Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, postseason edition! We'll keep you up to speed on everything you need to know every weekday throughout the 2025 MLB playoffs. Thanks for being here. Two of baseball's most storied foes. One game. Winner. Takes. All. Nothing like a must-win showdown to get your first taste of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. That's exactly what awaits a pair of rookies tonight in Game 3 of the AL Wild Card Series (8:08 p.m. ET on ESPN) at Yankee Stadium. After a 3-1 Red Sox win in Game 1, the Yankees extended the series with a 4-3 victory in Game 2, setting up a win-or-go-home matchup that will see each team give the ball to a first-year starting pitcher. The Yankees are going with Cam Schlittler, a hard-throwing 6-foot-6 righty who posted a 2.96 ERA with 84 strikeouts over 73 innings in the regular season. The Red Sox will counter with Connelly Early, a 23-year-old lefty with just four big league games under his belt. Despite the limited sample, he made a big impression -- Early struck out 29 of the 79 batters he faced, registering elite chase and whiff rates along the way. Neither pitcher has faced the other team. The Red Sox were supposed to have veteran Lucas Giolito in this spot, but an elbow issue knocked him out for the postseason, giving Early a shot. Schlittler is also here, in part, because of injuries. A Massachusetts native who grew up a Red Sox fan, Schlittler was called up in July to fill the rotation spot that opened up when Clarke Schmidt had to undergo Tommy John surgery. The Yankees also lost ace Gerrit Cole before the season for the same reason and didn't get Luis Gil back from a right lat strain until August. After an uneven start to his career, Schlittler posted a 2.23 ERA over his final nine starts, making him an obvious choice to follow Max Fried and Carlos Rodón in the Yankees' Wild Card Series rotation.
And so, we have a Game 3 starting pitching matchup of historic proportions, as our own Ian Browne explains. Only once before has a winner-take-all game featured two rookie starters (2020 NLCS Game 7). Only twice has such a game had a younger combined starting pitcher matchup. It'll also be the first game in postseason history between two starters each making their 15th career appearance or fewer (regular season and postseason combined). We've even got a link to Babe Ruth. (It's Yankees vs. Red Sox, after all.)
-- Thomas Harrigan |
While rookie pitchers will take center stage for the Red Sox-Yankees finale, the Padres-Cubs clincher (5:08 p.m. ET on ESPN) will feature two veterans who've felt the postseason pressure before. Yu Darvish (Padres) and Jameson Taillon (Cubs) will each look to send their team to the NLDS against the Brewers with a strong Game 3 outing at Wrigley Field. Since joining the Padres before the 2022 season, Darvish has a strong 2.56 postseason ERA in six starts. Meanwhile, Taillon has just two career postseason appearances, both of which came with the Yankees in 2022. In his last playoff appearance, he allowed one run over 4 1/3 innings in the ALCS against the eventual World Series champion Astros. Can either pitcher put the team on his back and close out the series, or will this be a game decided by the bullpens? It's likely to be a mix of both. Taillon has averaged fewer than six innings per start this season, while Darvish has averaged fewer than five. If the bullpens do carry a heavy load, San Diego -- with its MLB-leading 3.06 reliever ERA -- could have the advantage, though the Cubs' bullpen likely won't provide an easy ride, either. Chicago's relief corps had MLB's third-best strikeout rate (30.8%) in the final month of the regular season and has given up only two runs over 12 2/3 innings in this series (both of those runs came against bulk reliever Shota Imanaga, typically a starting pitcher, in Game 2). The matchup between the Padres and Cubs is the second of three winner-take-all contests on the schedule today, with Red Sox-Yankees to follow. Game 3 of the Tigers-Guardians series is ongoing. Tune in NOW on ABC. -- Jason Foster |
STARTING FOR THE DODGERS ... |
After hitting a pair of mammoth homers to help the Dodgers sweep the Reds in the Wild Card Series, what will Shohei Ohtani do for an encore in the NLDS vs. the Phillies? How about starting Game 1 on the mound for L.A. in what will surely be a raucous Citizens Bank Park on Saturday night?
Ohtani has been blowing us away with his two-way talents for eight(!) seasons now, but this will be his first chance to pitch under the added pressure of the playoffs. In fact, he'll be the first player in MLB history to start a game as a pitcher and a non-pitcher in a single postseason.
The hard-throwing right-hander bounced back from elbow surgery to go 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts, slowly building up his workload as the season progressed. He went at least five innings in each of his last two starts, including five no-hit innings against the Phillies at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 16.
As far as manager Dave Roberts and Co. are concerned, the reins are off and Ohtani will have no restrictions. He'll pitch for as long as the situation dictates. |
Dodgers lefty Alex Vesia had a relatively easy night of bullpen work. He needed just one pitch to record his first K of the night when he was summoned mid-at-bat during a 1-2 count, prompting a change of hitter. On the other hand, Yankees reliever Fernando Cruz entered and navigated out of a jam with a flyout that proved pivotal in the Yankees' Game 2 win. Cruz's reaction says it all -- we get three games of baseball today. Enjoy the last day of Wild Card Series action and see you for the Division Series presented by Booking.com. |
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