Nobody at Defector is making me write this. In fact, they'd probably prefer I didn't. But a few of our usual baseball writers are out today, and due to a series of fortunate events, I ended up at Game 1 of Red Sox–Yankees Tuesday night. Man, did you see how those losers blew it?
[Ed. note: Oh, I see what you're doing. Hilarious.]
The 2025 Boston Red Sox did not have high expectations, and morale was quite low after the whole Rafael Devers saga. The second half went better: They went 34-18 across July and August, and even with a so-so September, earned a wild card spot. I was already pretty happy just to see Roman Anthony get called up, so a playoff appearance felt like a bonus. But to give Yankees fans hope, then rip it away from them so suddenly? That's worth 10 Roman Anthonys.
The bulk of the game was a pitcher's duel between lefties Garrett Crochet and Max Fried. Both were great, but Crochet went further. With a 1-0 lead due to Anthony Volpe's solo shot, the Yankees pulled Fried in the seventh, ending his night with 6.1 scoreless innings and six strikeouts. He had performed quite well, but his pitch count was at 102—an understandable time to relieve your ace. Then Luke Weaver entered the game and simply didn't have it. He gave up a walk to Ceddanne Rafaela, then a double to Nick Sogard, and a single to Masataka Yoshida, who drove in both runners on a two-RBI single to give Boston a 2-1 lead. Weaver was pulled without recording an out. He caused some fan in the section next to mine to scream and whack on his own seat.
Meanwhile, Crochet kept going. As his pitch count hit the high 90s, I expected someone in the Red Sox bullpen to at least start warming up. Nope. Crochet got through the seventh inning on six pitches—popout, groundout, groundout—and stayed in for the eighth. He struck out two more batters before he was finally pulled for closer Aroldis Chapman. Crochet left after throwing 117 pitches, 78 of them for strikes.
But the Yankees still only trailed by two runs in the bottom of the ninth, and it was set for a cinematic finish. The top of the order was up, and they delivered. In order, Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger all hit singles off Chapman. The bases were loaded with no outs. Yankees fans that night were never more arrogant than they were in that moment. A win, or at least extra innings, seemed inevitable.
To give myself a break, I'll let resident Yankees fan Barry Petchesky take it from here:
I am editing this blog under duress. Samer made me do it. I'm not providing any more content here, either. Go to hell!
Fine, I'll tell you what happened. With the bases loaded and no outs, the Yankees didn't score at all. Not even on a sac fly! Chapman had a mound visit, figured out whatever was hampering him, and retired the next three batters. Giancarlo Stanton struck out. Jazz Chisholm flied out, and Goldschmidt's cumbersome ass stayed at third base. Trent Grisham flailed at a triple-digit fastball for strike three to end the game. The Yankees did achieve one accomplishment in Tuesday's 3-1 loss, though: They became the first team in MLB postseason history to have a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the bottom of the ninth and not score a single run.
The video above doesn't give you a full sense of how loud it was when the Yankees loaded the bases, and how drastically that decibel level dropped after the final out. It felt so good. Honestly, I should be paying my coworkers to write this blog. I'm glad that the team prohibited ticket sales to most of New England, because it meant that more Yankees fans could witness that total failure firsthand. You bozos. You gits. [Ed. note: This feels like unnecessary editorializing.] As everyone exited the stadium, some big mook near me was literally muttering under his breath about the Yankees losing, to no one in particular. I hope that guy's morning sucked just as much.
