Yankees Rout Red Sox 9-2, Sweep Wild Card Series

The Yankees are moving on, and they made it look easy. New York blitzed Boston 9-2 on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, sweeping the AL Wild Card Series and advancing to an ALDS date with the Rays. It's the second straight year the Red Sox have been turned away by their rivals in this round.

Our premium pick: mixed night. The moneyline call on the Yankees was correct — New York won going away, and the eight cents of pregame movement toward the home side was the right read. The run line on Boston +1.5 never had a chance; a seven-run margin buried it. The under was the bigger miss: two starters with sub-3.00 ERAs pointed to a pitcher's duel, and instead the game finished with 11 runs and sailed past the number.

Props: two wins, one loss. Ben Rice over 1.5 total bases was our favorite number on the board, and it came up short — 1-for-4 with a single, one total base. The plus-money price didn't pay off. Willson Contreras over 0.5 hits was the bright spot and then some: 2-for-2 with a home run, two walks, five total bases and an RBI. The platoon edge against left-handed pitching showed up exactly as expected. Max Fried under 4.5 hits allowed hit comfortably — 6.0 innings, just 3 hits, 1 earned run, 6 strikeouts.

The takeaway. Elite ERAs on both sides don't guarantee a low-scoring game when one lineup is this deep and this hot. Going forward, when a total sits still despite a hitter-friendly park and a lopsided roster, that stillness deserves more weight than the pitching matchup on paper. The Contreras platoon angle — targeting the one bat with a real split advantage — is the kind of spot worth returning to.