Aaron Boone likes to compartmentalize and, with all the hype that will probably accompany this weekend’s series in the Bronx between the Yankees and Red Sox, that’s probably the wise way to approach it, no matter how crucial the series may be.
“It’s like, what do we got Friday?” the Yankees’ manager asked rhetorically. “We got Cam (Schlittler) going and, go out there and try and play our best. Don’t get obsessed with the results and the results of the weekend when you’ve got to take care of the first pitch of the first inning on Friday night. So that’s how I look at it.”
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Smart outlook, but try telling that to either fanbase. Doubtless, those folks are torqued up about the results. And they should be. The final series of the season between the teams – barring playoffs, of course – is a gut check that’s also loaded with October implications. Might even be a referendum on whether the Yanks can handle being force-fed lefty pitchers come the postseason, too.
At one point this year, it looked like this four-games-in-three-days clash would just be so much schedule-filler. The last time the Yanks and Sox met, in June, Boston came in 14 games below .500, a wreck that had long before fired manager Alex Cora.
But they wiped out the Yanks in four games at Fenway Park, a sweep that started a binge. Since then, the Red Sox are 41-14, including a 15-game winning streak that matched their franchise record, and have morphed to one of the most dangerous teams in the American League.
“They got us at their place pretty good,” as Aaron Judge put it Thursday. He added: “They went on a great run and continue to play some great baseball, so it’ll be exciting here.”
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“The reality is, they pitch really well every day,” Boone said, “both from a starting standpoint and a bullpen standpoint. Some of the people they brought in, like (Willson) Contreras – he’s come in and been a beast and a staple in the middle of their order. You’ve seen guys like (Ceddanne) Rafaela go to another level. They’ve had some of their support parts kind of step up and play well, so they’re one of the best teams in the game right now.”
So are the Yankees, who are 75-58 after losing the finale of a series to Houston Thursday. That 5-1 loss was a bad game for the Yankees; their offense fizzled again and kid shortstop George Lombard Jr. made an error for the sixth consecutive game, a considerable red flag. So most of the post-game questions were about empty swings or Lombard’s confidence.
Still, the Yanks sit in second place in the AL East division, four games behind the Rays, and own the first AL wild-card spot. Boston (73-60) is six out and holds the second AL wild-card.
The Red Sox lead the season series, 5-4, so splitting the series would give Boston a tie-breaker against the Yanks. Every little bit helps, especially considering that the AL is no juggernaut league this year.
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Unless either team makes a big move in the division race – or fades to third in the wild-card scramble – Yanks-Red Sox looms as the most likely first-round playoff match. What fun.
Jun 25, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler (31) looks on as Boston Red Sox third baseman Caleb Durbin (5) hits a two run home run in the fifth inning at Fenway Park. / David Butler II-Imagn Images
And hosting that series figures to be vital. Hosting helped the Yanks last October when they dropped the first game of the Wild Card Series to Boston at Yankee Stadium and then won the last two games in a friendly space.
Not having home-field obviously hurt the Yanks one series later. Toronto was a hellscape for the Yankees last season. The Blue Jays won the season series and, thus, the division when both clubs finished 94-68, so they held home-field when the teams met in the AL Division Series. The Jays splattered the Yanks in each of the first two games in Toronto before the Yanks salvaged Game 3. Their season ended in Game 4.
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It’s all a tasty backdrop to Yankees-Red Sox this weekend, which features a day-night doubleheader Saturday. The Yanks are sending a Sox-killer to the mound Friday in Schlittler: He has a 0.68 ERA in four starts lifetime against his hometown team, including a playoff gem last year.
Judge, unfortunately for the Yanks, won’t play, though he says he feels good as he continues to recover from a stress fracture in a rib. But Max Fried might return. He could face the Red Sox in one of the doubleheader games. “We’ll see,” Boone said.
Even if Fried doesn’t pitch in this series, he’ll be back soon after. Judge, who says he feels good, is aiming for a return next month. When the Yanks are whole, they should be even more imposing.
“People got on us about running it back, but we had a special, special thing last year,” Judge said. “I know it didn’t end the way we wanted it to. But to get us all healthy, see some good things from our young guys filling some holes for us, we’ll be right where we need to be.
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“I think our pitching staff has carried the load all year and it’ll continue to carry the load into the postseason. But once you get all our guys helping the offensive side, that’s going to be dangerous.”
Still, potential October opponents will be watching this series for intel they can use against the Yanks. Boston is scheduled to start three left-handers in the four games – Patrick Sandoval, Jake Bennett and Ranger Suarez. Without the right-handed Judge, the Yanks are down a significant weapon against lefty pitching.
The Yanks’ skew left-handed, so they might seem vulnerable against southpaws. While the Yanks are 28-17 this year in games started by left-handers this year, their numbers have backslid against them since Judge last played on May 31.
They are 27th in average (.226) and 25th in OPS (.664) against lefties since then and they have the second-highest strikeout percentage against them.
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It’s a question the Yankees will have to manage this weekend and beyond. There will be questions about Lombard, too, as well as the offense, which had seemed revived, at least for the three games before Thursday night.
“We’ve got to flip the script here,” Boone said. In one of the biggest series of the year, no less.
Boone and the Yanks will compartmentalize. The rest of us? We’ll obsess over the results and all their implications.
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