NEW YORK -- When Max Fried first toured Yankee Stadium as a free agent two winters ago, three words stood out: “Prepare, compete, win.”
They were printed on a wall of the weight room, beyond the kettlebells and medicine balls, and they remain imprinted in the left-hander’s mind as a clear shorthand of the organization’s mission.
Fried’s next assignment is similarly straightforward. The Yankees will hand him the ball for Wednesday night’s Game 3 of the American League Division Series against the Rays at Yankee Stadium, looking to save their season.
“It’s a must-win game, obviously,” Fried said on Tuesday. “If we don’t win, we go home. There’s nothing else to save anything for. So I understand that the leash is probably going to be pretty small, and we have to do whatever we can to win. So, for me, it’s just leave everything out there.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone confirmed after Monday night's 5-2 loss at Tropicana Field that Fried will start. A report noted that Fried’s girlfriend, Reni Meyer-Whalley, is expecting the couple’s first child.
Fried acknowledged that is accurate but said that he would prefer to “not get too into the personal stuff.”
“I’ve got a really supportive family that understands that this is my job, and it’s not going to affect what happens tomorrow,” Fried said.
Boone said that Carlos Rodón is in line to start a potential Game 4 on Thursday. Rodón has been available in relief for all four of the Yankees’ postseason games thus far, but he has not pitched since firing eight scoreless innings vs. the Rays on Sept. 22, the first game of a doubleheader in the Bronx.
Pitching coach Matt Blake said that, with Fried and Rodón, they had “two great options.”
“I think just the way it lined up, we wanted to get Max involved in Game 3 and go from there,” Blake said. “I wouldn’t say there was too much debate about it, other than Max has been one of our guys and we want to ride with him here.”
Fried is coming off a sharp outing against the Red Sox in the decisive Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series on Wednesday, when he held Boston to one run on three hits over six innings. Fried walked one and struck out six, his third postseason start since joining the Yankees.
Wednesday will be Fried’s third time facing the Rays this season. He last saw them in the second game of that Sept. 22 doubleheader, taking the loss in a 6 2/3-inning effort as Tampa Bay clinched the AL East.
Fried also went up against the Rays on April 11 at Tropicana Field, taking a no-decision after allowing three runs over eight innings. For his career, Fried is 5-1 with a 1.81 ERA in seven starts vs. Tampa Bay, including 3-0 with a 0.84 ERA in three starts during the 2025 season.
“We’ve got a chance to go win a baseball game [Wednesday] night, and I feel like Max gives us a great opportunity to do that,” Boone said.
Austin Wells, who’ll be behind the plate once again to catch Game 3, said he likes their odds of extending the season behind Fried.
“He can do anything that he wants, honestly, on the mound,” Wells said. “He’s got so many pitches, so much ability to get outs for us. He’s going to go out there and do what he does and give us a great chance to win the ballgame.”
Asked how he would evaluate his 2026 campaign, which saw him twice land on the injured list due to a bone bruise in his pitching elbow, Fried replied: “The season’s not finished for me.”
The Yankees are banking on the fact that when the final pitch of Game 3 is thrown, they’ll be able to say the same.