Why This Weekend’s Red Sox-Yankees Series Is So Important — For Both Teams

Did the Red Sox break the Yankees?

If nothing else, Boston exposed cracks in New York’s armor the last time the American League East rivals met, kickstarting a stretch where they’ve stormed in opposite directions.

Now, the Red Sox and Yankees enter a three-game series this weekend in the Bronx with their roles reversed: Boston is 12-4 over its last 16 games, a run that began with back-to-back wins over New York at Fenway Park on June 15 and 16. The Yankees are 4-13 over their last 17 games.

The net result? The Yankees falling out of first place — the Baltimore Orioles lead the AL East by two games — and the Red Sox moving into the third wild-card spot. Boston made up 8 1/2 games on New York in the standings and sits 5 1/2 games behind the Yankees before Friday night’s series opener.

While recent performance isn’t necessarily predictive of where the Red Sox and Yankees will land when the dust settles this season, there’s certainly a different vibe emanating from each team as we navigate the summer months with Major League Baseball taking center stage.

The arrow is pointing up for the Red Sox, a scrappy group of underdogs exceeding outside expectations thanks to an all-around team effort. And the arrow is pointing down for the Yankees, a high-profile bunch with both World Series aspirations and impossible-to-ignore flaws.

“You have to get beat down to find out what you are made of,” Yankees superstar slugger Aaron Judge said Thursday, per the New York Post, after a third straight loss to the ho-hum Cincinnati Reds. “We are going to find out real soon.”

The jury remains out on both teams, but there’s no denying the Red Sox already went through the wringer and (so far) lived to tell the tale. Injuries have been a persistent problem for Boston, starting with free-agent acquisition Lucas Giolito before the season and continuing with in-season setbacks (of varying degrees) for Trevor Story, Garrett Whitlock and Triston Casas, among others. Yet, there’s seemingly a collective buy-in — rooted in a next-man-up mentality — that has Alex Cora’s squad firmly in the postseason conversation with the MLB trade deadline less than a month away.

“We all trust each other, and we all love each other, and we’re always playing for each other,” Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran said after a hard-fought Fourth of July win over the Miami Marlins, per MLB.com. ” … That’s one of the things that we can contribute, and when somebody doesn’t get the job done, we know the next guy is going to get it done for us.”

Do the Yankees have that same moxie? Maybe. We just haven’t seen it yet, because they’re still trying to dig themselves out of their current hole. The Yankees peaked early, needing only 72 games to reach the 50-win mark, but it’s been all downhill since, with New York’s starting rotation faltering despite Gerrit Cole’s highly anticipated return and its inability to control opposing running games — a deficiency magnified by the Red Sox in mid-June — proving costly. Even the offense has been a problem, with Judge and fellow stud Juan Soto only able to do so much, especially as the Yankees consistently fall behind in games.

All told, we could learn a lot this weekend — about both teams.

Are the Red Sox serious contenders, a distinction that could force chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s hand at the trade deadline? Are the Yankees frauds, a development few could’ve seen coming when Aaron Boone and company raced out to such an impressive start over the first two-plus months of the 2024 campaign?

Fates won’t necessarily be sealed over the next few days. They just might come into better focus, with one team (Red Sox) looking to sustain its positive momentum while the other (Yankees) seeks to stop its own bleeding.

Friday night’s first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET, and you can watch all the action on NESN, beginning with an hour of pregame coverage.