This Yankees Series Will Show Us Who The Red Sox Really Are

Entering the game on Friday, June 13, the Boston Red Sox face a crossroads. After Alex Bregman's injury in May, the team hit a downward slide that seemed like it might be too much for them to recover from. The rotation fell apart outside of Garrett Crochet, the bullpen was overworked to the point of exhaustion, and the offense looked mostly listless. We are considering the possibility of a fire sale as the trade deadline approaches. We’re not out of the clear yet, the team has a record below .500 and is fourth in the AL East. 

Things turned around when the calendar flipped to June, though. We’re approaching the halfway mark, and the Red Sox have a winning record by a thin margin. The starters have looked like the rotation they were expected to be before the season began, the bullpen has gotten some much-needed rest, and the offense is starting to show just how powerful it can be. The team took a back-to-back series against the Yankees and Rays. Things seem to be trending in the right direction with reinforcements on the way. As we outlined here on Talk Sox earlier in the week, Tanner Houck is throwing bullpens, Chris Murphy looks primed to join the bullpen sometime in July, and Alex Bregman is recovering faster than expected with an eye towards an early July return from the injured list. These roster members, and others mentioned in Nick’s piece, will be returning to a team that should be making a push towards the third Wild Card spot at the very least. 

That’s why this mid-June weekend series against the Yankees is so important. The Red Sox proved in their first meeting with the teams that they are capable of beating the second-best team in the American League, and that trend has to continue as the Red Sox enter play for the second Yankees series in a week. The Red Sox will see two pitchers they saw in the first series, Ryan Yarbrough and Carlos Rodon. The team teed off on both of them and should look to continue to do that in front of the home fans. For the Sunday game, the Sox will see Max Fried for the first time since he joined the Yankees. Fried is sporting a 9-1 record with a 1.84 ERA and 81 strikeouts. He’s going to be tough, but he’s beatable. The Sox have lined up against multiple teams’ top starters a few times this season and have played well against them. There’s precedent here for the Red Sox to win this series. The starters have to show up, the bullpen has to be nails, and the offense needs to hang crooked numbers on the starters every night. But it’s so doable. This team is better than they have shown this season. 

If the Red Sox can take two of three games, or even figure out a way to sweep, it puts the rest of the league on notice. It shows that the Red Sox are playing without their best lineup on the field, and they can scratch and claw their way to wins against teams that are current World Series favorites. If we recall 2024, the season turned around when the Red Sox beat the Yankees and Phillies in back-to-back series. Going into the middle of June with three series wins under their belts, the postseason is in play. If they can ride a hot streak until the middle of July or the trade deadline, I believe the AL East is in play. I’ve said since before the season that the Yankees don’t scare me. They are a good team, but they aren’t the world beaters they’ve been made out to be. The Red Sox have a prime opportunity to fully turn their season around with this mid-June Yankees series. It’s time to prove that they put their money where their mouth is and show the rest of the league that even though it has been a rough start to the season, you shouldn’t count the Red Sox out just yet.