Yankees Captain Hopeful After Red Sox Loss

The only positive about the New York Yankees losing the division — and it's a silver lining more than anything — is that they wouldn't have any time to cool off. Riding a winning streak, the bats were hot, and the pitching had been stellar. What was most unfortunate for them was that they ran into a buzzsaw by the name of Garrett Crochet, who methodically diced one of the best lineups in the American League.

Sep 30, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet (35) looks back at first base after getting New York Yankees third base Amed Rosario (14) to ground out during the seventh inning during game one of the Wildcard round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox now seek to eliminate the Yankees, whose scalding September play could fall by the wayside as just a footnote in an otherwise disappointing season. While things do seem grim, and a few of manager Aaron Boone's moves being called into question, the one person keeping it together is their captain, Aaron Judge. He remains positive.

“We’re going to keep playing our game,” Judge said, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “We’re coming into this postseason rolling, everybody clicking, bullpen working, starting pitching has been elite. So we’ll just focus on what we’ve got to do.”

Judge may have been on to something about the lineup clicking, even if the score did not reflect that. While the runs were not there, and the bats fell silent against Crochet, they did make hard contact against the potential Cy Young winner. They put in play eight balls that were hit over 95 MPH. Two were barreled.

The ones that were barreled were Anthony Volpe's home run and Jose Caballero's long flyout. Giancarlo Stanton's first-inning double play had also been walloped. It left his bat at 106 MPH and had an expected batting average of .310.

Anthony Volpe homers!

Yankees strike first #Postseason pic.twitter.com/HZ5HI4BBvp
— MLB (@MLB) September 30, 2025

Crochet is just a different beast, though, and the hard contact amounted to little in game one. They are hoping for different results in game two. Either that or the season is finished.

In the other clubhouse, manager Alex Cora is also optimistic. After a game one win, there may be more reason for it, too.

“Hopefully we can continue that,” Cora told reporters. “We have a tough one tomorrow again. Rodón has been amazing throughout this season. They are going to have their left-handed hitters in the lineup. We have Brayan [Bello], who likes it here and has pitched well throughout his career. I expect [Game 2] to be just like this one.”

The Yankees find their season on life support with such a short series. It now falls into the hands of Carlos Rodon, who, in his last postseason start, was disastrous. In that game, Rodon went 3.1 innings. He struck out three but also matched that by allowing three home runs.

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