Red Sox Outclassed By Yankees Rookie In Lifeless End To Chaotic Season

Schlittler, the 24-year-old rookie who grew up a Red Sox fan in Walpole, threw his first-ever major league pitch in the eighth inning on Thursday. He wound up making it through the eighth on seven pitches, finishing off an absolute masterpiece. Eight scoreless innings, 12 strikeouts, and a lot of befuddled Boston batters left in his wake.

But as great as Schlittler was, it's hard to act surprised by the Red Sox's offensive failures, because this was who they were for most of the month of September. One month after Roman Anthony's oblique injury, the offense was being led by singles-hitting designated hitter Masataka Yoshida and a resurgent Trevor Story, who still barely finished the season above league average in OPS.

Early, on the other hand, just couldn't quite keep the fourth inning from spiraling on him, and it didn't help that Nathaniel Lowe (who almost certainly won't wear a Red Sox uniform again) couldn't field a pretty basic ground ball. The Red Sox knew they had to be perfect because Schlittler was on his game, and they came up plenty short.

For some segments of Red Sox Nation, this one will only hurt because it was the Yankees. It was awfully fun having a streak of three playoff wins over New York in a row, with the ability to say the Yankees couldn't touch Boston since the 3-0 comeback in 2004.

The Red Sox also became the first team ever to lose a Wild Card Series after winning Game 1. After the Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers won on Thursday, Game 1 winners were a perfect 15-0 in closing the series out.

It's hard to call this a disappointing season when the Red Sox finally got themselves back to the playoffs after three years off. But they had two shots to take out the Yankees, and they missed both. That's going to sting, 100 times out of 100.