Three years into his New York Yankees tenure, and only now is Carlos Rodon in a position to truly earn his pinstripes.
Granted, that isn’t to say he hasn’t lived up to the six-year, $162 million contract he signed with the Bronx Bombers in 2023. Since posting an ugly 6.85 ERA in an injury-ravaged ’23, the big lefty has performed as such. Rodon has a 3.50 ERA and 6.6 WAR over the last two seasons, including going 18-9 with a 3.09 ERA in 2025.
Not bad at all for someone thrust into Opening Day duties after Gerrit Cole went down with Tommy John surgery!
Now, in an absolute must-in Game 2 in a Wild Card series against the Boston Red Sox, Carlos Rodon faces another obstacle. Since donning the pinstripes, he is 4-3 with a 4.85 ERA. Prior to that, despite a 1-3 record in five starts, his ERA was over a full run lower at 3.71.
In Rodon’s defense, he can’t be blamed entirely for his Sawx struggles since. More often than not, the Red Sox have faced him when he clearly didn’t have his best stuff. This usually means Rodon moving off his changeup and leaning more heavily on his fastball and slider. Keep in mind that after throwing his fastball nearly 61% of the time in 2023, its usage was nearly 42% in 2025.
That is the Carlos Rodon the Yankees will need in Game 2. Forget losing Game 1 and that New York failed to score with the bases loaded with nobody out in the ninth inning. The Bronx needs playoff Rodon. The southpaw who grew out his beard for the season and looked fearless ever since.
Which means the first pitch on Wednesday night needs to be a Carlos Rodon statement pitch. The Red Sox lucked into Luke Weaver having a bad night in Game 1. They lucked out even more when the Yankees left the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning.
What’s more, how quickly we forget that Rodon will have a better lineup supporting him than Max Fried did in Game 1. Boston starting Garrett Crochet means stacking the lineup with role-playing righties like Amed Rosario and Jose Caballero. In turn, valuable left-handed power bats like Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ben Rice get benched by necessity.
And no disrespect to the guy, especially since he shut down the Yankees in two of three starts against them this season. Bryan Bello isn’t exactly Garrett Crochet.
Carlos Rodon failed his first “big game” test as a Yankee last season, not even lasting four innings in Game 2 of the World Series. Game 2 of the Wild Card is his redemption start.
Plenty other Yankees lefties before Rodon have stepped into this very role. Whitey Ford. Ron Guidry. Jimmy Key. Fan favorite and playoff all-timer Andy Pettitte.
All will be watching in some capacity on Wednesday night. Let’s see if Carlos Rodon can etch his place among them with a big win.
The first pitch of Game 2 is slated for 6:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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