The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees will enter the Wild Card series with banged up offenses — Ceddanne Rafaela and Willson Contreras are fresh off injuries with the Sox and the Yankees will play without Aaron Judge.
Pitching will be the star of this series for both sides of the rivalry, which makes some of New York's lineup decisions for Game 1 against Boston even more confusing. The Yankees' lineup was never going to look as good without Judge, but manager Aaron Boone hasn't done his players any favors.
After Paul Goldschmidt and Ben Rice in the lineup, Heliot Ramos is the Yankees' No. 3 hitter. Ramos is batting .198/.309/.379 with 39 strikeouts in 38 games with the Yankees since the trade deadline, which isn't an inspiring slash line for a three hitter (unless you're Sox pitcher Payton Tolle). Ramos has been hitting better lately, though, with a .296/.310/.519 slash line and a home run in his last seven games. He has been sick in the last few days, however, which could impact his performance.
The Yankees also opted to start Amed Rosario in the No. 6 spot. The third baseman hasn't performed to his usual standard at the plate, with a .238/.279/.405 slash line over 87 games this year. He also doesn't hit well against lefties, which Tolle is. Rosario is slashing .208/.250/.356 against southpaws this season, which pales in comparison to his .295/.333/.500 slash line against right handers.
Yankees make two confusing lineup decisions for Wild Card Game 1 against Red Sox, Payton Tolle
From one perspective, playing Rosario could make some sense. Tolle has reverse splits, meaning lefties hit him better (.248/.301/.404) than righties (.211/.273/.351). According to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, the Yankees disagree with the numbers and see him as harder on lefty hitters. If the Yankees want to disagree with statistical facts and stake their playoff run on it, Red Sox fans certainly won't complain.
Despite New York's questionable choices, its offense can still be tough. Goldschmidt has had great success leading off games this season (.306/.324/.750 slash line as the first batter in 37 games) and Rice is the Yankees' biggest home run threat without Judge. He's hit 41 home runs this season and hasn't been very successful against the Red Sox in his career — if there's any time for the Massachusetts native to break out, it's now.
But the Red Sox have the pitching to counter them. Tolle, Sonny Gray and Ranger Suarez make up one of the postseason's most dangerous rotations and the Yankees are taking a massive risk by ignoring what the stats say about Tolle's performance this year.
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