The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are going to renew their rivalry in the Wild Card round of the playoffs again this year. The same two teams met in the Wild Card round last year, and after the Red Sox won the opening game of the series behind the dominant pitching of Garrett Crochet, the Yankees shut down the Red Sox in Games 2 and 3 and won the series.
The Yankees are favored to win the series and advance to the divisional playoffs where they will meet the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays. However, the Red Sox have the pitching staff — including the bullpen — to challenge and possibly beat the Yankees. The thought of losing to the Red Sox is certainly nauseating to Yankees fans. They view their team as far superior to the team from Boston and seem to believe it is their birthright to lord it over their rivals.
The teams themselves seem to have more respect for each other than the fan bases do. Yankees manager Aaron Boone was great friends with former manager Alex Cora, and he has displayed no angst towards humble Red Sox boss Chad Tracy. Red Sox players regularly talk about the Yankees roster with respect.
The respect factor could disappear with one bang-bang play at the plate, an umpire's decision or a crucial home run delivered in the late innings.
Here's a look at 3 bold predictions for the Boston-New York Wild Card series.
Schlittler gets the Yankees off on the right foot
Cam Schlittler is going to win the Cy Young Award in the American League, and the vote may turn out to be unanimous. Schlittler is the premier power pitcher in the AL, and he is going to come at the Red Sox with his high fastball that will induce multiple swings and misses.
The Red Sox went through a memorable 32-5 stretch during July and early August where they were able to deliver clutch hits and score key runs when asked to battle from behind. But other than one home game against the Schlittler in June, they have been unable to contend with the pitcher's power, command and ability to take over a game.
The belief is that the Red Sox will try to take advantage of the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium with the left-handed bats of Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu and recently acquired switch hitter Adley Rutschman doing most of the damage. The reality is that Abreu may have a chance to connect with a long ball, but Anthony and Rutschman will be out of their depth against Schlittler.
The Red Sox won't score more than 1 or 2 runs against Schlittler and that won't be enough. The Yankees may not have Aaron Judge in the lineup, but Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt will give Schlittler all the support he needs to win Game 1 against Red Sox power pitcher Payton Tolle.
The Red Sox will need to be at their best just to challenge Schlittler. They should be able to get an early run, but Schlittler will dominate after that and the Yankees will seize control in the middle innings.
Red Sox bounce back in Game 2
This series will follow a different script than last year's series. The Red Sox could not sustain their Game 1 success because they did not have a healthy, run producing lineup and they did not have much competitive juice in Games 2 and 3.
The Red Sox will get far more from their lineup in Game 2, just because Schlittler is not on the mound. Max Fried is not an easy touch, but the Red Sox will find a way to scratch out runs in multiple innings. Anthony has shown a few flashes since returning from the hand injury that kept him out for the majority of the season.
Article Continues BelowHe should be able to find the right field seats if Fried makes a mistake to him, and the Red Sox are counting on Willson Contreras and Trevor Story to come through with clutch hits as well. Red Sox ace Sonny Gray has the know-how and command to keep the Yankees in check.
The Red Sox do just enough on offense in Game 2 to scratch out a victory and send this series to a decisive third game.
Suarez and bullpen will give Sox a chance in decisive game
The Red Sox signed former Phillies ace Ranger Suarez because of his success as a postseason pitcher.
He has a 4-1 career postseason record with a 1.48 earned run average and 44 strikeouts in 42.2 innings. He seems to thrive on postseason competition, and he excels with his command. Another plus for Suarez is his ability to field his position. He has lightning quick reactions and can turn hard shots through the box into outs or double plays if there are runners on base.
On the other hand, Gerrit Cole of the Yankees has not been consistent this year since returning from elbow surgery that kept him out of the 2025 season. He has a 3.41 ERA in 17 starts for the Yankees and 95.0 innings on the mound. He still throws hard but he is not overpowering as he had 99 strikeouts in 95.0 innings.
The Red Sox should be able to take a slight lead through six innings and turn the game over to their bullpen. If they can survive the seventh inning, they can turn the game over to dynamic Garrett Whitlock in the eighth inning and dominant Aroldis Chapman in the 9th.
The key is surviving the seventh with Greg Weissert or Jovani Moran on the mound. The best choice may be hard-throwing rookie Jake Bennett, who appears to be unflappable in pressure situations. Of course, he has never faced this kind of pressure, and this is the acid test.
Look for the Red Sox to survive and advance to the divisional round against the powerful Rays.