Buckle up, baseball fans, for the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are set to meet in an AL Wild Card Series starting Tuesday.

The long-time rivals will play a best of three, with all of the games at Yankee Stadium. The winner will move on to the Division Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, who held off the Yankees' late season surge Sunday to win the AL East and lock up the top seed in the playoffs.

Yankees-Red Sox has always been appointment television, and this time around will be no different.

How to watch Yankees-Red Sox AL Wild Card Series

Games 1 and 2 of the series will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday, each starting at 6:08 p.m. and airing on ESPN. If a Game 3 is necessary, it will happen on Thursday. However, the time and network have not yet been announced.

All Yankees postseason games can be heard on WFAN 660 AM/101.9 FM.

Game 1 and 2 pitching matchups

In the opener, the Yankees will hand the ball to ace Max Fried, who went 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 32 starts and appearances this season. The 31-year-old left-hander, who signed an eight-year, $218 million contract with New York last December as a free agent, went 1-1 with a 1.96 ERA in three starts against the Red Sox during the regular season.

The Red Sox will counter with 18-game winner Garrett Crochet, who led Major League Baseball with 255 strikeouts. The 26-year-old left-hander went 3-0 with a 3.29 ERA against the Yankees during the regular season, striking out 39 in 27 1/3 innings while limiting New York hitters to a paltry .200 average.

The Yankees will turn to left-hander Carlos Rodón (18-9, 3.09 ERA, 33 starts) in Game 2, while the Red Sox will give the ball to right-hander Brayan Bello (11-9, 3.35 ERA, 33 starts).

If there is a Game 3, the Yankees will likely go with rookie right-hander Cam Schlittler (4-3, 2.96 ERA, 14 starts), while the Red Sox will have a big decision to make because veteran right-hander Lucas Giolito (10-4, 3.41 ERA, 26 starts) will miss the series due to an elbow problem, manager Alex Cora announced Monday. Regardless of who throws the first pitch, both starters figure to be on a short leash, given the nature of a postseason elimination game.

Yankees-Red Sox postseason history

The teams have split 24 previous postseason games, but Boston has won eight of the last nine, including the epic comeback after losing the first three games of the 2004 ALCS. The Red Sox also won the most recent playoff matchup, 6-2 in the 2021 AL Wild Card Game.

The Red Sox won nine of 13 meetings between the clubs during the 2025 regular season.

How the Yankees got here

The Yankees (94-68) looked like a lock to win the AL East after starting 42-25 through June 12. However, they then went into a tailspin, losing 31 of their next 50 before righting the ship and closing with 14 wins in their final 17 games. New York has won eight straight heading into the postseason, has a pair of aces in the aforementioned Fried and Rodón, and a bullpen that has rebounded somewhat following an ugly stretch in the second half.

"These last couple of weeks were pretty fun," reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge told MLB.com. "We went into a gauntlet of games where people counted us out. We took care of business, especially this last week. We've been treating it like the postseason."

As is usually the case with a team nicknamed the Bronx Bombers, the Yankees did most of their damage with the long ball, hitting an MLB-high 269 homers. Judge, who is locked in a tight race with Seattle's Cal Raleigh for this season's MVP award, led the way with 53 homers, to go along with 114 RBIs and a MLB-high .331 batting average.

In all, the Yankees have seven players with at least 20 homers, but no regular other than Judge hitting better than .274.

How the Red Sox got here

The Red Sox (89-73) finished third in the AL East and ended up grabbing the second wild card. Unlike the Yankees, they got off to a slow start, with a 29-34 record through June 3, and were two games below .500 (43-45) as late as July 2. However, they put together a 10-game winning streak immediately after and then won seven straight from July 29 to Aug. 5, setting them up to challenge for the AL East title for a while before falling off a bit.

Offensively, the Red Sox do not have the same firepower as the Yankees, but shortstop Trevor Story has had an excellent bounce-back season, with a team-high 25 homers and 96 RBIs, and Boston finished second in the AL with a 3.70 team ERA.

And with a lead late, the Red Sox can be very difficult to come back against, especially with veteran closer Aroldis Chapman throwing 100 mph consistently. The 37-year-old left-hander converted 32 of 34 save chances during the regular season, while posting a sparkling 1.17 ERA and .132 batting average against.

"It's New York against Boston," Cora said. "It's going to be big."