The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are scheduled to kick off Major League Baseball's 2021 postseason Tuesday night when they meet in Boston for the American League Wild Card Game. The winner will advance to play a best-of-five Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, the league's top seed, while the loser goes home.
Both sides used Monday's travel day to address outstanding questions about what their lineups will look like on Tuesday, including the availability of a few players who suffered injuries during Sunday's season finale games. With that in mind, let's address five things you need to know as they concern the AL Wild Card Game.
1. Martinez iffy for start
Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez sprained his left ankle on Sunday when he accidentally tripped over the second-base bag on his way to his position in right field. He was later lifted from the game after it was clear his running was compromised on a base hit.
Martinez's exact status remains up in the air, but it's fair to think his ankle will continue to limit his mobility in the near term. It could also impact his swing. Boston manager Alex Cora said Martinez's status was still questionable on Tuesday, a little more than 24 hours before first pitch
Martinez is an important part of Boston's regular lineup. He hit .286/.349/.518 (126 OPS+) with 28 home runs and 99 runs batted in during the regular season. If he's unable to go, Boston could elect to start Kyle Schwarber at DH, with Alex Verdugo starting in left, Bobby Dalbec at first, and Kiké Hernández moving to center in deference to Christian Arroyo at second base.
José Iglesias, who started at the keystone a lot for the Red Sox down the stretch, is ineligible to play in the postseason because he joined the organization after Aug. 31.
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2. Cole will have personal catcher
New York manager Aaron Boone confirmed on Monday that Gerrit Cole will be forming a battery with catcher Kyle Higashioka rather than Gary Sánchez when the Yankees ace takes the mound on Tuesday.
Higashioka has served as Cole's personal catcher throughout their shared time in New York. This season, Higashioka caught Cole in 27 of his 30 starts. The two have a career 2.94 ERA as a tandem, as opposed to the 3.64 mark Cole has with Sánchez. Part of the difference can be explained as a small sample, and part of it can be attributed to Higashioka's superior framing: he ranked in the 87th percentile this season, according to Statcast. Sánchez, for his part, ranked in the 17th percentile.
The Yankees will be giving back some of those defensive gains at the plate. Higashioka hit for a 71 OPS+ this season versus Sánchez's 99 mark. Still, New York appears more than willing to make that trade-off in order to make its ace as comfortable as possible.
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3. Urshela good to go
Yankees shortstop Gio Urshela made the highlight reels on Sunday by flying into the opposition's dugout after making a running grab in a crucial game. Though Urshela remained down for some time, and remains sore as of Monday, he's expected to be in the lineup on Tuesday.
"If there was a game today, he'd be playing," Boone told reporters, including MLB.com's Bryan Hoch.
The Yankees will be without DJ LeMahieu, who was placed on the injured list on Sunday because of a sports hernia injury that has plagued him recently.
4. Yankees on winning streak vs. Sox
This season's edition of the Yankees and Red Sox rivalry has been defined by streaks. Boston won the first seven head-to-head contests. The Yankees have since reeled off wins in nine of their last 12 meetings, including each of the last six.
The Yankees have outscored the Red Sox by a 31-14 margin in those six games, a span that includes a sweep at Fenway Park from Sept. 24-26. The Red Sox have been held to three runs or fewer in each of those six games.
We should note that none of this is necessarily predictive, by the way. But it will come up early, and perhaps often, depending on how Tuesday's game plays out.
5. First winner-take-all-game since '04
As the subheading suggests, the Yankees and Red Sox haven't played a winner-take-all game since 2004, when the Red Sox overcame a 3-0 deficit to win the AL pennant. (The Red Sox would later win the World Series, snapping their 86-year championship drought.)
Believe it or not, the Yankees and Red Sox have played just two other winner-take-all postseason contests in their history: one was Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS (when Boone, then a Yankees third baseman, hit a walk-off home run in extra innings), and then the other was in an AL East tiebreaker game in 1978.
If you include that tiebreaker game, the Yankees have won three of their five postseason series against the Red Sox. Boston, then, has a chance to pull even with a win on Tuesday night.
