Overview
- The best-of-three Wild Card Series opens Tuesday, Sept. 29, with Games 1 and 2 at Yankee Stadium and a Game 3, if necessary, scheduled for Thursday.
- New York will start Cam Schlittler in Game 1, the AL Cy Young frontrunner, and can follow with Max Fried and Gerrit Cole to give the Yankees a clear rotation advantage.
- Boston will send 23-year-old left-hander Payton Tolle to the mound in the opener while the Red Sox enter the series with a thin offense that scored the fewest runs in September.
- Aaron Judge's availability is uncertain because of a right calf strain and that question, together with Willson Contreras's recent hand trouble for Boston, could materially alter each club's run-scoring prospects.
- The expanded 12-team format gives higher seeds home control for all Wild Card games and rewards top seeds with a Division Series bye, so late clinches and short-rest pitching choices — such as the Phillies using Zack Wheeler on the final day and the Astros qualifying at 81-81 — have reshaped rotation plans and short-series strategy.