Red Sox vs. Yankees MLB Wild Card Series Preview and Prediction
The Major League Baseball postseason will waste no time providing fans with the best rivalry in the entire sport, as the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees will go head-to-head right away in a Wild Card series.
Both of these American League East foes settled for wild-card spots after watching the Toronto Blue Jays win the division, but – as history has taught us – anything can happen in the playoffs once you punch your ticket to the dance. Each team in this series will have realistic designs of going all the way to the World Series.
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Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees MLB Wild Card Series Odds and Betting Trends
The Yankees are considerable favourites to win this series, which is no surprise. They finished five games ahead of the Red Sox in the standings and played especially incredible baseball coming down the stretch of the regular season. In fact, the odds indicate that New York sweeping Boston in two straight games is the most likely outcome of this best-of-three showdown.
However, it was the Red Sox who dominated the head-to-head regular-season series 9-4. They have also won the last three postseason matchups against the Yankees, including 3-1 in the 2018 ALDS and in a one-game wild-card playoff four years ago.
Boston Red Sox
There were a lot of question marks surrounding the Red Sox in 2025 – especially after they traded Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants on June 15. Nonetheless, the offence got a jolt from rookie Roman Anthony, and Boston was able to secure a wild-card berth without too much trouble. It finished two games ahead of the Detroit Tigers (No. 3 wild card team) and the Houston Astros (eliminated).
The Red Sox went 6-3 in their last nine games, so they have some momentum going into the playoffs. That stretch featured series victories over two other postseason representatives in the Tigers and Blue Jays.
New York Yankees
The Yankees did well to make the AL East competitive, catching fire down the stretch to put heat on the Blue Jays. New York ended the regular season on an eight-game winning streak and won 11 of its last 12 overall. Toronto managed to hang on – prevailing via a head-to-head tiebreaker – by winning its final four games.
Gerrit Cole has missed the entire year, but newcomer Max Fried has picked up the slack to become New York’s ace. Fried will have to step up in the postseason – as he did for the Atlanta Braves during their 2021 run to a World Series triumph – with Cole unavailable. Offensively, Jazz Chisolm Jr. is day-to-day with a forearm injury but should be good to go for Tuesday’s series opener.
MLB Prediction: Who Will Win Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees?
The Red Sox have outstanding value as underdogs, so backing them to win the series 2-1 should be the play.
They absolutely owned the Yankees during the regular season, winning nine of the 14 contests. Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello will start the first two games this week. Crochet (18-5, 2.59 ERA, 1.03 WHIP) has been awesome this year, and Bello during the regular season went 2-1 with a 1.89 ERA in three appearances against New York. Moreover, the Sox have been locked into a wild-card spot for more than a week now – whereas the Yankees’ furious push for the AL East crown did not end until Sunday. This is an ideal spot for Boston to pull off an upset.
