The New York Yankees swept the Boston Red Sox 2-0 in the 2026 AL Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium. They won Game 1 9-0 on September 29 behind Ben Rice's two homers and six RBI and Cam Schlittler's 10 strikeouts, then won Game 2 9-2 on September 30 behind Max Fried.
Eighteen runs to two. Twenty-six hits to seven. I've watched a lot of Yankees-Red Sox baseball, and I'm not sure I've seen one side look this outclassed in October.
The Rematch Nobody Needed
This was the seventh postseason meeting between these two, and the second straight year they'd met in the Wild Card round. A year earlier, Boston took Game 1 in the Bronx before Schlittler's 12-strikeout Game 3 sent the Red Sox home. (Four years before that, they'd played a winner-take-all game at Fenway in 2021, and that one didn't go so well.)
The 2026 Yankees finished 93-68 and grabbed the top AL Wild Card spot as the No. 4 seed. They did it without Aaron Judge for most of the year, and they'd have to start October without him too. Judge strained his right calf on September 16, and the club left him off the Wild Card roster.
So the lineup belonged to the guys who'd carried it all summer. That turned out to be plenty.
Game 1: Two Kids From Massachusetts
Cam Schlittler grew up in Walpole, Mass., rooting for the Red Sox. Ben Rice grew up in Cohasset, Mass., rooting for the Yankees (brave kid). On Tuesday night, they took turns ruining Boston's evening.
Schlittler went 6 1/3 scoreless innings and gave up two hits. He struck out 10, walked one, and threw 117 pitches, a career high and the most by a Yankee in a postseason game since CC Sabathia in the 2012 ALDS. (Last October he was a rookie nobody expected. This October he was a Cy Young front-runner, and Boston still couldn't figure him out.)
The offense took a while to show up. Austin Wells singled in a run early against rookie lefty Payton Tolle, and that was it until the fifth, when Boston manager Chad Tracy pulled Tolle and brought in lefty Erik Miller to face Rice. Rice hit Miller's fastball 423 feet into Monument Park. 2-0.
He wasn't done. Rice singled in a run in the seventh off Alec Gamboa, who faced four Yankees and didn't get any of them out. In the eighth, after a Wells sacrifice fly, Rice hit a grand slam off Brayan Bello, 408 feet into the Yankees' bullpen, where a bullpen catcher let it bounce off his helmet without flinching. (Commitment to the bit.) Yankees 9, Red Sox 0.
Rice finished 4-for-5 with two homers, a double, and six RBI. He became the first Yankee with four hits and six RBI in a postseason game, and his six RBI tied the franchise postseason record shared by Bobby Richardson, Bernie Williams, Hideki Matsui, and Robinson Cano. He also outhit the entire Red Sox roster by himself.
I'll remember getting a 'W' versus the Red Sox -- there's nothing better than that.
Spoken like a guy who grew up a Yankees fan on the South Shore and took a lot of grief for it.
Game 2: Fried, Garcia and the Weirdest Inning of the Year
Max Fried handled Boston in the playoffs for the second straight October. He threw six innings of three-hit ball, struck out six, walked one, and got his first postseason win since he closed out the 2021 World Series for Atlanta.
Luis Garcia Jr., the deadline pickup, made his first postseason start count. He hit a Sonny Gray sweeper 387 feet into the right-center bleachers in the fourth for a 1-0 lead and finished with three hits. In the fifth, Boston pulled Gray (he said later he was frustrated about it, and I can't say I blame him), and Cody Bellinger greeted Miller with an RBI single. 2-0.
Willson Contreras finally got Boston on the board in the sixth with a solo homer off Fried into the short porch. That run snapped a Red Sox postseason scoreless streak of 26 2/3 innings, the longest in franchise history. The "ballgame" part lasted about half an inning.
The Red Sox brought in Garrett Crochet, who hadn't pitched since April 25 because of a shoulder problem. He struck out Spencer Jones on a sweeper in the dirt, except the ball got away from Adley Rutschman and Jones beat the throw. Then Jones stole second, Rutschman threw it into center, and Jones went to third. George Lombard Jr. singled him in. Wells added a sacrifice fly. Crochet faced four batters, didn't get an out, and all four scored.
Boston intentionally walked Rice to get to Bellinger, who hit a three-run homer off Garrett Whitlock. 8-1. Jones, who'd started the inning with a strikeout, ended it with another one. He struck out twice and scored a run in the same inning, which feels like something you'd only see in a backyard game.
Each team scored once more, and that was the series. Yankees 9, Red Sox 2.
The Most Lopsided Wild Card Series Yet
The best-of-three format started in 2022, and nobody had won a Wild Card Series by more than 10 runs before this. The Yankees won by 16. Boston hit .117 for the series (7-for-60) and struck out 18 times. The Yankees hit .382.
That was a scary team to us, especially as well as they pitch.
Boone also called the sweep "very satisfying," which is about as close as he gets to gloating. Fair enough. I'll do the gloating for him.
What Came Next
The sweep sent the Yankees to Tampa Bay for an ALDS date with the AL East champion Rays. It started badly. On October 3, Drew Rasmussen took a no-hitter into the eighth, Wells broke it up with a two-out double (then ran into an out trying for third), and Jonathan Aranda's solo homer off Gerrit Cole held up in a 1-0 Rays win. As of October 5, the Rays lead the series 1-0, with Game 2 set for that night at Tropicana Field.
Funny how fast 18-2 starts to feel like a long time ago.
| Series Result | Yankees 2, Red Sox 0 |
| Game 1 (Sept. 29, New York) | Yankees 9, Red Sox 0 |
| Game 2 (Sept. 30, New York) | Yankees 9, Red Sox 2 |
| Ben Rice, Game 1 | 4-for-5, 2 HR (incl. grand slam), 2B, 6 RBI |
| Cam Schlittler, Game 1 | 6 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K (117 pitches) |
| Max Fried, Game 2 | 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K (W) |
| Luis Garcia Jr., Game 2 | 3 hits, HR |
| Cody Bellinger, Game 2 | 3-run HR, 4 RBI |
| Series Score | Yankees 18, Red Sox 2 |
| Series Hits | Yankees 26, Red Sox 7 |
| Red Sox Batting | .117 (7-for-60), 18 K |
Rice Hits Two, Schlittler Strikes Out 10
Rice homers off Erik Miller in the fifth, singles in a run in the seventh, and hits a grand slam off Brayan Bello in the eighth. Schlittler throws 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Yankees 9, Red Sox 0.
Contreras Ends the Drought
Willson Contreras' sixth-inning homer off Fried ends Boston's franchise-record postseason scoreless streak at 26 2/3 innings and cuts the lead to 2-1.
Six-Run Sixth, Sweep
Crochet faces four batters and gets nobody out, Bellinger hits a three-run homer off Garrett Whitlock, and the Yankees finish off a 9-2 win and an 18-2 series.
ALDS Game 1
Drew Rasmussen holds the Yankees to one hit over eight innings, and the Rays win 1-0 at Tropicana Field.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the 2026 AL Wild Card Series between the Yankees and Red Sox?
The Yankees swept the Red Sox 2-0 at Yankee Stadium, winning Game 1 9-0 on September 29, 2026, and Game 2 9-2 on September 30, 2026. They outscored Boston 18-2, the largest margin in a best-of-three Wild Card Series since the format began in 2022.
What did Ben Rice do in Game 1 of the 2026 Wild Card Series?
Rice went 4-for-5 with a solo homer, a grand slam, a double, and six RBI in the 9-0 win. He became the first Yankee with four hits and six RBI in a postseason game, and his six RBI tied the franchise's single-game postseason record.
Was Aaron Judge on the Yankees' 2026 Wild Card Series roster?
No. Judge had been out since straining his right calf on September 16, and the Yankees left him off the Wild Card Series roster against Boston.
Who did the Yankees play after the 2026 Wild Card Series?
The Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS. The Rays won Game 1 1-0 on October 3 at Tropicana Field behind Drew Rasmussen, who allowed one hit over eight innings.