NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees-Red Sox matchups have produced plenty of melodrama, with video clips of Bucky Dent, Pedro Martínez, Aaron Boone, Curt Schilling and Dave Roberts becoming a staple of videoboards and TV broadcasts.
Boone's 11th-inning walk-off home run for New York against Boston in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series became the defining moment of his baseball career and perhaps his life.
“I understand that a lot of people have an amazing story, a lot of those that I’ve heard, tied to that moment," the Yankees manager said Monday on the eve of his team's best-of-three Wild Card Series against the Red Sox.
Payton Tolle starts Tuesday night's opener for Boston and Cam Schlittler will be on the mound for the Yankees. This will be the seventh postseason meeting between the longtime rivals and second Wild Card Series in a row.
“A real slobberknocker,” Tolle said, using slang for a brutal fight.
New York (93-68) finished second in the AL East behind Tampa Bay (98-64), and the Red Sox (87-75) were third. The first-round winner advances to a Division Series against the Rays.
Tolle got one out in last year's Wild Card Series, a month after his major league debut.
“Walking out there to the 'pen last year, you see how much the fans interact, how bought-in they are," he said. "You see how much it means. You get to hear how loud it gets and just try and turn that into white noise the best you can.”
Yankees rookie outfielder Spencer Jones watched part of last year's matchup while driving with his girlfriend from Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he finished the season with the Yankees' Triple-A farm team, to Nashville, Tennessee.
“We stopped at a Chipotle and we just sat there and watched on the iPad,” he said.
"I’ve heard that these Wild Card Series get pretty intense, get pretty rowdy," he added. “This is going to be the most fun baseball I've ever played.”
New York hosts all three games because of its better finish in the standings. Yankee Stadium's short porch in right field could be a factor for left-handed hitters, similar to how Fenway Park's Green Monster in left is an inviting target for right-handed batters.
“I think in an ideal situation, we’re at home in front of our fans,” said Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony, a leadoff hitter who bats from the left side. “I’m not trying to just go out there and pull home runs, right? I think for me and for everyone, it’s about getting on base and manufacturing runs.”
Aaron Judge (calf strain), Giancarlo Stanton (calf strains in both legs) and Trent Grisham (right hamstring) all took live batting practice at Yankee Stadium on Monday, hoping to be included on the series roster.
“I’ve been doing a lot of convincing, I feel like, so I’m going to keep doing that,” Judge said just after arriving at the stadium. “The most important thing is just making sure I’m healthy and ready to go for this long stretch. We’ve got another month of baseball to play.”
Left-hander Garrett Crochet, who won last season's opener against the Yankees by allowing one run and four hits in 7 2/3 innings, could be a bullpen option for Boston.
He has not pitched since April 25 because of left shoulder inflammation.
“He’s worked very hard to get everything back strong the way it needs to be, but we’re still going to be evaluating him daily to see where he’s at,” manager Chad Tracy said.
Manager Alex Cora, who led the Red Sox to the 2018 World Series title, was fired on April 25 with Boston at 10-17 and replaced by Tracy, who had been managing the Triple-A Worcester farm team.
Boston dropped to 32-46 on June 24, then went a major league-best 55-29. The Red Sox are just the fourth team to reach the postseason after dropping 14 games under .500, joining the 1914 Boston Braves and 2005 Houston Astros.
Braiden Ward, a speedy 27-year-old outfielder who spent the season at Worcester, was in the Red Sox clubhouse and was assigned a locker with No. 25. He could become the seventh player to make his major league debut in the postseason.
Ward stole 61 bases in 70 attempts this year and has 272 stolen bases in 523 minor league games.
“It’s like a dream. It’s a fever dream,” he said. “One day I’m in Worcester and the next day I'm in Florida, the next day I’m at the nicest hotel we’ve ever stayed at in New York City with the greatest view, the greatest team, getting to hopefully play in the greatest rivalry.”
Cora had told Ward during spring training he could be a postseason option off the bench.
“Two of my best friends are Yankee fans, so hopefully I get to talk absolute smack to them the entire time,” he said. “I joke with the team. It’s like, how cool would it be to have your debut be Game 3, ninth inning and they’re like, `Hey Ward, you’re out there. Have fun.' So nothing crazy. No pressure.”
See AP’s full MLB coverage here
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone speaks to the media in the team dugout prior to a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Payton Tolle delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A 71-year-old man who was convicted of killing a police chief's aunt and spent decades on death row is being released Monday after prosecutors said newly analyzed DNA evidence doesn't link him to the crime.
A Utah judge ordered Douglas Stewart Carter let out on bail late Monday over objections from the victim's family. Carter will be required to wear a GPS monitor while he awaits a new trial in the 1985 killing of Eva Olesen.
The state Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year, citing misconduct by investigators. Carter has maintained his innocence and says a signed confession was coerced.
No physical evidence linked him to the crime scene, but the jury convicted Carter, a Black man, based on the confession and the testimony of two witnesses who said he bragged about killing Olesen, who was white. Those witnesses later recanted.
A DNA analysis received Sept. 22 excluded Carter as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of a knife used to stab Olesen, who was also shot.
Judge Derek Pullan said those results further undermined the case against Carter, but a reasonable jury still could conclude that he killed Olesen.
Pullan also ordered Carter to avoid contact with Olesen's family. Defense attorney Neal Hamilton said Carter was expected to be fitted with the GPS monitor and released Monday night.
“If the state of Utah had their way, he would have been executed 15, 20 years ago before we discovered the misconduct,” Hamilton said after learning of the judge's order. He urged prosecutors to seek dismissal of an aggravated murder charge still pending against Carter.
Carter will be placed in an extended stay hotel near the family of his son, Tyler Anger, who was adopted by another family as an infant and didn’t learn about the conviction until years later, Hamilton said. Carter also will need therapy to deal with his extended incarceration, the attorney said.
“This is going to be a lot for him,” Anger said as he waited outside the Utah County jail, where Carter was held while awaiting retrial. “I want Doug to put his feet on the grass. He hasn't done that in 40 years.”
A two-month retrial was planned next year, but last week county prosecutors withdrew a notice that they intended to seek the death penalty.
Utah County prosecutor Erwin Petilos told the judge Monday that reassessing Carter’s bail was “necessary and fair” as the state continues to look at the remaining evidence in the case.
Carter, a Chicago native, had been living with his mother in Utah at the time of Olesen’s killing on Feb. 27, 1985. Court documents indicate the investigation eventually focused on Carter, who was suspected of killing Olesen during a robbery.
By that April, Carter had fled Utah believing he was a suspect in an unrelated assault case, according to court documents. He was apprehended that June in Nashville, Tennessee, where he signed a confession while under interrogation by a Provo detective.
Carter said later that he falsely confessed after police repeatedly threatened him. He was convicted and sentenced to death after a trial in which the defense called no witnesses. He was again sentenced to death after a 1992 retrial, and courts in Utah rejected numerous appeals from Carter in subsequent years.
A turning point came in 2011, when the two witnesses from Carter's original trial were tracked down in Mexico. They said they had been told to lie in court and had received cash and gifts from police, who told them not to disclose the payments. They also said police and prosecutors threatened them and their son with deportation if they did not implicate Carter.
More than a decade of legal wrangling followed before the Utah Supreme Court last year ordered a new trial, citing “multiple instances of intentional misconduct” by police and a prosecutor. A DNA analysis of the evidence was conducted in response to that order, and prosecutors said the results arrived last week. They declined Monday to say whether they're using the DNA evidence to search for other suspects with matching DNA.
Carter's defense attorneys have said witnesses saw a white man fleeing the crime scene and an investigator suppressed evidence pointing to other suspects, including the victim’s husband, Orla Olesen.
They allege that prosecutors were close to filing charges against the husband, but a Provo police lieutenant asked them not to so he could continue investigating. Carter was identified as a suspect soon after, according to court documents.
Orla Olesen, a painting contractor who died in 2009, told police he found his wife dead in their home, partially undressed and with her hands tied behind her back.
Theresa Olesen, a daughter-in-law of Eva Olesen, said during Monday's bond hearing that her family had "serious concerns" about Carter's release.
“By golly we were hoping for a concrete match,” Olesen said of the DNA analysis. “It doesn't mean he wasn't there."
“We just want justice for Eva. And if he had any part of it we want that to be known,” she added.
Former death row inmate Douglas Stewart Carter appears in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, for a bond hearing on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)
Former death row inmate Douglas Stewart Carter appears in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, for a bond hearing on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)
Former death row inmate Douglas Stewart Carter appears in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, for a bond hearing on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)
Former death row inmate Douglas Stewart Carter appears in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, for a bond hearing on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)
Former death row inmate Douglas Stewart Carter appears in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, for a bond hearing on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)
