Story SS, Bregman 3B, Gonzalez 1B, Narváez C, Eaton RF, Duran LF, Rafaela CF, Sogard 2B
Pitching: LHP Garrett Crochet (18-5, 2.59 ERA)
YANKEES (94-68): Goldschmidt 1B, Judge RF, Bellinger LF, Stanton DH, Rosario 2B, Grisham CF, Volpe SS, Wells C, Caballero 3B
Pitching: LHP Max Fried (19-5, 2.86 ERA)
Time: 6:08 p.m.
TV, radio: ESPN, WEEI-FM 93.7
Red Sox vs. Fried: Alex Bregman 5-9, Jarren Duran 0-10, Nate Eaton 2-3, Romy González 2-7, Carlos Narváez 0-3, Ceddanne Rafaela 2-10, Rob Refsnyder 2-8, Nick Sogard 2-3, Trevor Story 4-16, Connor Wong 3-10
Yankees vs. Crochet: Cody Bellinger 5-14, José Caballero 0-7, Jazz Chisholm Jr. 0-4, Jasson Domínguez 0-6, Paul Goldschmidt 2-15, Trent Grisham 0-3, Aaron Judge 3-15, Ryan McMahon 1-3, Ben Rice 1-8, Amed Rosario 6-9, Austin Slater 0-3, Giancarlo Stanton 2-7, Anthony Volpe 2-5, Austin Wells 2-9
Click here to refresh | Read more Red Sox stories
A surprise in the Sox lineup — 2:45 p.m.
By Alex Speier
And we have our first (mild) surprise with the lineup: Given the dominance of Yankees starter Max Fried against lefties, the Sox have elected not only to lead off with Rob Refsnyder, and not only to have Nate Eaton in the lineup in right instead of Wilyer Abreu, but also to have Nick Sogard at second base, with Romy Gonzalez at first and Nate Lowe sitting.
That said, the Sox started all righties (or switch-hitters) against Fried in the matchup in September, so it’s not a massive upset, but Lowe had been facing tough lefties recently.
Sox lineup: Refsnyder DH, Story SS, Bregman 3B, Gonzalez 1B, Narváez C, Eaton RF, Duran LF, Rafaela CF, Sogard 2B
Yankees lineup: Goldschmidt 1B, Judge RF, Bellinger LF, Stanton DH, Rosario 2B, Grisham CF, Volpe SS, Wells C, Caballero 3B
Speier: Throw the records out the window — 2:35 p.m.
By Alex Speier
Here’s to ignorance! We know nothing about what will happen. No three-game series has a predictable outcome, let alone one between two playoff-caliber teams.
To wit: Since the introduction the current format of the Wild Card Series in 2022, the home team entering today had a 10-16 record. The perceived advantages — better record, better team, better home or road record, platoon splits — largely go out the window in the three-game format. It’s as simple as: Who will play better in a tiny window?
Advertisement
So: as intriguing as it is to look at the relative states of the Red Sox and Yankees, the next three games in Yankee Stadium will assume a life of their own — and hopefully provide something as memorable and enduring as the past October meetings of the two teams.
Shaughnessy: Does it get any better than this? — 2:30 p.m.
It’s just too good.
The Red Sox are in the playoffs Tuesday for the first time in four years, only the second time since they won the World Series in 2018 . . . and they are playing a best-of-three against the New York Yankees.
Red Sox-Yankees. Again.
Do we need to educate the young’uns and remind everyone what this means?
Red Sox-Yankees is an all-timer. It’s Harvard vs. Yale, Kennedy vs. Nixon, Athens vs. Sparta.
It’s Ohio State-Michigan, Army-Navy, Trump-Comey.
It is the ultimate American sports rivalry and we are getting it in the first round of baseball’s ever-expanding playoffs.
Strap yourselves in for two (possibly three) nights of hard-ball history and histrionics. This could be great. Enjoy the ride.
READ MORE
Amin Touri can be reached at amin.touri@globe.com. Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier. Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey. Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social‬. Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at tara.sullivan@globe.com. Follow her @Globe_Tara. Follow Andrew Mahoney @GlobeMahoney.