BOSTON — For the third time in their last three trips to the postseason, the Red Sox will face the Yankees in the first round, starting Tuesday.
The Blue Jays clinched the American League East and a first-round bye with a 13-4 win over the Rays on Sunday, so the Yankees (who beat Baltimore) own the top wild card spot in the AL. The Red Sox clinched the No. 5 seed by beating the Tigers, 4-3, and will therefore travel to Yankee Stadium for the Wild Card Series, a best-of-three set from Tuesday to Thursday (if necessary).
“It’s New York against Boston,” said manager Alex Cora. “It’s gonna be big.”
Game times haven’t been announced yet but the Red Sox and Yankees will likely play at 6:08 p.m. ET on Tuesday in Game 1 of a best-of-three set. Boston will pitch ace Garrett Crochet. The Yankees will almost certainly pitch lefty Max Fried in the opener. That would set up likely Boston starter Brayan Bello to face lefty Carlos Rodón in Game 2, set for Wednesday.
For the third time in as many trips to the playoffs as Boston’s manager, Cora will open his postseason against the Yankees.
“They have a good team. They have a good rotation,” said Cora. “We know each other, so there’s no secrets. It’s their lefties against our righties. We’ve got Garrett on Tuesday, so it should be fun. I’m looking forward to it.”
Boston went 9-4 against the Yankees this season but New York won the last series between the clubs, taking two of three at Fenway Park from September 12-14. The Red Sox are 5-2 at Yankee Stadium in 2025. They won series there in June (2 of 3) and August (3 of 4).
“We played great. We played good defense and we pitched well over there,” said Cora. “They tell us where and when, and we’re gonna show up. The guys have done a better job on the road the last month or month-and-a-half. We’ll just go there, have fun and enjoy it.”
Crochet faced the Yankees twice in his last seven starts of the season, striking out 11 in seven innings (while allowing a single run) in the Bronx on August 23, then punching out 12 in six innings on September 14 at Fenway. The Red Sox won two of three starts made by both Fried and Rodón this season. A Boston lineup that features lefty-mashers Romy Gonzalez and Rob Refsnyder will be tested this week. The Red Sox went 24-21 against lefty starters in the regular season, a drastic improvement from 2024.
“We’ve done that throughout the year and we’re gonna keep doing it. Obviously, we have struggled a little bit but we put good at-bats against Fried and put good at-bats against Rodón throughout the season and we expect to do the same thing.”
It’s the fifth time since 2003 that the Red Sox and Yankees have squared off the in the postseason. The rivals, of course, each won a dramatic ALCS early in the century. Boston won the 2018 ALDS in four games then the last postseason game between the clubs in 2021 when the Red Sox won the one-off Wild Card Game, 6-2.
The winner of the Red Sox-Yankees series will face the Blue Jays in the ALDS, which begins Saturday in Toronto. Detroit will travel to Cleveland for a best-of-three with the winner of that series going to Seattle for the ALDS.