Ryan Garcia
As the Yankees head up to Fenway to play their first series of the season against the Red Sox, it’s important to not overlook the importance of these games due to Boston’s record
Underwhelming offense alongside some blow-up starts from Garrett Crochet have caused New York’s hated rivals to get off to a slow start at 9-13, but this isn’t unfamiliar territory for the Red Sox.
Last season the Yankees hosted the first series of 2025 with the Red Sox skidding at 30-34 and the Yankees soaring at 38-23; Boston would win that series and proceed to throttle the Bronx Bombers for most of the summer.
While New York would avenge these losses in the Wild Card Round, had they handled the Red Sox in these early-season matchups they would have pushed them out of October and propelled themselves into a first-round bye.
The American League East presented the Yankees with too many troubles in 2025, and after a sweep in Tampa Bay, it’s time for them to put a stop to this trend if they seriously intend to avoid a repeat of last season.
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Why the Yankees Need to Take Matters Into Their Own Hands in the AL East
The Yankees are an uninspiring 53-54 against the American League East since 2024, and in that timespan they have failed to put away some pesky rivals who have pushed them to the brink or actually ended their season.
We can all relish in Cam Schlittler’s heroic Game 3 start, but Boston came dangerously close to sweeping New York in embarassing fashion at Yankee Stadium.
A 9-4 record against the Bronx Bombers aided the Red Sox as they finished just two wins ahead of the Astros, who barely missed nabbing the final Wild Card spot.
Had the Yankees just went one game over .500 in this season series, Boston would have finished with 86 wins and would have missed the postseason entirely while the Yankees would have won 97 games with a first-round bye.
Don’t let anyone understate the importance of divisional games; you have no idea just how much winning a season series will matter until mid-September when playoff scenarios are being decided based on head-to-head records.
If the Astros performed better against the Tigers it would have been Houston advancing to the postseason and Detroit sitting in complete shock over choking away a playoff spot.
You could also just point to the fact that the Yankees lost out on the American League East title due to a tiebreaker, as the Blue Jays won 8 out of their 13 head-to-head matchups and reaped the benefits of it.
New York struggled in their matchups against Baltimore when the two duked it out for the American League East all season, and while that too didn’t matter, it certainly made things closer than it needed to be.
If the Yankees want the best chance to win this division, they need to handle their games against their divisional rivals, and they cannot afford a slow start in this season series.
13 games is all you get; that’s just four series (two at home, two on the road) where you’ll get a chance to make up ground or put a team down even further.
It does not matter that the Red Sox are slumping entering this series, they’ve woken up from deep slumbers to get up for these divisional games, and the Yankees can’t be caught off guard this time.
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