It’s the biggest weekend yet for the 2025 Boston Red Sox against the Yankees

Just a month ago, the Red Sox were as close as 1.5 games back of the Evil Empire, in second place in the AL East breathing down their necks waiting to hit another gear. Oh what a difference a month makes.

The month of May—as many of us wrote about earlier this week—was one of the harshest months to watch as a Sox fan. Infuriating moments preceded by bone-headed mistakes all wrapped in what feels like a lack of accountability. Triston Casas and Alex Bregman went down with extended injuries, the former gone for the entirety of the season. The offense went belly-up, going from the third-best OPS in the Majors in April to the 13th in May. They climbed from the sixth to third-most strikeouts in the Majors. They lead the league in strikeouts with runners in scoring position. After scoring the most runs in April they dropped to 16th(!!) team in May. They scored fewer than three runs in a game 13 times, and as of today, have lost 17 one-run games (exactly half of their losses).

Could some of this be bad luck from the baseball gods? Sure, as is the case with anything that happens in baseball. Does much more of this blame need to be put on Pete Fatse? You betcha. This is now the third complete offensive collapse with Fatse at the helm, from last year’s implosion post-June, and then late-summer of 2023 — the Red Sox went from as high as 9 games above .500 in late-July to finishing 7 games below come season’s end. If anyone’s head should be ready to roll like Robespierre, it should be Fatse’s.

The rotation—aside from Crochet—imploded, between Tanner Houck (semi-injured), Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito, Walker Buehler (also semi-injured), and the menagerie of spot starts from guys like Sean Newcomb, Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins. With that, the bullpen both got taxed and tagged, with Liam Hendriks, Aroldis Chapman, Zack Kelly, Luis Guerrero, everyday-man Brennan Bernardino, Garrett Whitlock, Greg Weissert and Justin Wilson all eating at least one outing—if not more—where they didn’t have it and got shellacked. Is it easy to blame the rotation for taxing the bullpen? Yes. Still, it’s hard not to look at Andrew Bailey, but even more-so at Craig Breslow for the bullpen and rotation he’s built outside of our pig.

The drama continues off the field too, with the never-ending saga of Roman Anthony’s inevitable promotion. At the beginning of the month, the excuse was he needed to play more outfield after coming back from an injury. Now, there’s no justification keeping him in Worcester. The Royals just called up Jac Caglianone because their lineup needed an offensive jolt. It’s not hard to compare both teams and see only one has made the right move so far. The White Sox just called up Kyle Teel! That then stirs up drama that names on the roster are being floated in trade talks again—namely Jarren Duran to the Padres, or Wilyer Abreu anywhere.

The Red Sox have plummeted into fourth place in the division. Every time we think there’s a momentum changing win, we get slapped back down. Took two series back-to-back on the road in Arlington and Kansas City? Swept by the Tigers. Two walk-offs by Rafael Devers in consecutive weekends? No winning streak larger than two, and a losing streak as long as five games.

And breathe. That brings us to this weekend.

Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images

It’s the first trip for the Boston Red Sox to the Bronx, taking on a New York Yankees team that is doing as well as could be expected. Aaron Judge continues to be superhuman. Their offseason moves to bring in Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldshmidt have given their lineup more balance and some modicum of stability. Trent Grisham of all people is on fire. Carlos Rodon is back to being Carlos Rodon and Max Fried gives them one more starting pitcher of MLB quality than the Red Sox have at this point. Is Devin Williams panning out? Not really, but Luke Weaver is holding his own just fine, though he’s now injured. That all comes out to a 37-23 record, first place in the AL East.

Beyond this weekend, the month of June promises to be as tough and as important for the Red Sox as possible. Back-to-back weekends against the Pinstripes—next weekend at Fenway—a series each against division opponents in the Rays and Blue Jays at home serve as the most distinct of chances to try and climb their way back up the standings. Oh and an extended West Coast trip taking on the Mariners, Giants and Angels.

It all starts with this series.

A Red Sox-Yankees series before the season was penciled as marquee because of the expectations each team had and the moves on paper they made. It looked like the Sox were going to be a thorn in the Bronx Bombers’ side all season long. Instead, this weekend now feels more about survival than anything. If this team can’t get out of it’s own way and at least generate, not just momentum, but some goodwill in showing us that they’re taking this season seriously, then count me out on any hope not just for this season, but for this coaching staff and maybe even the regime as a whole.

Coming into the 2025 season, I was wholeheartedly optimistic this Red Sox team was better than the noise. In hindsight, maybe I was naïve enough to believe paper over production. Let’s see how I feel Sunday night.