Yankees vs. Red Sox: Five things to watch in the AL East rivals' first meeting of the season

BOSTON — The Yankees, who were a couple of blown saves by the Angels’ Jordan Romano from a nine-game losing streak, appeared to somewhat right themselves this past weekend in sweeping the Royals at the Stadium.

Next is a nine-game, three-city trip that starts Tuesday night at Fenway Park against the Red Sox. Here are five things to watch in the Yankees’ first meeting of the season with their arch-rival:

1. Setting a tone for 2026

The Yankees struggled throughout 2025 against the league’s better teams, in the AL East in particular. They went 5-8 against the Blue Jays, that record as much a reason as any for the Yankees, who went 94-68, losing a tiebreaker to Toronto for the East title. That allowed the Blue Jays to not only host the Yankees in the ALDS but forced the Yankees to play a tough Red Sox team in the Wild Card Series. The Yankees went just 4-9 against Boston last season and were fortunate not to have been swept in that series. The Red Sox (9-13) and manager Alex Cora are off to a rough start and would like nothing better than to get healthy against the Yankees.

2. Cam Schlittler at Fenway

The righthander threw historically well against the Red Sox in the deciding third game of the 2025 Wild Card Series, striking out 12 over eight innings of the Yankees’ 4-0 victory. Schlittler, slated to start Thursday’s series finale, now gets a crack at the team he was a fan of, growing up in Walpole, Massachusetts, for the first time in the regular season, doing so at the ballpark he dreamed of one day pitching in as a kid.

The 25-year-old, who had an electric 14-game MLB debut last season after his July call-up, is off to a good start, 2-1 with a 1.95 ERA in five outings. Before last October’s playoff game, Schlittler drew motivation from some of the online abuse he took (and, more significant to him, his family took) from Red Sox fans. He expects it to be ugly toward him Thursday, and the Fenway crowd isn’t likely to disappoint in that regard.

3. Rice’s hot bat in enemy territory

First baseman Ben Rice, like Schlittler, grew up close to Boston, in his case Cohasset, Massachusetts. But, unlike Schlittler, Rice was a Yankees fan. The 27-year-old has had his moments against the Red Sox in his young career, becoming the first rookie in franchise history to hit three home runs in a game, doing so against Boston on July 6, 2024.

Rice has homered four times total against the Red Sox in 18 career games, with a .822 OPS, but little of that success has come at Fenway where Rice has a .590 OPS with no homers. Rice, however, has charged out of the gate in the early going, ranking among the league leaders in just about every offensive category of significance.

4. A good test for the bullpen

The bullpen, the one area of the team coming out of the spring that had the organization concerned, has been up and down, with manager Aaron Boone continuing the search for a lockdown option (or two) in front of closer David Bednar. Tim Hill has been the best of the group, followed closely by Brent Headrick. Fernando Cruz and Paul Blackburn have been mostly solid but Camilo Doval, whom the Yankees hoped would occupy the set-up role, has not.

The late Don Zimmer, who managed four teams, including the Red Sox, and was later a bench coach for Joe Torre, used to chew the latter’s ear off during games at Fenway, telling the manager that no lead was ever safe in the venerable and quirky ballpark. Even the best bullpens can struggle at Fenway; the inconsistent ones get exposed in a hurry.

5. Luis Gil trying to hold on

Gerrit Cole just started a rehab assignment and Carlos Rodon will soon be doing the same, meaning two less spots in the rotation. Ryan Weathers, who started Sunday, is all but certain to be moved to the bullpen and it likely will come down to Luis Gil or Will Warren as the other starter going to the ’pen when the rotation is whole.

Warren is well ahead of Gil, who starts Tuesday, when it comes to sticking, posting a 2.49 ERA in five starts. Gil, who started the season in Triple-A because off days didn’t require the use of a fifth starter, has a 7.00 ERA in his two starts.

If he doesn’t soon recapture at least some of the form that made him the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year, Gil going to the bullpen isn’t automatic, with a demotion back to the minors a possibility.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.