BELIEVE: Why the Boston Red Sox CHOOSE Payton Tolle Over Sonny Gray to CRUSH Yankees in Game 1

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The biggest game of the Red Sox season to this point belongs to Peyton Tolley. And here's exactly why he can win it.

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Hello and welcome to Locked on Red Sox, your daily Boston Red Sox podcast. I'm your host, Gabby Maljanian, and well, we have made it to the postseason. Red Sox start a best of three wildcard series against the Yankees tonight. This is a big test for Chad Tracy, going to be discussing that on today's show, as well as why game one is so crucial and the Red Sox make a decision on something we've been wondering for a while. So I am super excited about the playoffs. I can't believe we made it. It went by so fast this season. And it's just so crazy that it's October. But I am so excited. And I'm hoping the Red Sox can take that excitement and step up and win this series in the Bronx. Chad Tracy finally answered that question of who gets the baseball in game one. He has declared Peyton Tolley the game one starter, not Sonny Gray or Ranger Suarez, the 23-year-old rookie. Peyton Tolley is going to start game one and then Sonny Gray is going game two. And then if necessary, Ranger Suarez will start game three. So this shows a lot of confidence in Peyton Tolley because you have veterans on this team who have been there, done that. And Sonny Gray and Rangers Juarez are both guys who have playoff experience and you know more of what you're getting. They're rolling the dice and taking the chance on a 23 year old who's experienced his first full major league season this year and doesn't have the experience that those other guys have, but is ready to go out there. and just pitch his heart out. So I love this decision because this isn't Chad Tracy saying, let's just see what the kid can do. We've already seen what the kid can do. And more importantly is that the Yankees have seen what he can do. Totally, absolutely earned this opportunity. And I'm going to tell you exactly why. And it's so exciting. When I first saw the announcement, I wasn't surprised by it because I've been talking about this possibility for a while, but seeing it become official still feels pretty significant because the alternative would have been Sonny Gray, who finished the season 18-7 with a 2.72 ERA. at 36 years old with postseason experience. And Chad Tracy looked at that option and gave game one to the rookie. That tells me something. It's not about seniority or experience. It's not, well, Sonny has been around longer, so he deserves it. Chad Tracy picked the pitcher that he believes gives the Red Sox the best opportunity to win this particular game against this particular opponent. And when you look at the numbers, it's really hard to argue with that decision. Peyton Tolley faced the Yankees twice this season. Obviously, that's a small sample size, and you don't know if a team's going to be able to respond after seeing a pitcher a couple times and realizing what they throw. You don't really know, but He's thrown 13 innings against the Yankees, giving up four hits,