Red Sox and Astros Face Elimination Wednesday After Losing Wild Card Game 1s

Both American League Wild Card Series are one game from ending. The Yankees beat the Red Sox 9-0 in the Bronx on Tuesday, and the White Sox won 6-3 in Houston. Boston and Houston must win Wednesday to force a Game 3.

In New York, Max Fried starts Game 2 for the Yankees against Sonny Gray at 8 p.m. ET. In Houston, the Astros hand the ball to Hunter Brown against Chicago's Sean Burke. For bettors and single-game DFS players, both matchups look different after what happened in the openers.

Yankees 9, Red Sox 0

Cam Schlittler dominated Boston again. He threw 6.1 scoreless innings, allowed one hit and struck out 10, outdueling Red Sox rookie Payton Tolle in a tight game through the middle innings. The Yankees broke it open against Boston's bullpen. Ben Rice finished with six RBI, capped by a grand slam off Brayan Bello in the eighth inning.

The result says a lot about how this series has changed. Boston's decision to start Tolle and bring Bello out of the bullpen made sense on paper, but the Red Sox relievers could not keep the game close once the Yankees got to them.

Game 2: Max Fried vs. Sonny Gray

Fried is the kind of starter the Yankees want in this spot: a veteran left-hander who limits hard contact and keeps the ball on the ground. Gray is Boston's most experienced option, and he has pitched in big games before. Both are capable of six strong innings, which puts the focus on the bullpens again.

What to watch: Rice has been the Yankees' hottest bat, and Gray is a right-hander, so the left-handed-hitting Rice should be in the middle of the lineup again. Boston's lineup has to find a way to get to Fried early, because the Yankees bullpen is rested after Schlittler went deep.

Betting angle: the Yankees will be favored at home with Fried on the mound and a 1-0 series lead. Boston's best case is a close game decided late, which suits Gray's ability to keep the ball in the park. The first-five-innings market can be a cleaner way to bet this game, since it takes the bullpens out of play.

White Sox 6, Astros 3

Chicago never trailed at Daikin Park. The White Sox scored three runs in the second inning, and shortstop Colson Montgomery hit a 432-foot solo homer in the fourth. Sam Antonacci drove in two runs, and Chicago added another in the fifth for a 5-0 lead.

Houston answered with a two-run homer by Nelson Velázquez in the bottom of the fifth and got another run in the eighth on a Chicago error. It was not enough. The win was the White Sox's first in the postseason since Oct. 10, 2021, in the ALDS, also against Houston.

The format makes this series unusual. The 84-win White Sox are playing every game on the road against the AL West champion Astros, who finished at .500. Chicago neutralized that home-field edge in Game 1.

Game 2: Hunter Brown vs. Sean Burke

Brown is Houston's best starter when he is healthy. He enters with a 6-4 record and a 3.19 ERA. He has the stuff to shut down a lineup, and the Astros need length from him to save their bullpen for a possible Game 3.

Burke went 11-7 with a 3.34 ERA and gives Chicago a steady starter for a potential clincher. Length from him matters in a series where the White Sox bullpen had to close out Game 1.

Betting angle: the Astros will be favored at home with Brown. Chicago has already shown it can score against Houston pitching, and Montgomery and Antonacci are the bats to watch. If you are building single-game DFS lineups, Brown is the pitcher with the higher strikeout ceiling, and Montgomery is the power bat with the best matchup.

Fantasy and DFS notes

Postseason DFS slates are small, so every roster decision carries more weight. On Wednesday's slate, Fried and Brown are the safest pitching options because both are home starters with strong track records. Schlittler's 10-strikeout game is a reminder that the Yankees staff can dominate this Boston lineup, which makes Yankees pitchers the default choice when building around a New York win.

On the hitting side, Rice and Montgomery are the two bats in the best form from Game 1. Rice's power plays up at Yankee Stadium, and Montgomery has already shown he can hit Houston pitching. Boston's hitters are the contrarian play: a lineup that was shut out will be low owned, and one big inning against Fried would make them a leverage stack.

Looking ahead to the Division Series

The winners advance to face the top seeds in the Division Series. Cleveland clinched the AL Central and a first-round bye on the final weekend, and the other bye team will be waiting too. That gives the Wild Card winners a short turnaround, and how each team uses its pitching in Game 2 and a potential Game 3 will shape its rotation for the next round.

The Yankees are in the best position of the four AL teams. Schlittler pitched deep in Game 1, Fried starts Game 2, and a win on Wednesday would let New York set its rotation for the ALDS. Chicago would face a harder turnaround after using its bullpen heavily in Game 1.

What it means

The Yankees and White Sox are one win from the Division Series. The Yankees are clear favorites to close it out at home. The White Sox need one more win in Houston to turn a surprise Game 1 into a series upset.

Verdexed's model publishes its postseason picks for every game on the daily MLB picks page; Wednesday's card will be at /blog/mlb-picks-2026-09-30. The full model board is on the MLB predictions page.