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How Yankees utterly dominated Red Sox without MVP Aaron Judge

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How Yankees utterly dominated Red Sox without MVP Aaron Judge

NEW YORK – Aaron Judge was nowhere to be found on the field at Yankee Stadium. Yet “M-V-P!” chants still resonated through the raucous ballpark.

Judge did not join his teammates on the baseline for pregame introductions. But a total team effort pulled the Yankees through in a virtual must-win game.

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There’s still no certainty if or when Judge will take the field this postseason. But for one night, perhaps the most important night of the playoffs – Game 1 of the best-of-three American League wild card series – the Yankees proved they could survive without their three-time Most Valuable Player.

Perhaps that’s because Cam Schlittler has become their most important player.

Schlittler tormented the Boston Red Sox for the second consecutive year in the wild card round, this time getting a massive assist from fellow New England product Ben Rice, the Walpole ace and the Cohasset crusher laying waste to the team they couldn’t avoid growing up.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 29: Ben Rice #22 of the New York Yankees celebrates after defeating the Boston Red Sox in game one of the American League Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium on September 29, 2026 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 776567875 ORIG FILE ID: 2297820955

This time, Schlittler took a two-hit shutout into the seventh inning and Rice drove in six runs as the Yankees moved a massive step toward advancing to the AL Division Series with a 9-0 trouncing of the Red Sox on Tuesday, Sept. 29.

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Game 2 is Wednesday night, Boston’s Sonny Gray pitching to save the Red Sox’s season against Yankees lefty Max Fried. Tuesday’s final score might have you believe Game 1 was a laugher.

It was anything but, Schlitter nursing a 1-0 lead into the fifth and a 2-0 lead into the seventh, with Rice quietly laying waste to the Red Sox bullpen until his final, big blast.

That came in the bottom of the eighth inning, a garbage time grand slam off Brayan Bello to make it 9-0 and bring winter nearer New England.

It was Rice’s fourth hit and he tied a Yankees franchise record with his six RBIs, the fifth to do it and the first since Robinson Cano in 2011. Rice, the Dartmouth grad and erudite soul of the Yankee clubhouse, does not necessarily fit the mold of past Yankee greats.

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In another fashion, he and Schlittler are both fitting right in.

“If you want to be a legend,” Schlittler said Tuesday, “you’ve got to do it in the postseason.”

Doesn’t he know it. Schlittler’s die was cast in the decisive Game 3 of the 2025 wild-card round, when he struck out 12 Red Sox over eight innings and talked mad smack after, chiding Red Sox fans for goading him on social media.

A year later, Schlittler’s tone mellowed only a bit, noting his good friends from up north came down for the game and while they are Red Sox fans, knew not to poke the bear.

His pitching dominance was nearly identical, though.

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2026 MLB playoffs open with thrilling wild-card series matchups

The San Diego Padres’ Xander Bogaerts celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Chicago Cubs during the fourth inning of Game 1 at Petco Park on Sept. 29, 2026.

(Orlando Ramirez, Getty Images)

Cam Schlittler stats are unreal

Mixing in a diving curveball that got five swings and misses his first time through the order, Schlittler retired 13 in a row, seven by strikeout, after Adley Rutschman’s 10-pitch at-bat ended in a first-inning single.

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The streak ended with a seven-pitch walk to Jarren Duran in the fifth. But manager Aaron Boone let Schlittler go, all the way to 117 pitches until there was one out in the seventh.

In two wild card starts against the Red Sox, here’s what Schlittler’s done: 14 1/3 innings, 22 strikeouts, one walk, seven hits – and zero runs given up.

Yet one mistake, and all could have gone for naught. It was just 1-0 in the fifth inning when Red Sox rookie manager Chad Tracy opted to pull starter Payton Tolle after 83 pitches. It was simply swapping lefty for lefty, reliever Erik Miller summoned to get Rice.

The move backfired when Rice drilled a middle-middle sinker 423 feet to straightaway center field and into Monument Park. The way Schlittler was pitching, going from 1-0 to 2-0 felt massive.

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“One hundred percent,” says Schlittler. “I mean, their guy was pitching really well. And obviously, another local guy, so it’s a great feeling to watch him go out and dominate.”

Ah, yes. Schlittler, a seventh-round pick in 2022, and Rice (12th round, 2021) wear their draft positions like a badge of honor. They pay constant respect to Matt Hyde, the Yankees scout that discovered them both.

And Rice, who grew up a Yankee fan up there because he loved Derek Jeter, says beating the Red Sox “definitely adds a cool element to it.” He’s a bit Jeterian himself, known as the Yankees’ rock for his ability to process information, dispense advice and perform consistently.

Rice’s approach paid off in a 41-home run season at 27.

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“When it starts to get hard, that’s all the more reason to be consistent. You’ve got lean on your everyday routine, your approach. All that is really for the hard times. You need that.

“That’s the backbone of your season.”

Aaron Judge injury won’t derail Yankees

Most years, Judge is that backbone. But his four-month absence due to a fractured rib was followed by a calf strain in the final week of the season, rendering him unavailable for this round.

Judge did not agree with the assessment, but the Yankees are soldiering on without him and in Game 1 got contributions from all corners of the roster.

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Deposed shortstop Anthony Volpe, getting a key hit and making every play at second base.

Catcher Austin Wells, driving in the first run of the game.

Rookie George Lombard – second-youngest player, to Mickey Mantle, to play in a Yankee playoff game – getting three this in his playoff debut.

All homegrown products and all making up for the big fella that’s out.

“I think we view ourselves as a complete team,” says center fielder Spencer Jones, another Yankee product. “We have a bunch of guys up and down the lineup and we talk about, you’re going to get a opportunity to play every single night.

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“Everybody was in it on every pitch. And that’s the way we operate.”

Yet the loudest cheers were reserved for Schlittler, the presumed AL Cy Young Award winner thanks to his 239 strikeouts and 1.95 ERA in 33 starts. Yankee fans are getting a little greedy, as is their wont, and the MVP chants started up a while back in the Bronx.

They grew louder with each subsequent zero Schlittler hung on the scoreboard, reaching a crescendo when they saluted him with a standing ovation as he left the game in the seventh.

“I mean, we already got an MVP in this locker room. He’s won three of them,” says Schlittler of Judge. “So, I mean, if he were in there this whole season, he’d probably have it. I mean, it’s a good feeling.

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“I wouldn’t say I am an MVP. But it’s good to kind of embrace that from the fans.”

And in Game 1, Schlittler enhanced the chances this October ride may be a long one – with or without Judge.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Yankees utterly dominated Red Sox without MVP Aaron Judge

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