NEW YORK -- Max Fried and Garrett Crochet lived up to expectations in sparkling debut seasons as No. 1 starters for the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

Now it gets real.

Crochet (Red Sox) and Fried (Yankees) delivered after being acquired in the offseason to become staff aces at the center of baseball's most historic rivalry, and the left-handers find themselves front and center as Game 1 starters in the American League wild-card series starting Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.

The AL East archrivals fight it out in the wild-card round for the first time and best-of-three series winner advances to the division series.

The last time the Red Sox were in the playoffs (2021), a full wild-card round didn't exist. The Yankees won the AL East and a bye to avoid this round in 2022 and 202

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