Payton Tolle and Cam Schlittler lead the Red Sox and Yankees in Game 1 of the Wild Card series

But tonight, it's also about the future clashing with the present. 23-year-old Payton Tolle faces off against 25-year-old Cam Schlittler is a game primed to the be the opening salvo for the next era of epic baseball between Boston and New York. Both are young, both are flame throwers, and both seem likely to be at or near the top of each of these rotations for years to come. Tonight, they've been matched up in a clash of titans where the winner will instantly push the other's team to the brink of elimination. Such is life in a best-of-three Wild Card series.

Lineup wise, the Red Sox will have Roman Anthony leading off, but they have him at DH instead of left field. This means Jarren Duran is in left – where he botched a huge play in Game 2 last year at Yankee Stadium — and if Chad Tracy pinch hits for Duran late, they'll have to do some roster shuffling to realign the deck. That's a big story to watch out for late.

Also of note, Adley Rutschman bats second in front of Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu . This will create some very interesting platoon decisions for the Yankees when Schlitter runs out of gas as Rutschman has looked better from the right side of late. I also find Caleb Durbin batting ninth in front of the Anthony, Rutschman and Contreras part of the lineup interesting.