Sizzling-hot Paul Goldschmidt out Sunday vs. Reds

The 39-year-old impending free agent told Jon Heyman of the New York Post, “I love competing” when asked about his future. It remains to be seen if he’ll be able to find an opportunity that fits what he’s looking for. That free agent search could be made even more complicated by MLB’s labor dispute. Goldschmidt slashed a solid .252/.313/.452 with 18 homers and 52 RBI over 380 plate appearances for the Yankees in 2026 while doing most of his damage against left-handed pitching.

Rice was one of the few bright spots as New York committed a whopping four errors to fall into an 0-2 hole in the best-of-five series. The 27-year-old slugging first baseman took Rays starter Freddy Peralta deep in the early stages of the contest before tattooing an eighth-inning blast off lefty reliever Ian Seymour. It was his second multi-homer performance in four games this postseason. The Yankees will attempt to stave off elimination when the series resumes with Game 3 in New York on Wednesday.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone is sticking with the same lineup that was shutout by Rays ace Drew Rasmussen, who carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning, and closer Bryan Baker in a Game 1 defeat. It’ll be eight left-handed batters getting a look at Freddy Peralta as he makes his Tampa Bay postseason debut in this one. Here’s the full lineup: Ben Rice (DH), Cody Bellinger (LF), Luis García Jr. (1B), Spencer Jones (RF), George Lombard Jr. (SS), Chisholm (2B), Trent Grisham (CF), Austin Wells (C) and Ryan McMahon (3B).

New York bludgeoned Boston’s pitching staff for a whopping 18 runs on 26 hits over a pair of games without Aaron Judge (calf), completing a sweep at Yankee Stadium and punching their ticket to the AL Division Series, where they’ll face the division-rival Rays. Bellinger delivered an RBI single against reliever Erik Miller in the fourth inning before breaking this one wide open with a three-run blast off Red Sox setup specialist Garrett Whitlock in the sixth inning, giving the Yankees a comfortable 8-1 advantage at the time.

Rice took Red Sox lefty reliever Erik Miller deep for a 423-foot blast to straightaway center field with two outs in the fifth inning to give New York a commanding 2-0 advantage with ace Cam Schlittler completely shutting down Boston’s offense. He supplied another insurance run with a bases-loaded RBI single to right field off lefty reliever Alec Gamboa in the seventh inning. Rice had a chance to do even more damage when he came to the plate with the bases loaded again in the ensuing frame, and he didn’t waste it, crushing a grand slam to center field off righty Brayan Bello to complete the multi-homer performance. The Cohasset, Massachusetts native recorded four batted balls with exit velocities over 100 mph as the Yankees cruised to a comfortable win without injured franchise cornerstone Aaron Judge (calf).

Stanton has not played in an MLB game since April 24th. He originally injured his right calf but then suffered a left calf injury during rehab. The 36-year-old has been taking live batting practice and could still give the Yankees a real boost, with the Red Sox set to start left-hander Payton Tolle in Game 1. However, if Stanton is at DH in Game 1, that means one of Luis Garcia and Ben Rice would play first base, and the other would likely sit. Given recent lineups, Garcia will almost assuredly be the one on the bench.

Rice led off the home half of the first inning with a walk, but was cut down attempting to steal second base. He doubled in the seventh inning and ultimately came around to score on an RBI single by Luis Garcia Jr. With his two-hit night, the 27-year-old slugger is now hitting .264/.363/.534 with a whopping 41 homers and 97 RBI in 667 plate appearances on the season.

Bellinger will get the first half of the twin billing off. Heliot Ramos gets the nod with left-hander Trevor Rogers on the bump for the Orioles.

Rice took Mason Englert deep twice for his second two-homer game this year and fifth of his career. His is the 36th 40-homer season in Yankees history. He’s now two RBI away from reaching the century mark there, which is pretty good for someone who has mostly hit second and first.

Bellinger gets a rare break after launching a two-run homer during Tuesday’s loss to the Rays. It’ll be José Caballero taking over in left field with Tampa Bay rolling out a bullpen game.