OTM Roundtable: What are you scared of, what do you want to see, and who will win?

The pitching. One of the few teams with as good or better pitchers than the Red Sox: the Yankees. The Sox are already struggling to hit consistently; the last thing I want is to see New York roll out three aces. (Well, maybe 2.5 with the 2026 version of Garrett Cole.)

The pitching. And yes, there's an echo in here, but it's also the right answer. If you could play this series in a simulation a thousand times, I'd be willing to bet that over 90 percent of the Red Sox losses come from the lineup just not bunching enough hits, not hitting for enough power, and not being about to knock in enough men with runners in scoring position against the Yankee staff.

Hate to repeat what everybody else is saying here, but yeah: New York has one hell of a pitching staff. When you've got the soon-to-be AL Cy Young winner staring you right in the face in the first game of a short series, it's a tall task. Luckily, I think the Sox have a comparable pitching staff—at least among the trio of starters that are lined up for the Wild Card—but the Yankees' starters are formidable.