The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry is always one of the biggest stories in baseball, as the two teams have been duking it out for over 120 years, with their first ever matchup coming just after the turn of the 20th century.
Franchise legends for both sides have produced unforgettable moments, like Aaron Boone, who is now managing the Yankees, hitting a walkoff home run in Game 7 against Boston to send them home in the 2003 ALCS. The following year, Boston would overcome a 3-1 series deficit against New York in the 2004 ALCS en route to their first World Series win in 86 years.
The latest rendition of the Boston-New York rivalry has yet to start in 2025, with the first series between the two set for June 6-8 at Yankee Stadium, and then another set for June 13-15 at Fenway Park.
While the days of Derek Jeter and David Ortiz may be over, these two clubs still pose stars up and down the roster. Aaron Judge has been one of the best hitters in baseball for the past couple years and is on pace to set records this season. Judge sits tied for the home run lead (15), and first in average (.412), RBIs (41) and OPS (1.279) across the league through mid-May.
For Boston, their season has been headlined by the Rafael Devers positional drama, and perhaps the most impactful free agent signing of the offseason in Alex Bregman. The former Astro has been giving the Red Sox an offensive boost from the get-go, leading the team in batting average, hits, home runs, slugging and OPS.
To catch fans up on where the two teams stand, Boston has been reeling as of late, sitting at 22-23, 3rd in the AL East and 4 games back of the Yankees as of May 15. New York leads the AL East with a 25-18 overall record, and 6-4 in their last ten games.
The Red Sox have been hit with the injury bug over the past couple of weeks, most notably Triston Casas suffering a devastating season-ending knee injury against the Twins on May 2nd. Boston's starting rotation has taken a hit as well, with Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello starting the season on the injured list, and Walker Buehler currently on the shelf with a shoulder injury.
Boston has a lot to clean up before they head into their biggest series of the season to date against the Yankees in early June. The offense is not the problem, ranking sixth in runs scored per game with 4.91. The rival Yankees currently lead the league in that department, with a whopping 5.81 runs scored per game.
The Red Sox bullpen is where the problem lies, as the team failed to address it successfully in the offseason. They replaced Kenley Jansen with Aroldis Chapman, and let one of their more reliable arms in Chris Martin walk in free agency to the Texas Rangers.
It has become a recurring theme, sadly, for the Red Sox. They broke the bank with Alex Bregman, which looks like an amazing addition thus far, but they failed to address a bullpen unit that has given them problems ever since 2021.
Red Sox Need Better Results From Bullpen Before Yankees Series
Since moving on from Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin this past offseason, the Red Sox bullpen leads the MLB in blown saves with 11, and have recorded two of those in their latest series against the Tigers and Royals. They have had 21 save opportunities so far, but are a despicable 48% in those opportunities. The only teams with a worse save percentage are the White Sox, Rockies and Marlins, three of the worst teams in the league.
Aroldis Chapman has handled the bulk of the closing duties for Boston, recording 6 saves along with a 2.25 ERA in 18 appearances. Justin Slaten has recorded 3 saves of his own, with a 4.76 ERA in 17 innings.
Liam Hendriks has been a bright spot as of late, not allowing a run in his last 9 innings after getting hit hard in his first appearance out of the pen on April 20th. The 36-year old has a 1.80 ERA thus far after a two-year injury absence.
The team has not gotten good outings from Garrett Whitlock recently after he started the season well. He's pitched to a 9.64 ERA in May after posting a 3.95 ERA across 13.2 innings in April.
To add more salt on the wound for the bullpen, the Red Sox starters have combined for 19 quality starts (4th most in the MLB) this season. Boston's rotation, headlined by Garrett Crochet, has been able to give the team a chance going into the later innings in nearly half of the team's games this season.
In terms of improving the bullpen before June, there isn't much the Red Sox can do from within their farm system. Boston's best pitching prospect is Luis Perales, a 22-year-old right handed starter that is not expected to be called up until 2027. They don't have a top arm coming in from the minor leagues, so they could look to bring in a veteran arm, like David Robertson, on the free agent market.
It may be too early to decide which direction this Red Sox season is gonna go just halfway through May, but if they find themselves in a position to contend come late July, making a trade for a bullpen arm should be in the cards if Boston wants to make a postseason push.
Against a high-powered offense that the Yankees pose, not only will the rotation need to go into the middle innings, but the bullpen will need to be better if the Red Sox want to steal a series in the Bronx. They have three weeks to figure out the bullpen before another page is turned in "The Rivalry".
Boston will look to climb back above .500 in the coming weeks, but they will be tested in that span as well. The Red Sox have a series with the Braves, Mets and Brewers before taking on the Yankees for the first time in 2025.