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‘The Yankees are home and have the better team’: Here are Red Sox-Yankees predictions from MLB experts
"The Yankees simply have too much firepower, and Judge is bound to finally deliver in the postseason."
Red Sox-Yankees predictions: Major League Baseball’s iconic rivalry takes the postseason stage in the Bronx once again on Tuesday evening, with the Red Sox traveling to face the Yankees in the best-of-three wild-card series.
It pits a 94-win New York team against an 89-win Boston opponent, with both teams punching their postseason tickets via the wild-card route. The Red Sox are 9-4 against their eternal rivals in 2025, including a 5-2 mark at Yankee Stadium. Still, experts predict that the higher-seeded home team will likely have the advantage.
Here’s a quick roundup of Red Sox-Yankees predictions prior to the start of the series:
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MLB.com
According to MLB.com writer Theo DeRosa, most of those who weighed in think the Yankees will reverse the season trend of Red Sox dominance.
“Roughly two-thirds of our voters expect the Yankees to flip the script,” he wrote.
“The Yankees simply have too much firepower, and [Aaron] Judge is bound to finally deliver in the postseason,” noted MLB reporter Rhett Bollinger.
ESPN
Having surveyed 25 MLB reporters, ESPN found that 18 believe the Yankees will win (with the remaining seven picking Boston).
“The Red Sox are an underdog in the eyes of our voters. How do you think they pull off the upset? In Game 1, they ride the powerful left arm of Garrett Crochet — and a save from Aroldis Chapman — to a low-scoring victory. Then, the Red Sox have to win just one of the next two games to advance. Just as easy as that!” joked ESPN’s David Schoenfield.
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“OK, maybe it’s not quite so simple,” he added, but explained that the ability of the Red Sox to limit the pitching to its top players amid a shorter series could prove to be a decisive factor.
The New York Post
The Post asked six of its writers about the series, and — somewhat incredibly — they all picked the exact same outcome.
“Yankees in 3,” was the universal response.
“We could get cute and point out that the Red Sox have owned every postseason series against the Yankees since the alleged curse was broken. More relevant: The Yankees are home and have the better team,” claimed columnist Mike Vaccaro.
Trivia: Can you name the pitcher with the most all-time postseason wins?
(Answer at the bottom).
Hint: He made All-Star teams in 1996, 2001, and 2010.
Scores and schedules:
The Red Sox face the Yankees in the Bronx tonight at 6:08 p.m. in the first of a best-of-three wild-card series. Boston ace Garrett Crochet will face Max Fried.
The second game (and, if necessary, third game) of the series will also be played at Yankee Stadium. Game Two is set for Wednesday at 6:08 p.m., with the third game coming on Thursday if the two teams split the first pair of contests.
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More from Boston.com:
- 5 keys for Red Sox if they want to eliminate Yankees in Wild Card round
- Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito ruled out of Wild Card series due to elbow injury
- Jayson Tatum: ‘I’m in a good spot’ with recovery from Achilles tear
- 3 takeaways from Bruins’ shootout preseason loss to Flyers
- Joe Mazzulla wants to nip this Payton Pritchard narrative in the bud ‘immediately’
- Bill Nye drops by the Auerbach Center and asks Jaylen Brown a question at Celtics Media Day
- 8 takeaways from Celtics Media Day
- Aaron Boone pushes back against Alex Cora’s underdog label for Red Sox
Some Drake Maye analysis: Rich Eisen shared a take about the Patriots quarterback.
A Patriots schedule update: New England’s Week 6 kickoff time has been moved from 4:25 p.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 12.
On this day: In 2001, Tom Brady made his first career NFL start in what proved to be a 44-13 rout of the Colts. Filling in for the injured Drew Bledsoe, Brady completed just 13 passes for 168 yards, but leaned on the New England defense — which intercepted Peyton Manning three times — and the running game (which tallied 177 yards on the ground along with three touchdowns).
Daily highlight: Though it happened in a losing effort, Justin Fields pulled off a wild fourth down conversion during the Jets’ Monday night defeat to the Dolphins.
Trivia answer: Andy Pettitte
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