In hindsight, Tuesday’s 3-1 game one win for the Red Sox (89-73) at Yankee Stadium gave Boston fans everywhere false hope that they had a scrappy team capable of going on a deep run.

They might only have one horse in the starting rotation in Garrett Crochet (18-5, 2.59 ERA), but they’ll be able to do just enough around him to keep that train on the tracks.

Unfortunately, that wishful thinking looked like a full-fledged fever dream by the end of Thursday night, as Boston got blanked 4-0 by the Yankees (94-68), ending their 2025 campaign as their arch rival advanced to the ALDS to take on AL East champion Toronto (94-68).

It was yet another night where the bats went incredibly quiet, with rookie Cam Schlittler (4-3, 2.96 ERA) throwing the game of his life for New York. The Walpole native went 8 innings, striking out 12 on 107 pitches. The kid was dominant with a capital “D,” and the Red Sox offense had zero answers.

And until a debacle of a fourth inning, Boston’s rookie pitcher was also dealing, as 23-year-old Connelly Early (1-2, 2.33 ERA) had been holding New York to a goose egg on the scoreboard as well.

But then came the sloppiness in the bottom of the fourth.

Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Romy Gonzalez all came in on a fly ball by Cody Bellinger, and somehow allowed the baseball to fall between them for a leadoff double. By no fault of his own, Early now had a man in scoring position with no outs - a tough position for any starting pitcher to deal with, let alone a rookie making his fifth career start at the MLB level.

Three batters later, Bellinger was scoring from second on a one-out RBI single by Amed Rosario, allowing New York to draw first blood.

Two batters later, down 2-0 after a walk and three singles, Nathaniel Lowe couldn't field a grounder to first, and two more runs scored to turn it into a 4-0 lead for the Yankees.

One batter later, and Early’s day was done after 3.2 innings and 78  pitches thrown.

The 6 strikeouts show you the type of day the youngster was having, but the adversity caused by the bad defense was too much for the Virginia-product to overcome.

An invisibility cloak for the offense and a lack of concentration in the field are the reasons why Boston got sent packing on Thursday. New York wasn’t particularly dominant on offense in their own right, leaving the Red Sox every opportunity to get back in the game. But they just couldn’t figure out Schlittler, and they’ll now have all offseason long to dissect what happened.

A source tells me that we can expect a true end-of-season press conference from manager Alex Cora, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and team president Sam Kennedy on either Monday or Tuesday of next week. There will be questions aplenty on how this organization plans to take yet another step in the right direction in 2026.

Because make no mistake about it - the 2025 Red Sox were, believe or not, a success story for this franchise:

- They made the postseason for the first time since 2021, taking a game on the road to open their first round series

- Their prized offseason trade acquisition in Crochet was dominant, and will finish among the top three in AL Cy Young voting

- Their No. 1 prospect in Roman Anthony matriculated to the big league come, and immediately became one of the best hitters in the American League before an injured oblique ultimately ended his season

- Their prized free agent acquisition in Alex Bregman made the All-Star team, and immediately lived up the billing as an elite leader in the clubhouse, reportedly having a massive impact on the young talent across the roster

- Their oft-injured former All-Star shortstop Trevor Story had a resurgent season both at the plate and on the base path, ending his 2025 as one of the hottest hitters in the entire sport and firmly entrenching himself in the comeback player of the year conversation

- Their much maligned free agent acquisition Aroldis Chapman (32 saves, 1.17 ERA) is likely going to with AL Rolaids Relief Pitcher of the Year, sporting the lowest ERA he’s had in a season at any point during his 16-year fringe Hall of Fame career

Sure, there’s lots to nitpick. But there will be plenty of offseason to dive into that.

On a night where it can be easy to be frustrated with the result, let’s try to remember that 2025 was the year this team got things back on track.

Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.