Red Sox vs. Yankees Game 1 Prediction: Best Bets for AL Wild Card

The Boston Red Sox (87-75) and New York Yankees (93-68) meet in Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET, and the game can be viewed or streamed on NBC.

These bitter rivals meet in the postseason for the seventh time in franchise history. These teams started facing each other in 1999 in the playoffs, once the playoffs expanded to include non-division winners.

In the previous meetings, the Red Sox have won three series, and the Yankees have won three series, including the 2025 American League Wild Card Series. Cam Schlittler pitched the Yankees to a victory last season, twirling eight scoreless frames with 12 strikeouts.

The most famous series between the two might be the 2004 ALCS, however, as the Red Sox trailed 0-3 in the series, but won four consecutive games to become the first and only team to erase an 0-3 series deficit to win a series.

The Yankees edged the Red Sox 7-6 in the 13-game regular-season series, including 4-2 in six meetings at The Stadium in the Bronx. The Under went 3-2-1 in six games at Yankee Stadium this season.

Down the stretch, the Red Sox were just 3-5 in the final eight games of the regular season, while the Under dominated 8-2 in the final 10 games, and 17-4 in the final 21 contests dating back to Sept. 4.

For the Yankees, they won three of the final four games of the regular season, while the total went high in the final five games, while going 11-1 in the final 12 outings, and 14-2 in the final 16 contests of the regular season since Sept. 10.

Boston turns to LHP Payton Tolle (9-6, 3.03 ERA, 1.10 WHIP) for his first-ever postseason start, and just his second appearance. He has seven playoff pitches under his belt, appearing in relief for one-third of an inning last season on Oct. 1, 2025, against the Yankees in Game 2 of last season’s series.

In the regular season, the Yankees were an impressive 34-20 against left-handed starting pitchers.

Schlittler (14-6, 1.95 ERA, 0.92 WHIP) dominated during the regular season, ranking second in ERA, and third in the majors with 239 strikeouts. And, again, he crushed the Red Sox last season in the postseason.

We’ll take the YANKEES (-142) as moderate favorites in this series opener, while going OVER 6.5 (-104) on the total.