By Brendan Kuty, Jen McCaffrey and Chris Kirschner
NEW YORK — One by one, the New York Yankees hurdled over their dugout railing. As the sold-out crowd of nearly 50,000 sang along every word to Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” the players high-fived and hugged — a muted on-field celebration immediately after a 4-0 victory over the rival Boston Red Sox in a do-or-die Game 3 of the American League Wild Card Series. A wild, champagne-soaked party awaited them in their clubhouse, where they would cheer their rookie hero, Cam Schlittler, who provided a stunning eight scoreless innings and 12 strikeouts to propel his club into a matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Division Series. The Red Sox, meanwhile, were left to pick up the pieces of their season after they stuck too long with their rookie starter Connelly Early, and their defense betrayed them in a four-run fourth inning.
The Yankees pose for a team photo after beating the Red Sox to advance to the ALDS. Game 1 is Saturday in Toronto. (Al Bello / Getty Images)
What a postseason debut for Schlittler
Early in spring training, Yankees manager Aaron Boone will make a speech directed to every player in the room. Sometimes, there are upwards of 50 players in the clubhouse, ranging from Aaron Judge to a player who may end up playing overseas.
“One of the things I like to say a lot is you may think you won’t see New York this year or won’t have a role,” Boone said, “but you need to change that thinking because you might find yourself in the batter’s box, in the field, or on the mound in the biggest moment of the season.”
Schlittler was in the room for that speech this year. He started his season in Double A, buried on the Yankees’ starting pitching depth chart. It was a meteoric rise for Schlittler, who went from throwing in the low-90s just two years ago to pumping 100 mph with ease.
In the biggest start of his life, Schlittler delivered a masterful performance. His 12 strikeouts are a franchise record by a Yankees rookie in the postseason. Schlittler went eight innings, allowing just five Red Sox singles, zero walks and, most importantly, zero runs. He is the first pitcher in postseason history to go eight innings, allow zero runs and strike out at least 12 batters.
Schlittler picked the best night possible to have his first career game with double-digit strikeouts at any professional level.
Boone likes to joke about the confidence level of the pitchers he’s managed over the years. No. 1 is current San Diego Padres starter Michael King, followed by Clarke Schmidt. The third pitcher on his list? Schlittler.
That confidence to shove in a postseason elimination game was on full display Thursday night.
Defense fails Early in the fourth
Ceddanne Rafaela fails to catch a fly ball from Cody Bellinger in the fourth. The Yankees took advantage in the inning, scoring all four of their runs. (Vincent Carchietta / Imagn Images)
Connelly Early dominated the first time through the order, with three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out five on 45 pitches (30 strikes). But when the Yankees started to hit him in the fourth, Early’s defense failed him.
It started with a circuitous route from Ceddanne Rafaela in center on a ball that dropped in between him and right fielder Wilyer Abreu for a leadoff double. As Early battled, allowing three straight singles to make it 2-0, he navigated around a catcher’s interference call that was eventually overturned on replay. But when he induced a would-be double-play ground-ball to Austin Wells, the ball clanged off Nathaniel Lowe’s glove at first, ricocheting into right field to make it 4-0.
Early got the lefty Trent Grisham out, but Cora turned to the bullpen, calling on Justin Slaten to stop the bleeding. Defensive issues defined much of the first half for the Red Sox, a key reason they finished the season with a major-league leading 116 errors. Though their defense has improved in the second half, the ugly fourth put them in a deep hole in Game 3.
McMahon the daredevil
Yankees third baseman Ryan McMahon made perhaps the defensive play of the postseason so far when he went head over heels into the Red Sox dugout to snag Jarren Duran’s foul popup for the second out of the eighth inning.
How McMahon didn’t break his neck seemed a minor miracle. It was the first pitch of the at-bat, and McMahon was in a full sprint until he pulled up just short of Boston’s dugout. His momentum, and reaching over the railing, brought him tumbling over it. He got up without issue and jogged straight back to third base.
McMahon has been a defensive wizard for the Yankees, who acquired him from the Colorado Rockies at the trade deadline, and he entered Thursday night in the sixth inning to help protect a 4-0 lead.
RYAN MCMAHON!!!!! 😱#POSTSEASON pic.twitter.com/1rES3HgKs4
— MLB (@MLB) October 3, 2025
Yankees headed to Toronto
The Yankees will head to Rogers Centre — their own personal hell. The Blue Jays won six of seven games against the Yankees in Toronto this year, including a four-game sweep from June 30 to July 3. The Yankees went on to lose the season series 8-5 between the teams, which ultimately put the Blue Jays in the top seed and gave them the wild-card bye.
It won’t be a friendly environment for the Yankees. The polite Canadian trope seems to disappear when pinstripes appear in front of Toronto fans. The place will be rocking, and Aaron Judge should hear the loudest boos he’s heard since last year’s World Series in Los Angeles.
In Game 1, the Yankees will likely be forced to start rookie righty Will Warren, who is a solid but unspectacular fourth starter. Warren’s only start against the Blue Jays didn’t go well. The 26-year-old lasted just four innings, giving up 10 hits, including homers to Addison Barger and Davis Schneider, while also walking four in an 11-9 loss in Toronto on July 2. Boone will be able to restart his rotation with ace Max Fried in Game 2 on Sunday. Projected Blue Jays Game 1 starter Kevin Gausman went 2-1 with a 3.97 ERA in four starts against the Yankees this season.
(Top photo of Cam Schlittler: Ishika Samant / Getty Images)
