NFL
By Billy Lewis:
The Major League Baseball regular season is officially in the books. Heading into the weekend, it looked like it could be utter chaos for the American League Wild Card. There were four teams (Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays) that were alive for the two Wild Card spots.
The Yankees entered the weekend needing one win to lock up a Wild Card spot. They were feeling good after sweeping the Red Sox and taking two out of three from the Blue Jays. They finished the Regular Season at home against the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays.
After losing Friday and Saturday the Yankees needed a win Sunday to avoid playing a tiebreaker to try to make the Wild Card. This weekend was a microcosm of the Yankees season. They played inconsistently and Saturday was just downright bad, losing 12-2. However, Sunday when it mattered the most, the Yankees were able to come through with a win.
The Yankees started Jameson Taillon, though used it more as a bullpen game. Their pitching held up strong, as they entered the ninth tied 0-0. Aaron Judge came up with runners on second and third and one out with the season on the line in the ninth inning. He delivered with his first career walk-off hit on a ball that deflected off of Andrew Kittredge’s glove.
Gio Urshela showed just how important that game was for the Yankees. He ended the top of the sixth inning with a great catch. He went full speed to catch an Austin Meadow’s foul ball and wound up flying into the Rays’ dugout.
GIO URSHELA HAS MORE HEART THAN ANYONE IVE EVER SEEN SAVE THE DAMN SEASON WITH NO REGARD FOR YOUR BODY… RESPECT WE HOPE YOUR OK GIO
pic.twitter.com/t8xOrWdFe5
— The Boys of 161st Street
(@The161Boys) October 3, 2021
Boston Red Sox
the Red Sox also had to win Sunday to avoid a potential tiebreaker Game 163. They finished up their Regular Season in Washington taking on the Nationals. The Red Sox went down 5-1 after the fifth inning. They fought back scoring six runs in the last four winnings to win the game 7-5 and clinch home-field advantage in the Wild Card Game.
The Red Sox were a surprise team entering 2021. They finished last in the AL East, a game behind the Baltimore Orioles in 2020. They did get Manager Alex Cora back after Cora served a year suspension for his role in the 2017 Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. The Sox came out of the gate hot and were leading the AL East for much of the first half of the season.
The Red Sox owned the Yankees in their early schedule, winning the first seven meetings. The Yankees rebounded going 9-3 in their final 12 games against Boston. However, Boston’s early success against the Yankees gave them the season series advantage 10-9 and is why tonight’s Wild Card Game is in Fenway Park.
Winner Take All Wild Card
Tonight’s matchup will see Yankees ace Gerrit Cole against Boston’s Nathan Eovaldi. We saw that pitching matchup in the last series these two teams played in the Regular Season. The Bombers got to Eovaldi early, scoring three in the first and added four more in the third.
The early lead helped Cole coast for the Yankees, as he went six innings allowing three runs, all in the sixth. When that was all said and done the Yankees won the game 8-3.
Major League Baseball could never say it, but this is their dream scenario for the AL Wild Card Game. They’ll have two teams that have a storied rivalry and can not stand each other. Though the last time they met in the playoffs was in the 2018 ALDS, the 2004 ALCS was their last meeting in a winner take all game. Of course, that was the season the Yankees blew a 3-0 series lead and the Red Sox stormed back to win their first World Series in 86 years.
The Yankees signed Cole to a huge contract before last season for games like this. They’ll look to turn to their ace and set up a meeting with Tampa Bay. Boston will have home-field and Fenway will be rocking. One of Cole’s worst starts of his career came earlier this season in Fenway. The Red Sox scored six times against Cole in only five innings in a June 27th Boston win.
Managers have shown a quick hook in recent playoff memory. Should this game come down to a battle of the bullpens, the advantage should be with the Yankees.
