GAME NIGHT: 2026 AL Wild Card Series, Game 2 – NYY (1-0) vs. BOS (0-1)
The Sonny Gray game won’t be easy.
The former Yankee wants revenge. In 2017, he lied about wanting to be traded to the Yankees, a team he secretly despised.
During his time with the Yankees, Gray posted a sub-five ERA, including a sub-seven ERA at Yankee Stadium. Fans booed him off the mound in almost every home game. So in 2018, when the trade deadline arrived, Gray was surprised he wasn’t moved.
When Gray was traded to the Red Sox last November, a story from eight years earlier resurfaced because Gray revealed he never wanted to be a Yankee in the first place.
At the Winter Meetings, general manager Brian Cashman confirmed the rumors. He said that after the 2018 deadline, Gray requested they meet privately. During their conversation, Gray admitted he never wanted to be a Yankee, even though he had previously expressed a desire to pitch in New York.
“When he was with the A’s, he was telling our Minor League video coordinator, ‘You’ve got to get me over to the Yankees. Tell Cash, get me over to the Yankees. I want out of Oakland. I want to win a championship,’” Cashman said.
But during that closed-door meeting with Cashman, Gray admitted his agent told him to lie to expand his free agency options. The logic there doesn’t make sense because lying, in any form, diminishes a free agent’s value, especially if they go to a club they don’t want to play for.
Gray does, in fact, hate the Yankees. At least, he claims to. It must be hard to think straight when your name resembles two opposite types of weather.
But if Gray is certain of anything, it’s that he must give it everything he’s got tonight. The pressure is on him to save Boston’s season, and he carries an oversized chip on his shoulder. The Red Sox also believe this could be Gray’s final MLB season, and he will be even harder to beat if tonight’s game is his last.
Tonight, the Yankees must ensure the weather gets neither "Sonny" nor "Gray." Max Fried will try to maintain his team’s momentum as they try to close this best-of-three series. If they lose tonight, they’ll surrender momentum, and Game 3 will be an uphill battle.
The Yankees will lean heavily on their left-handed bats tonight. Their lineup features eight lefties, including Jazz Chisholm Jr. for the first time this postseason. Chisholm has played in just three games since returning from the 10-day injured list on September 22.
With a lefty on the mound for the Red Sox yesterday, much to the chagrin of Chisholm, manager Aaron Boone started righty Anthony Volpe at second base. Volpe strung together quality at-bats and played crisp defense. Now, Chisholm must step in and help the Yankees win this series.
Luis García Jr., who grounded into a double play as a pinch-hitter in his first career playoff game yesterday, will start at first base. He has a .283 batting average and a .865 OPS against right-handed pitching this season.
Next, Trent Grisham will start in center field. He entered Game 1 as a defensive substitution for Heliot Ramos, but he lined out in his lone at-bat. Before yesterday, Grisham hadn’t played since September 4, when he strained his hamstring and landed on the IL.
If the Yankees pressure Gray early, they could deploy some of their right-handed offensive weapons, including Giancarlo Stanton and Paul Goldschmidt. The Yankees’ bench has seven right-handed hitters tonight.
But it won’t be easy to work around Gray or knock that giant chip off his shoulder. He has something to prove, especially with his team’s life on the line, and he wants the Yankees organization and its fans to know how much he detests them.
Schedule
8:00 PM (7:00 PM CDT): American League Wild Card Series, Game 2 – NYY (1-0) vs. BOS (0-1); NBC, Peacock; SP: LHP Max Fried (5-5, 2.80 ERA, 104 K) vs. RHP Sonny Gray (18-5, 2.72 ERA, 149 K)
