No Judge, No Stanton, No Problem: The Yankees' Homegrown Kids Outscore Boston 18-2

Before the champagne got out of hand on Wednesday night, the Yankees' player development staff asked for one thing: a photo of every homegrown player who had helped beat Boston.

It was a crowded picture. Ben Rice, Cam Schlittler, George Lombard Jr., Spencer Jones, Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe and Will Warren all had a hand in a two-game Wild Card sweep in which New York outscored the Red Sox 18-2. The Yankees won 9-0 on Tuesday and 9-2 on Wednesday, and Boston is out in the first round for the second straight year.

"It's pretty cool how many guys we got up here producing for us," Rice said.

The missing stars

The names you'd expect weren't part of it. Aaron Judge isn't on the roster while he recovers from a calf strain. Giancarlo Stanton, who hasn't played since April, was added as a pinch hitter and never batted.

That left a very left-handed lineup facing a very left-handed Red Sox staff, which looked like a problem. It wasn't. The Yankees went 11 for 22 with a 1.182 OPS against Boston's lefties in the two games.

Luis García Jr. homered to get the Yankees on the board in Game 2.

Max Fried, Cody Bellinger and Luis García Jr. led the way in the clincher. Schlittler, the Massachusetts native who beat his hometown team in last year's playoffs too, pitched Game 1.

"All year, but even going into this series, that was a scary team to us, especially as well as they pitch," manager Aaron Boone said.

Next: the best team in the AL

The Rays won the AL East with 98 wins. Gerrit Cole, saved by the sweep from pitching Game 3 against Boston, starts Game 1 against Drew Rasmussen on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field on TBS and truTV. You can stream it on TVRivo.