Roman Anthony has not been the best rookie this year for sure. But for the Boston Red Sox, the 21-year-old outfielder has been the game-changer at times, especially against their arch-rivals New York Yankees. However, with Anthony still on the injured list due to the oblique injury he suffered four weeks ago against the Guardians, he is set to miss the wild-card round against the Yankees.

According to Tim Healy of the Boston Globe, Anthony, along with Marcelo Mayer, will head down to Fort Myers to continue their rehab, instead of traveling with the team for the Yankees series. “They won’t travel with the team for the start of the playoffs,” Healey shared the update.

While Boston will dearly miss their rookie star, Roman is also gutted to miss the playoffs. “I wish I was going on every trip before the playoffs. But I’m not,” Anthony said, according to Healey. “That’s the reality of it. Our best chance to kind of move this thing along and get better is to be with the staff in Fort Myers.” Considering his injury, it was almost expected that Anthony might not play the wild-card round. But his absence takes away a dynamic element that had been giving the Yankees’ pitching a lot of trouble.

During the August faceoff between the Red Sox and Yankees, it was Boston’s rookie who came clutch with a two-run homer in the ninth inning and drove three runs on his memorable Bronx debut, and helped his team win the game. As for the Yankees, the Aaron Judge-led team has only become stronger with their own ‘Anthony’ playing his best baseball lately.

The Yankees’ shortstop, Anthony Volpe, has emerged as the X-factor after going through his own problems this season. According to The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner, Volpe has had a disappointing third year, which has led people to wonder if he is still the Yankees’ shortstop of the future.

He has been a negative on both offense and defense after emerging as one of the best hitters for the Bombers last season. The shortstop, on the other hand, has recently shown signs of getting out of his campaign problems. After getting treatment during the Twins series, Volpe hit .321/.367/.429 with a 125 wRC+ in his last 30 plate appearances.

Volpe’s recent game against Baltimore also showed how valuable he can be for the Yanks during the Boston series. The 24-year-old threw two balls over 100 mph that were outs, including a flyout that would have easily cleared the fence in Cleveland. If the Yankees can get such production out of Volpe during the wild-card series, their lineup will only be more dangerous and will solve a lot of defensive woes.

As a matter of fact, Volpe is also feeling confident about his game and his health. “It feels like you can go out and play and do what you’re trying to do,” Volpe told Greg Joyce of the New York before the Orioles game last week. “We’re here for hours before the game, and you can pretty much test and see where you’re at every day. It just feels good to feel like you progress all the way to the game instead of doing stuff that doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s helping.”

Knowing what damage an in-form Volpe can do to his opponents, skipper Aaron Boone also backed his shortstop. “I think he’s playing well,” Boone said. “I really think defensively, he’s settled in the last month or so, or even longer now, where he’s playing aggressively, he’s attacking the ball. I feel like he’s in a good place out there, looking like Anthony.”

No doubt, the Yankees are feeling better about their shortstop situation also have the home-field advantage, thanks to finishing ahead of the Red Sox. But whether they will be able to beat the Red Sox, only time will tell.