Red Sox vs Yankees Part 2

Zak Drapeau
Jun 13
5 min read

by Zak Drapeau 6/13/2025 FanOnlySportz

For the second series this season the the greatest rivalry in sports will take place between the Red Sox and Yankees. The first series occurred just 1 week ago in New York with the Red Sox winning the 2nd and 3rd game of the series for a 2-1 lead. This series is back in Fenway and will be the spotlight matchup of the weekend culminating in a huge Sunday Night Baseball game.

Both teams have been amongst the best batting teams in the league all season and especially in the last few weeks. Carried by Aaron Judge, the Yankees have scored 40 runs in there last 6 games, while the Red Sox have scored 53 in their last 7.

The Red Sox bats have been well spread out, with players like Trevor Story, Romy Gonzalez, Marcelo Mayer and Jarren Duran leading the way. In just their last series against the Yankees, the teams would score 27 and 23 points with the Red Sox coming out on top.

A high-scoring series seems imminent with the streak of hitting from both teams, however several key pitching matchups may keep them in check.

Matchups

Friday - Crochet vs Yarbrough

Garrett Crochet has been the best pitcher for the Red Sox by far this season. His 2.35 ERA is 9th in the AL and his 110 Strikeouts is 2nd, trailing Tarik Skubal by only 1. Crochet has been the man this season but is he the man vs the Yankees? In his lone start against the "bad guys", Crochet got worked and surrendered 5 earned runs in 6 innings, (in part thanks to bad defense). That marked his most earned runs by far this season and raised his then sub-2.00 ERA to the 2.35 it is today.

Ryan Yarbrough opposed Crochet in the same game last weekend and would do even worse; giving up 8 earned in 4 innings of work. Yarbrough's 4.17 ERA in his 14 games have mostly come as a reliever, with his 6 starts only coming because of injuries to guys like Cole, Stroman and Carrasco. Before the blow up against the Red Sox, Yarborugh was kind of on fire. In his previous 5 starts Yarbrough would only give up 6 earned in 26 innings.

With both of their lone blow ups happening against each other and both teams' bats being amongst the hottest in the league, all eyes will be on these pitchers to see if they can keep their momentum going or fall to the pressure again.

Saturday - Dobbins vs Rodon

Hunter Dobbins grabbed all of the headlines before the last series with his comment, "I'd rather retire than play for the Yankees." He will take the mound against the pinstripes again on Saturday after having a decent outing with 3 earned runs in 5 innings that would score him a Win for the game. After his comments, one player who was determined to make him pay was Aaron Judge, who would go yard on Dobbins in the very first pitch he saw from him and would stare him down as he slowly trotted to first base. Dobbins, 3-1 with 8 games started so far this season, has been a fill in since Tanner Houck went to the IL and has done great especially considering his back-and-forth role as a starter and reliever.

Carlos Rodon has been one of the best pitchers in the league this season with a 2.87 ERA and 103 Strikeouts. Rodon's momentum had gotten really hot in his previous 4 starts with 4 earned runs in 25 innings and 4-straight wins. Rodon's 103 strikeouts are 5th in the AL and compared to his 30 walks on the season, Rodon has one of the best commands in the league. His worst start of the year came against the Red Sox last Sunday when he gave up 5 earned in 5 innings.

With New York's bad blood against Dobbins right now and Rodon definitely having redemption on his mind, a Yankees win on Saturday may mean the most to the team. This will be the first of two matchups where the pitching is VERY MUCH in favor of the Yankees and on paper they should get the win. Let's see if the Red Sox back Dobbins up with their bats.

Sunday - Bello vs Fried

Brayan Bello didn't get a start in the previous series and is probably the pitcher going into this series with the most questions. Scheduled to be featured on Sunday Night Baseball, Bello's 16 earned runs in his last 25.1 innings has put him in the middle of his worst stretch of the year. Bello's matchup on SNB versus Max Fried will either need to be his best performance of the year, be backed up by some serious hitting or will fall to his opponent in a possibly embarrassing fashion.

Max Fried didn't get the mound last time against the Sox and will look to shut down the Yanks' rivals as he's done countless times this season against other opponents. Fried has the 3rd best ERA in the AL with a 1.84 while also pitching the 4th most innings in the conference as well. Fried hasn't been the best strikeout artist or the best at home run prevention, what he has excelled at is run prevention in quality starts. In Fried's previous 12 starts, he has gone at least 6 innings 10 times while allowing 3 or more runs only once.

Fried's run of quality starts has been so electric, it's hard to fathom how he could be outperformed by Bello. With the lights on bright on Sunday night, Fried's expected win should be well within grasp.

Final Predictions

I will predict the Red Sox winning tonight but to be bested on Saturday and Sunday. The Red Sox' bats will be the true wild card with 53 runs scored in their last 7 games but unfortunately, the 1-2 punch of Rodon and Fried may be too much for them to handle when coupled with the offensive power of the Yankees.

Aaron Judge, Ben Rice, Paul Goldschmidt and D.J. Lemahieu have all been great this season with the former, Judge, being in the midst of one of the greatest single batting seasons ever and no that is not a hyperbole.

Judge's 2025 season has been nothing short of historic. Leading the league in AVG, OBP, SLG, hits, while also 2nd in HRs and RBIs, it's fair to say Judge is the best hitter in baseball for the 3rd consecutive season. 6/14 with 2 HRs and 5 RBIs, Judge considered his last series against the Red Sox as "not great". It's scary to think of what Judge could do to the Sox in a "great" series.

In my opinion, the biggest swing game is Saturday where anything could happen. This will likely be a high-scoring series besides the runs from Crochet and Fried. A high-scoring Red Sox-Yankees series on Father's Day weekend... What could be better.

A Red Sox Sweep that's what!