It’s Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. During the regular season, the Yankees went 7-6 against Boston, but they were 4-2 against their division rival at home, which could be a key factor in this series. Starting things off for the Yankees will be potential Cy Young winner, Cam Schlittler, who enters with a 14-6 record, a 1.95 ERA, and a 0.92 WHIP. Schlittler is 2-1 with a 0.74 ERA against the Red Sox through four games this season, so he’s no stranger going up against Boston in this matchup.
For Boston, Payton Tolle will get the start after putting together an impressive rookie season. Tolle enters with a 9-6 record, 3.03 ERA, and a 1.10 WHIP. He has also had success against the Yankees, going 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA in two starts while holding New York to a .093 batting average. The Yankees are batting 245 against left-handed pitching this season, and even if they manage to get to Tolle early, Boston has the best bullpen ERA in the majors at 3.00. Offensively, the Yankees have been the hotter team heading into the postseason, averaging 4.6 runs per game over their last 10 compared to just 2.1 for Boston. With Schlittler already having success against this Red Sox lineup and New York entering the series with the hotter offense and home-field advantage, I like the Yankees to come out on top in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series.
Red Sox vs Yankees prediction: Yankees ML (-137) at the time of publishing. Playable up to - 150
