Yankees vs. Red Sox: The AL Wild-Card round blog
Yankee Stadium on Monday as it gets ready to host the AL Wild-Card Series against the Red Sox this week. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
The Yankees and Red Sox renew their long-standing rivalry by facing each other in the AL Wild-Card round.
Yankees-Red Sox ticket prices on the secondary market
Looking to head to the Bronx for the American League Wild Card Series between the Yankees and the Red Sox?
Here’s what ticket prices look like for each of the three games, according to TickPick as of noon Monday.
Game 1, Tuesday, 8 p.m.
Get-in price: $108
Average ticket cost: $360
Game 2, Wednesday, 8 p.m.
Get-in price: $113
Average ticket cost: $400
Game 3 (if necessary), Thursday, 8 p.m.
Get-in price: $112
Average ticket cost: $401
Red Sox set pitching rotation for series
Red Sox manager Chad Tracy announced early Monday afternoon that power lefty Payton Tolle will start Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series, with former Yankee Sonny Gray set for Game 2. If a Game 3 is necessary, it will be Ranger Suarez.
Tolle, 9-6 with a 3.03 ERA in 26 starts this season, went 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA in two starts against the Yankees.
Gray, an AL Cy Young Award candidate, went 18-5 with a 2.72 ERA in 29 starts. He faced the Yankees twice, going 1-0 with a 1.98 ERA.
Suarez went 8-5 with a 3.22 ERA in 28 starts, including 0-6 with a 6.06 ERA in three starts against the Yankees.
The Red Sox were scheduled to work out on the Yankee Stadium field at 1 p.m. Monday but, as of 12:55 p.m., it was still raining in The Bronx and the tarp was on the field.
Yankees and Red Sox meet again in playoffs
The Yankees and Red Sox will square off in the best-of-three American League Wild-Card Series a second straight season, with Game 1 scheduled for 8 p.m. Tuesday night at the Stadium.
Game 2 is Wednesday night with Game 3, if necessary, Thursday night.
All games will be played at the Stadium.
It is the first time the long-time rivals have met in back-to-back postseasons since the epic ALCS battles of 2003 and 2004.
The Yankees won in ’03, winning the pennant in a memorable Game 7 at old Yankee Stadium on a walk-off homer by current manager Aaron Boone. That game brought an end to Grady Little’s managerial tenure in Boston and his replacement, Terry Francona, would become a long-time tormentor of the Yankees. That started a year later in the ALCS when the Red Sox became the first, and still only, Major League Baseball club in history to come back from a three-games-to-none deficit to win a series.
Both the Yankees and Red Sox are scheduled to work out this afternoon in The Bronx, weather permitting.
The Red Sox flew to New York late Sunday night from Tampa, Florida. Because of the nor’easter that hammered the East Coast over the weekend, the Red Sox's regular season-finale against the Cubs was moved, as a precautionary move, to Tropicana Field, home of the Rays.
The Red Sox, who have not yet announced their Game 1 starter but will early this afternoon, are scheduled to work out at 1 p.m. The Yankees, who announced Cam Schlittler as their Game 1 starter Sunday afternoon, are scheduled to work out at 3:15 p.m.
Your radio and TV choices for Yankees vs. Red Sox
Anthony Rizzo, left, with Bob Costas on the NBC set at Fenway Park on June 28, 2026. Credit: NBC Sports
The Yankees-Red Sox series will be broadcast on NBC and streamed on Peacock in NBC's first season as the TV carrier for all four Wild-Card series.
All season, NBC has used its own play-by-play announcers (with Jason Benetti as the No. 1) and analysts from each team for its MLB slate.
Benetti will call the Yankees-Red Sox series with Joe Girardi moving from the YES booth to the NBC booth as the Yankees-related analyst. The Red Sox will be represented by NESN's Lou Merloni. Former Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo will be the "Inside the Pitch" analyst, giving the hitter's perspective usually from a spot near one of the dugouts. Rizzo also will join Bob Costas from Yankee Stadium for NBC's pregame show.
On the radio side, Dave Sims and Suzyn Waldman will call the games as usual for WFAN. A new wrinkle for this series is Yankees TV play-by-play man on Michael Kay will be doing the national radio broadcast for ESPN. It will be heard locally on 1050 AM, with Game 2 also on 880. Kay will be joined by analysts Eduardo Perez and Tim Kurkjian.
The Yankees-Red Sox playoff history
Pedro Martinez grabs Don Zimmer by the head as he tosses him to the ground in the fourth inning during a melee in Game 3 of the ALCS at Fenway Park on Oct. 11, 2003. Credit: Newsday/Paul J. Bereswill
The rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox began more than 100 years ago. And since MLB first added wild cards to its postseason format in 1995, the Yankees and Red Sox have met in the playoffs six times before this year's Wild-Card best-of-three series.
Here's how they went:
1999: Yankees win the ALCS, 4-1
Game 3 featured a legendary matchup of pitchers in Roger Clemens vs. Pedro Martinez. The Red Sox handled their business in that game, but the Yankees took care of the series in relatively smooth fashion. Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez was the ALCS MVP with two impressive starts, including the win in Game 5.
2003: Yankees win the ALCS, 4–3
Perhaps the pinnacle of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry over the last few generations of fans, at least from a New York point of view. This series had it all: bench-clearing brouhahas, players tossing coaches to the ground, players hopping outfield fences and fighting with the grounds crew. And that was just Game 3! Eventually, it got to a Game 7 at Yankee Stadium, a night that included three innings of scoreless relief by both Mike Mussina and Mariano Rivera, an eighth-inning rally against Pedro Martinez, and, of course, Aaron "Bleeping" Boone's walkoff homer in the bottom of the 11th inning to send the Yankees to the World Series.
2004: Red Sox win the ALCS, 4-3
The Yankees led this series, 3-0, before Boston made MLB history by becoming the first (and still the only) team to come back and win a postseason series after dropping the first three games. The Red Sox won the World Series that season, ending an 86-year drought and effectively ending "The Curse of the Bambino."
2018: Red Sox win ALDS, 3–1
Masahiro Tanaka had the lone win for the Yankees in Game 2. But Game 3 saw the Yankees suffer their worst postseason loss in franchise history, a 16-1 drubbing at home.
2021: Red Sox win AL Wild-Card game, 1-0
The Wild-Card round was still just a single game playoff, and the Red Sox took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run homer off Gerrit Cole. The Red Sox never looked back.
2025: Yankees win AL Wild-Card series, 2-1
Cam Schlittler entered the chat. The Massachusetts-born and raised pitcher struck out 12 over eight innings in the Yankees' 4-0 win in Game 3 to beat his hometown team.
Pitching matchups for Yankees-Red Sox series
The Red Sox said they will wait until Monday to announce their pitching rotation for the three-game Wild-Card series with the Yankees.
The Yankees, however, released their rotation on Sunday.
Game 1: Cam Schlittler (14-6, 1.95 ERA)
Game 2: Max Fried (5-5, 2.80)
Game 3 (if necessary): Gerrit Cole (10-9, 3.61)
Yankees vs. Red Sox wild-card schedule
Members of the New York Yankees stand as the national anthem is performed ahead of game one of the American League Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on September 30, 2025. Credit: Getty Images
All games in this best-of-three AL Wild-Card series will be played at Yankee Stadium and broadcast on NBC and its Peacock streaming platform.
Game 1: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 8 p.m.
Game 2: Wednesday, Sept. 30, 8 p.m.
Game 3 (if necessary): Thursday, Oct. 1, TBD
The winning team will face the top-seeded Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS starting on Saturday, Oct. 3. That series will be shown on TBS and HBO Max.
