5GoldGlovesOF,75

ESPN opening: one shot each of Crochet, Bregman, Story and Fried. Seven shots of Judge. Ok, let's go.

48 minutes before the first pitch and I'm back to my biggest worry going into the month: middle relief. If a Sox starter can't get through 6 innings, Playoff Cora won't wait until the 7th to bring in Slaten. Or even Whitlock. The problem is, we can't trust Kelly or Weissert or Wilson or Matz or the rookies to keep all their pitches in the ballpark -- not at Pop-Up Stadium in the Bronx. Prediction: even if Crochet gives up four solo bombs tonight, we may see Cora stick with him through a 7-inning, 100+ pitch-count, and only allow Whit and Chappy to finish. They're the best three by far... in a must-win.

Instant runs via the longball may be why you shouldn't have your clean-up man sac bunting at the beginning of the game -- like SD's Shildt did today. Don't get me wrong, bunting drove in the winning run for Detroit today, but that came in the 7th inning. Cora might not bunt tonight, but at least we know he'll order Sogard or Eaton to tap a one-stitch bouncer on the grass when it matters (trying not to open my first beer until the first pitch...).

Can't help it, hardwired from chasing down gappers in the pasture.

Mixing two threads here: looking at Brock's chart, Judge, Stanton and Jazz have each struck out in over 70% of their ABs vs. Crochet this season. The Sox are notorious whiffers, too, leading the majors in Ks with runners in scoring position. Duran, one of Boston's best batters with guys on base, is 0-for-10 with 5 strikeouts vs. Fried. But because Fried is more of a pitch to contact expert, the edge may go to the Red Sox... unless the Yankees' colander defense comes through. Last note: Rafaela gets a lot of grief on the forum for swinging at and missing a million pitches a night, but did you know FIVE Yankees fanned more than Ceddanne this season? Some of them are even considered good...

Tried surfing, but sleeps with the plankton.

A hit! All our Little League coaches were wrong -- a walk's not as good.

It's inevitable it will all come down to a Game 3 showdown between two rookie starting pitchers: Early and Schlittler. Fans in the Bronx won't know who to boo louder: their guy from Northeastern and Walpole or the kid from Virginia...

Can't think of a more one-sided postseason Sox-Yanks match-up. Closest was the 1999 ALCS, when the rag-tag Red Sox lost to a NY powerhouse in the middle of three straight championships. This '25 Sox team scrapping and scraping to barely get in to face NY reminds me of that '99 version that came from behind to win a best-of-5 ALDS over a loaded Cleveland club. Boston dropped the first two on the road and also lost its best player, Nomar Garciaparra, to injury. In Game 3, NESN's own Lou Merloni started at shortstop and had two hits to help win, and then the Sox exploded with 24 hits and 23 runs to even the series. The finale was another slugfest, with the Sox trailing 8-7, after 3 innings. But Tribe Manager Hargrove, who intentionally walked Nomar to set up a Troy O'Leary grand slam in the 3rd, did it again in the 7th. O'Leary also did it again, launching a 3-run shot for what proved to be the game-winner. Key move was when Sox Manager Jimy Williams brought in ace starter Pedro Martinez with a cranky back for the final 6 frames. The first six hitters in Cleveland's batting order were Hall of Famers or borderliners: Lofton-Vizquel-Alomar-Ramirez-Thome-Baines. Pedro threw a no-hitter.

I like this concept, just ambivalent about the guys. Crochet, of course, is #1. Slaten, too, will be one of the main righties -- along with Whitlock -- tasked with trying to get Judge and Stanton out. Duran? He's just not a good leadoff man this year, with a .214 batting average and 34% K-rate leading off games, and .202, 30% leading off any inning. Duran is also a .211 batter with a .600 OPS vs. left-handers -- which the Yanks will start in Gm 1 and 2. However, Duran has had a good year coming through with guys on base, batting .313 with .878 OPS with runners in scoring position (171 PA), and .308/.906 with men on (269 PA). Bat him somewhere in the middle of the order, after Romy, Story, Bregman, Yoshi and Ceddanne...

And Tolle -- that's three young lefties for match-ups. Shirley, they'll all have ice in their veins in a winner-take-all showdown in the Bronx. Playoff Cora, who showed up Friday night, won't be afraid to use any of his righties any time for Judge and Stanton: Slaten, Kelly, Weissert, Whitlock. Ugh... can De Leon be an opener on two days rest? He had a whole decade of rest since his last MLB W before yesterday.

He was more of a handhunter, like when he put both Soriano and Jetes in the hospital to start a game (protecting a teammate for earlier Yankee flagrance).

Wait, Roger just threw a high pitch over the plate, a yard-stick away from Manny, who charged the mound and yelled anyway: "I thought it was the ball!"

Pretty obvious what's going to happen, because just when I think I'm in -- they pull me back out. Crochet will get lit up, then Chapman will serve a walk-off in Game One. A zoo of adult males in pin-striped pajamas will morph into Homer Simpson heads with jaws snapping and tongues wagging. Then Bello will toss a gem, and with pressure mounting on the hosts in the finale, Matz and Whitlock will bail out Giolito to turn the throng from hostile to docile... and back to their cells unhappy. Bregman and Lowe, the hitting stars with five pop-ups to right field between them, will just nod and smirk. Been there, done it again.

Can hardly wait to see Babe, Bucky and Boone on my TV, and no sign of Papi, Eovaldi and Brock Holt. Can also count on clips of Pedro throwing Zim by his head, and Tek feeding ARod his mitt, but no vid of Zim and ARod charging them first. If we're really lucky, we'll get to see Jeter catching a pop-up and then running the length of a football field before diving on his face into a chair.

Holy -- a two-time Yankee, including a decade ago in his career year... which I have no recollection of, since the Sox were just starting to dabble in their favorite 78-win doormat stage.

Yoshida, the hot Boston clean-up man down the stretch, is a better bet to make solid contact off Fried and Rodon than Abreu right now. Wilyer can be a key all-or-nothing pinch-hitter late vs. bullpen righties, maybe for... ... ex-Yankee Refsynder, who should be able to handle RF in the Stadium (or hopefully his bat off the lefties can compensate for his defense). Sox have a lot of ex-Yanks, batteries included: Weissert, Whitlock, Chapman, Narvaez.

Super amped the Sox made the postseason. Even if it's quick, the young core -- most who won't play -- still get to experience the suspense and pandemonium of the playoffs. Re. the WC series with all games in NYC: just watching one in the Bronx is a grind, stressing on every swing the entire night that a Yankee won't pop up to right field. The Yanks have five guys with more homers than any Red Sox, and eight with at least 19; Boston has two. But regular season head-to-head doesn't matter, except to the boys who can carry the confidence of their accomplishments into October. Does a longer series give the best team more time to shine and emerge victorious? If so, a short series can favor a club with superstars who can make instant impacts. The Red Sox have two: Crochet and Chapman... even though it's Best-of-3, it still feels like Game One is the Wild Card GAME.

Casas' injury also completely destabilized home run production, since his injury directly caused the loss of both his longball potential, and our 35 HR, $300 million dollar baby. Casas and Devers have identical career 4.7 home run percentages. Story's is 4.6, Abreu 4.1, Bregman 3.9.

Nope. Unless Cleveland -- down 2 in the 7th -- can rally to win, AND Toronto blows a 4-run lead, AND the Yankees win... ... we're going to New York. So might as well nail down a W in the last regular season game at Fenway.

Can't be Eovaldi, Sale or ERod because their teams are toast. Porcello? Price? Wait, you didn't say he pitched for Boston in '19, just won somewhere. 2019... Kashner! He must have won four in his old-timers league.

Please tell him he needs to hit one line drive before a big fly.

De Leon -- five frames with the lead -- is now qualified for his first big league victory since... last decade ('19)! But who has to get 12 more outs on the mound? De Leon.

Hammy's trying to make the postseason roster, and doesn't care if it's in New York. Mic'd down, he said, "I can hit a pop-up in the Bronx"

The org may have simply decided the most difficult way to win a Wild Card series is to play three games in the Bronx, and the easiest may be in Cleveland, since the Guards have the AL's worst offense, and the Sox' strength is clearly pitching. If the Red Sox have to play the Yankees, they certainly would like a longer series later in the postseason with some games guaranteed to take place in Boston. They're still trying to win it all by trying to choose that path.