The Yankees paid Gerrit Cole $324 million to pitch like this in October. He lasted two innings.
October 5, 2021. Fenway Park. The AL Wild Card Game -- winner-take-all, one shot, the whole season riding on it. Both the Yankees and Red Sox had finished the regular season at 92-70, but Boston had won the head-to-head tiebreaker (10-9 in the season series), which meant New York had to win a winner-take-all game in the one place they least wanted to play one. Cole gave up three runs before he could finish the third inning. The Yankees lost 6-2. Their season was done.
The Math That Brought Them to Fenway
The tiebreaker that cost the Yankees home field started in April and ran through September. Both clubs finished identical at 92-70 -- the two AL wild card spots, a game ahead of Toronto but well behind Tampa Bay for the division title. When records tie, head-to-head decides. Boston went 10-9 against the Yankees in the regular season. That one game difference is what put Cole on the Fenway mound instead of home at the Stadium.
DJ LeMahieu, the most reliable contact hitter at the top of New York's order, was injured and didn't play. He'd been on the IL and wasn't expected to return until the ALCS -- a series the Yankees weren't going to reach.
What the First Inning Said
Rafael Devers drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the first. Xander Bogaerts worked Cole to a 2-1 count and hit an 88 mph changeup -- the first home run Cole had allowed to a right-handed batter on his changeup all season -- 427 feet to dead center. Statcast clocked it at 108 mph exit velocity. Boston led 2-0. Fenway went loud. It was the first home run of the entire 2021 MLB postseason, which felt like a statement even if nobody planned it that way.
Kyle Higashioka was catching instead of Gary Sanchez (Cole preferred working with Higashioka, which itself told you something about the level of trust the organization had eroded in Sanchez by that point). The catcher couldn't do much about an 88 mph changeup over the heart of the plate.
Schwarber Does It Again
Here's something so strange it shouldn't be true: in 2015, Kyle Schwarber -- then a Cubs rookie -- homered off Gerrit Cole -- then pitching for Pittsburgh -- in the NL Wild Card Game. In the third inning. Six years later, different leagues, different cities, Cole was on the mound in a Wild Card game again, and Schwarber was there, and it was the third inning again. He crushed a fastball 435 feet to right. Solo homer. 3-0 Boston.
Cole couldn't record another out. Two runners on, nobody out in the third, and Aaron Boone pulled him. Clay Holmes came on with runners on first and second and nobody out and escaped without allowing either inherited runner to score -- which, on this particular night, was the Yankees' most impressive achievement.
Cole's final line: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. A $324 million investment that couldn't survive two innings of October baseball.
Nathan Eovaldi Was the Rest of the Story
The cruelty of this game was that it gave you the full picture at once. While Cole was getting beaten by Bogaerts and Schwarber, the guy starting for the other team was Nathan Eovaldi -- a former Yankee, acquired from Miami ahead of 2015 and released after Tommy John surgery in November 2016 -- throwing absolute gas.
Eovaldi went 5.1 innings, struck out 8, and allowed 1 run on 71 pitches. The bottom four through nine hitters in New York's lineup managed 1 hit in 20 at-bats against him, with 8 strikeouts. The at-bats kept getting shorter as the game wore on. Eovaldi was mixing breaking balls with a mid-90s fastball, and the Yankees -- who let him go after his 2016 TJ surgery -- didn't have a freakin' answer.
"Focusing on all the good that maybe put us in this opportunity," Cole said afterward, "there's really nothing you can do to make it feel any better."
The Play That Actually Ended It
Anthony Rizzo hit a solo homer in the sixth off Eovaldi to make it 3-1 -- approximately ninety seconds of hope. Then came the play.
Giancarlo Stanton singled off the Green Monster (it would've been a home run in roughly nine other MLB ballparks, but this was Fenway, and the Green Monster exists specifically to wreck moments like this). Aaron Judge, running on contact from first, tried to score. Bogaerts served as the relay man. Judge was out at the plate. Bogaerts said afterward: "That changed the game."
Win probability jumped 18 percentage points on that out, rising to 81% for Boston. The Yankees weren't tied. They were done. Alex Verdugo drove in a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh, and the 6-2 final felt exactly right. Stanton added a solo homer in the ninth that at least made it look like a game.
| Final Score | Red Sox 6, Yankees 2 -- Fenway Park, Oct. 5, 2021 |
| Gerrit Cole | 2.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K |
| Nathan Eovaldi | 5.1 IP, 8 K, 1 ER, 71 pitches |
| Bogaerts HR (1st inn.) | 427 ft, 108 mph EV -- first HR of 2021 postseason |
| Schwarber HR (3rd inn.) | 435 ft -- 2nd career Wild Card HR off Cole (also 2015 NL WC) |
| Judge at home plate | Thrown out, 6th inning -- +18 pp win probability swing |
| Yankees bottom of order | 1-for-20 with 8 K against Eovaldi |
| Series tiebreaker | Both teams 92-70; Boston won head-to-head 10-9 |
What the Yankees Did About It
The franchise remade itself that winter. The Yankees shipped Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela to Minnesota in March 2022 for Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ben Rortvedt. Anthony Rizzo re-signed for two years and $32 million. Luke Voit -- the 2020 MLB home run leader who'd spent most of 2021 on the injured list -- went to San Diego.
Cole had seven years left on his contract. In 2022 he broke Ron Guidry's single-season Yankees strikeout record and helped the team win 99 games. The 2022 Yankees defeated Cleveland in the ALDS before losing to Houston in the ALCS. That trip to the ALCS -- the one that came directly out of the 2021 roster rebuild -- was the answer to the question the Wild Card loss raised.
The 2021 game was the last gasp of the Sanchez-era roster construction. The version of this team built around Judge, Cole, and a rebuilt defensive infrastructure was already forming. It just didn't feel that way standing in the Fenway visiting clubhouse.
"This is the worst feeling in the world," Cole said. "And it happens to 29 teams every year, going home early and not achieving your ultimate goal."
Bogaerts Hits the First Homer of the Postseason
Xander Bogaerts works a 2-1 count and crushes an 88 mph Cole changeup 427 feet to center -- 108 mph exit velocity. The first home run of the entire 2021 MLB postseason. Also the first homer Cole had allowed to a right-handed batter on his changeup all season. Boston leads 2-0.
Schwarber Does It Again -- Third Inning, Wild Card Game
Kyle Schwarber leads off the third and hits a Cole fastball 435 feet to right for a solo homer. Eerily, Schwarber also homered off Cole in the third inning of the 2015 NL Wild Card Game. Boone pulls Cole from a no-out, two-on jam. His final line: 2.0 IP, 3 ER.
Judge Thrown Out at Home -- The Decisive Moment
Rizzo's solo HR in the sixth makes it 3-1. Then Stanton singles off the Green Monster and Judge tries to score from first -- Bogaerts makes the relay throw and Judge is out at the plate. Boston's win probability surges 18 percentage points. Verdugo adds an RBI double. It's 4-1.
Verdugo Drives In Two More in the Seventh
Alex Verdugo extends the lead to 6-1 with two RBI in the seventh, putting the game out of reach. Eovaldi finishes with 5.1 innings and 8 strikeouts. The Yankees' bottom four through nine hitters go 1-for-20 on the night.
The Roster Overhaul
The Yankees ship Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela to Minnesota for Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ben Rortvedt. Anthony Rizzo re-signs for two years. Luke Voit goes to San Diego. The team rebuilds around Judge, Cole, and new up-the-middle infrastructure -- the nucleus of the 2022 club that reaches the ALCS.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who started for the Yankees in the 2021 AL Wild Card Game?
Gerrit Cole started and lasted 2.0 innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 4 hits. Boone pulled him in the third with two runners on base and nobody out; Clay Holmes came in and escaped the jam without allowing either inherited runner to score. Cole's post-game quote: "This is the worst feeling in the world."
What was the score of the 2021 Yankees vs. Red Sox Wild Card Game?
Boston Red Sox 6, New York Yankees 2. The game was played October 5, 2021 at Fenway Park. Nathan Eovaldi started for Boston and struck out 8 in 5.1 innings. The Yankees' best window to rally -- Rizzo's solo HR in the sixth making it 3-1 -- was erased when Aaron Judge was thrown out at home on a Stanton single, and Verdugo added an RBI double shortly after.
Why did the Yankees play the 2021 Wild Card Game at Fenway?
Both the Yankees and Red Sox finished 92-70, tied for the two AL wild card spots. Boston won the head-to-head tiebreaker in the regular season series, going 10-9 against New York. That gave the Red Sox home-field advantage and put the Wild Card game at Fenway instead of Yankee Stadium.
Who hit the first home run of the 2021 postseason?
Xander Bogaerts, in the first inning of this game. He worked Cole to a 2-1 count and hit an 88 mph changeup 427 feet to center field -- 108 mph exit velocity. It was also the first home run Cole had allowed to a right-handed batter on his changeup all season.
Did Kyle Schwarber homer off Cole in a previous Wild Card Game?
Yes. In the 2015 NL Wild Card Game, Schwarber -- then a Cubs rookie -- homered off Cole, who was pitching for Pittsburgh. That homer also came in the third inning. When Schwarber connected again in the third inning of the 2021 AL Wild Card, it marked his second career Wild Card home run off the same pitcher, in the same inning, six years apart.
What changes did the Yankees make after the 2021 Wild Card loss?
Significant roster surgery. The Yankees shipped Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela to the Minnesota Twins in March 2022 for Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ben Rortvedt. Anthony Rizzo re-signed on a two-year deal. Luke Voit went to San Diego. The new roster -- built around Aaron Judge, Cole, Rizzo, and a revamped defensive core -- went 99-63 in 2022 and reached the ALCS before losing to Houston.