Yankees vs. – Aaron Judge is nearing a stint on the injured list with a rib stress fracture, and the Yankees still have to face the Red Sox in a three-game series starting tonight in the Bronx. Boston has already made roster changes and is missing several familiar names as
By the time the Yankees got back to the Bronx after a week on the road, the series didn’t feel like it had gone anywhere near as cleanly as it could have.
New York opened the stretch in a matchup against the Guardians and dropped the first two games. It finally steadied itself for a 2-1 win in the finale. But the real weight over everything is Aaron Judge. who is about to be placed on the injured list with a rib stress fracture that seems likely to keep him out until August at the absolute earliest.
Tonight, the Yankees don’t get the luxury of wallowing in what went wrong. They host the Red Sox in a three-game series in the Bronx, starting tonight.
Boston arrives with a season that has been substandard so far. and it has already made a move tied to performance: the team demoted the extended Brayan Bello after losing two out of three to the Orioles. For the Red Sox. it’s an opening that comes with a familiar kind of hunger—beat the Yankees this weekend in their own building. especially while New York has to navigate Judge’s absence before it even fully arrives.
The roster picture on both sides has holes where the rivalry normally feels more recognizable. Boston is missing Garrett Crochet, Roman Anthony, Trevor Story, and Garrett Whitlock, all of whom are on the injured list.
If the stakes feel heightened, the pitching matchups help show why. The series now turns on who can seize the early moments—because this is the kind of swing series where a single mistake can turn the whole weekend.
Friday’s game puts Ryan Weathers against Sonny Gray at 7:05 pm ET.
Weathers comes in after a down outing last weekend in Sacramento against the Athletics. His strikeout numbers still looked solid—he struck out 10 batters—but the damage was brutal. He allowed three home runs, including the kind of contact that turns a promising start into a subpar one.
This is also a first for Weathers in more ways than one. It will be his first venture into the rivalry as a member of the Yankees, and also his first appearance in general versus Boston.
Gray, meanwhile, spent the offseason with a long-awaited switch: he was traded to Boston. Since the beginning of May, he has posted a 2.00 ERA and a 2.73 FIP in 27 innings, striking out 28 batters. In this rivalry while he was with the Yankees. he didn’t have much success. but New York’s memory of him there comes with an important caveat—there’s a lot about his time in New York that the Yankees could’ve handled better.
Saturday’s matchup features Will Warren against Ranger Suarez at 7:35 pm ET.
Warren’s last appearance came on the mound for that weird 13-8 win over the Athletics last weekend. He gave up three runs that day, but all of them technically went down as unearned.
Still, his track record against Boston has been rough over his career. The Red Sox have put up a 1.029 OPS against him. and Warren’s career numbers versus Boston include a 9.42 ERA in 14.1 innings. Boston hasn’t faced the 2026 version of Warren that has been very successful. though. and this weekend is where that gap could matter.
Suarez’s season has been a mix of sharp stretches and slower ones. In his recent rhythm, he has been down: he’s been gotten for nine runs in 10 combined innings over his last two starts. Before that, though, he allowed just one run in 21.2 innings across the three starts that came before.
Sunday brings the finale at 1:35 pm ET, with Cam Schlittler facing Connelly Early.
Schlittler’s last time out was arguably the worst start of his young career. The Guardians got him for four runs in just 4.1 innings earlier this week.
But there is one recent point of reference that matters for a pitcher watching the scoreboard: the last time Schlittler took the mound in a headline game against the Red Sox in the Bronx, he was pretty good.
Early is the same man who opposed Schlittler in the Wild Card Series Game 3. and that matchup came with the storyline of a rookie vs. rookie clash. Schlittler decisively won it, though Early wasn’t a total disaster. The fourth inning was the hinge of the game—his defense betrayed him in the four-run fourth inning more than anything else.
Early has also been steady enough overall this year, but the power damage is there: he has allowed six home runs over his last four games.
The series, taken as a whole, carries a simple feeling—New York’s rotation has to absorb the realities of the season it’s already in, and the rivalries it never really pauses for.
With Judge’s rib stress fracture drawing the calendar toward a potential absence until August at the absolute earliest, the Yankees will need wins that can’t be postponed. The Red Sox, meanwhile, will be trying to turn roster gaps and a rougher season start into a statement in the Bronx.
New York Yankees Boston Red Sox Aaron Judge rib stress fracture injured list series preview Ryan Weathers Sonny Gray Will Warren Ranger Suarez Cam Schlittler Connelly Early Brayan Bello