Beginning in the third inning Wednesday night, Red Sox manager Alex Cora tried everything he could to ensure his team’s wild card series against the Yankees didn’t go to a decisive third game.

Fortunately for a sport that needs all the can’t-miss moments it can get, Cora’s efforts were for naught.

A wild card round that has gone about as well as Major League Baseball could hope will get the grand finale tonight, when the Yankees host the Red Sox in the last of the three Game 3s at 8:08 PM EST.

That’s one more Game 3 than was played in the wild card round the previous three seasons combined. Such quick series to start the playoffs were bad news for a league hoping to lure back the casual viewer by turning its postseason tournament into an unpredictable free-for-all.

MLB already had two Game 3s cued up by the time the Yankees and Red Sox began play last night. But let’s face it, a Guardians-Tigers or Cubs-Padres clash wasn’t going to draw any eyeballs away from 49ers-Rams.

Nor, really, would a Game 3 between the Dodgers and the Reds, though the presence of Shohei Ohtani and the possibility of the defending champs getting upset would generate some curiosity. (Didn’t matter, the Dodgers rolled to an 8-4 win Wednesday to complete their sweep).

But Red Sox-Yankees? With its roots planted way back when baseball really was the national pastime, this is a matchup guaranteed to pique the interest of the diehards and the Johnny Come Latelys alike.

And if tonight’s game is anywhere near as good as last night’s, it’ll join 1978 (Bucky bleeping Dent homered 47 years ago today to lift the Yankees to victory in the one-game playoff for the AL East crown), 2003 (current manager Aaron Boone hit the walk-off homer in the 11th inning of Game 7 of the ALCS to give the Yankees the pennant) and 2004 (the Red Sox finally vanquished the Yankees by completing their comeback from a three-games-to-none deficit with a 10-3 win in Game 7 of the ALCS rematch) as instant classic Red Sox-Yankees winner-take-all duels.

Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm Jr., who combined for 57 homers, 145 RBIs and 34 stolen bases in the regular season but were left out of the Game 1 lineup by Boone and/or the front office decision-makers, saved them from a winter of second-guessing by making the biggest plays of the game on both sides of the ball.

Rice hit a two-run homer on the first postseason pitch he saw in the first inning. Chisholm began a sparkling, inning-ending 4-6-3 double play immediately after Trevor Story’s two-run single in the third. Four innings later, he kept the game tied 3-3 when, with two on and two outs, he prevented Masataka Yoshida’s single from leaving the infield.

In the eighth, Chisholm took off from first on a 3-2 pitch and scored on Austin Wells’ single down the first base line.

“He’s a gamer,” Boone said. “And, you know, he likes the stage.”

Wells delivered the decisive hit against Red Sox fireman Garrett Whitlock, who threw 48 pitches in 1 2/3 innings — his most pitches in relief since Aug. 30, 2023. The usage of Whitlock capped an aggressive night of managing by Cora, who didn’t announce a potential Game 3 starter beforehand because usual No. 3 starter Lucas Giolito is sidelined by an elbow injury.

Cora pulled starter Brayan Bello after 2 1/3 innings and 28 pitches and used seven pitchers — just the fifth time in team history the Red Sox have employed at least seven pitchers in a nine-inning playoff game. At his postgame press conference, Cora used the term “all-in” to describe his approach.

“We kind of anticipated that going into today and that’s why it was so important for us to jump out to an early lead and make them go to their bullpen right away and use all of their guys,” Rice said.

With Game 3 now necessary, Cora said the Red Sox will start 23-year-old Connelly Early, who has made four big league starts, against 24-year-old Cam Schlittler, who debuted for the Yankees in July.

Two rookie pitchers, still in diapers for the classic 2003 and 2004 ALCS battles, tasked with helping write the next chapter in a storied rivalry — and provide baseball a much-needed night on center stage.

“Two rookies, Game 3, wild card, Yankees-Red Sox,” Cora said. “Imagine that. Should be a fun night.”