MLB Baseball
2026-09-30 - Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : MLB Playoff Wild Card Game 2
Wednesday 30th September 2026 - Scheduled 8pm EST
1am (British Time)
Preview
The starting pitching rotation has felt like a strength for the New York Yankees going into the post-season and Cam Schlittler did not let them down in Game 1 of this Wild Card Series. Once again he gave his hometown team, the Boston Red Sox, little room to breath as Schlittler did in the Wild Card Round twelve months ago, but New York fans will take a lot of confidence from the nine runs scored.
Aaron Judge is not on the roster, but Giancarlo Stanton and Trent Grisham have been made available and that would have given the team a boost. However, it is Ben Rice, who has been the standout on the batting side of the team, that sparked the big win over the Red Sox and the New York Yankees have taken control of the series.
Most of the sporting headlines will be made by the struggles for consistency that have held the Yankees back, but the Boston Red Sox batting lineup have cooled off significantly in September. They have to find a way to change that if the Red Sox are going to avoid suffering another Playoff exit at the hands of their great rivals and there is pressure on Sonny Gray as the starting pitching in Game 2.
Sonny Gray has enjoyed a strong season and finished with an 18-5 record and 2.72 ERA from twenty-nine starts, and the pitcher concluded the regular season by holding the Cleveland Guardians scoreless in 6 Innings thrown. He also enjoyed success against the New York Yankees in the regular season with Gray finishing with a 1-0 record from two starts and allowing three runs in over 13 Innings completed.
The last time Sonny Gray pitched in the Playoffs was in the 2023 season and he earned a win over the Toronto Blue Jays as a member of the Minnesota Twins, but also suffered a decision loss when allowing four earned runs in 4 Innings thrown against the Houston Astros.
The Red Sox will need the starter to be at his best if Max Fried comes out with the same kind of intensity he has been showing for the New York Yankees.
Injury has been a factor this season, but Max Fried finished the regular season with a 5-5 record and 2.80 ERA in twenty starts made and is a key part of the rotation. He had not given up more than a single earned run in seven starts in a row, but Max Fried was rocked for four runs into the 7th Inning against the Tampa Bay Rays in the last regular season start made.
Max Fried also has a 1-0 record from two starts against the Boston Red Sox this season and he allowed a single run in just shy of 12 Innings thrown against them. Last year Fried held the Boston Red Sox scoreless when exiting the Wild Card Game in the 7th Inning, but the Yankees bullpen wasted a positive start.
Prediction
Everyone believes the New York starting rotation will be key to how far the Yankees will travel in the Playoff and Max Fried will be hoping to pick up from where the team left off in Game 1 of this Series.
However, the most impressive part of the win was the fire shown by the Yankees batting lineup and that can be key to seeing them past the Boston Red Sox without the need for a decider to be played on Thursday.
The Pick :
New York Yankees 4-1 Boston Red Sox
