So far, this AL wild-card series has come down to who blinks first.
In Game 1, Max Fried was yanked prematurely, and the Yankees paid for it immediately once Luke Weaver relieved him and flushed six innings of shutout ball down the drain.
The Red Sox clawed to tie Game 2 twice before Garrett Whitlock relinquished an Austin Wells RBI single for the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.
Now sports’ greatest rivalry is left to a fittingly decisive Game 3, but is this squeaky clean pitching duel going to continue?
Both games have hit the Under with lines of 6.5 and 7.5, respectively.
Boston didn’t announce youngster Connelly Early (1-2, 2.33 ERA) as its starter until after Wednesday’s conclusion. This means it will be a battle of rookies with Cam Schlittler (4-3, 2.96 ERA) taking the bump for the Yankees, and a combined age of 47 between the two.
Early only made his MLB debut on Sept. 9 and now holds the fate of the Red Sox season, but Alex Cora doesn’t have many choices left with only two pitchers he hasn’t used.
Even so, Early isn’t solely a last resort in a depleted rotation — he recorded 11 strikeouts through five innings in his first appearance. Judging his small sample size of four starts, he tossed an eye-popping 13.50 K/9 and elicited elite rates in swings-and-misses, chases, walks and barrels.
Schlittler’s resume is two months to the day longer than Early’s, and he’s maintained a 10.36 K/9 through 73 innings. He throws serious gas with his fastball, which he relies heavily upon — ranking in the top 5% of qualified pitchers with an average of 98 mph.
Per Statcast, opposing hitters are averaging .176 against his go-to pitch. He has a semi-reliable cutter, but the rest of his arsenal leaves him vulnerable.
As promising as both these kids are, there’s simply not enough experience to project another low-scoring affair in this circumstance.
Boston’s pen finished with the second-best ERA (3.41) while New York struggled all season (4.37). But once it comes time to dial up the dugout phones, the last two days of pitching management could unravel.
With rookie pitching, this should come down to veteran bats: Alex Bregman and Trevor Story are each batting over .400 with Aaron Judge at .500.
Who’s experience can make the bigger dent?
THE PLAY: Over 8.5 runs scored (-110, bet365)
Sean Treppedi handicaps the NFL, NHL, MLB and college football for the New York Post. He primarily focuses on picks that reflect market value while tracking trends to mitigate risk.