The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, one of the most storied in all of sports, dates back more than a century. It's a matchup rich with tradition and iconic moments -- and yet, these two titanic franchises have only met in the postseason six times.
Baseball fans were treated to a sixth playoff meeting -- or seventh, if you want to include the infamous 1978 American League East tiebreaker game -- in the 2025 AL Wild Card Series in which the Yankees beat the Red Sox in three games.
Here's a look back at the first six playoff meetings, plus the 1978 tiebreaker game.
2025 AL Wild Card Series
Yankees won, then advanced to ALDS against the Blue Jays
This marked the first time that these clubs faced off in the best-of-three Wild Card Series that debuted in 2020 and became a permanent fixture in '22. And it did not disappoint, with the clubs needing a third game to decide which club would advance to play their AL East-rival Blue Jays in the ALDS.
Boston dominated in a Game 1 victory headlined by an electric performance from Garrett Crochet, who tossed 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball, while striking out 11 batters. Despite the Red Sox offense only producing three runs, the duo of Crochet and closer Aroldis Chapman struck out a combined 13 batters with no walks and allowed just one run.
The Yankees took Game 2 in a 4-3 win and immediately put their Game 1 issues behind them, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning on a two-run homer from Ben Rice. A back-and-forth affair had the game tied entering the eighth inning, when Austin Wells delivered a go-ahead, game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the inning to secure a Yankees win and force a Game 3.
For years to come, Cam Schlittler will be a Yankees cultural icon after his historic Game 3 start against the Red Sox. In a winner-take-all game and in his first career postseason outing, the Yankees rookie tossed eight scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts and no walks, becoming the first player in MLB postseason history to produce that line. The Yankees scored all four runs in the fourth inning, which was more than enough behind the stellar effort from Schlittler.
In the process, the Yankees became the third team to win the Wild Card Series after losing the first game, joining the 2020 A's and Padres.
2021 AL Wild Card Game
Red Sox won, then defeated Rays in ALDS before losing to Astros in ALCS
Like 2004 and ’18, the '21 postseason meeting between the Red Sox and Yankees went Boston’s way as the two teams matched up in the winner-take-all Wild Card Game at Fenway Park. (This was the last year the single-game format was used for the Wild Card round. It was changed to a best-of-three starting in 2022.)
The clubs finished with identical 92-70 records during the regular season, but the Red Sox got the opportunity to host the game by virtue of their 10-9 head-to-head record. Fenway Park ended up playing a key role in the Red Sox’s victory, as the Green Monster twice kept a Giancarlo Stanton rocket in the park. New York didn’t score in either inning.
The first of those came with two outs in the top of the first -- Stanton was held to a single, and Nathan Eovaldi struck out Joey Gallo swinging for the third out. The Red Sox grabbed a 2-0 lead on Xander Bogaerts’ homer off Gerrit Cole in the bottom of the frame and added another run on a Kyle Schwarber solo shot in the third. Not long after, Cole’s night was done.
The Yankees got on the board on Anthony Rizzo’s solo homer in the top of the sixth and brought the tying run to the plate after Aaron Judge picked up an infield single. However, Boston’s home-field advantage once again became a factor, with Stanton hitting another blast high off the Green Monster. The Red Sox played the carom perfectly and nabbed Judge at home for the second out, and Gallo popped out to end the Yankees' last real threat in a 6-2 Red Sox win.
2018 ALDS
Red Sox won, 3-1, then defeated Astros in ALCS and Dodgers in World Series
After playing consecutive ALCS matchups in 2003-04, it would be another 14 years before the Red Sox and Yankees had another postseason meeting. The long wait came to an end in 2018, when the two clubs squared off in the ALDS.
Boston and New York both entered the series fresh off 100-win seasons, marking the first time they reached the century mark in the same year. The two teams had similar offseasons, each hiring a new manager (Alex Cora for Boston, Aaron Boone for New York) and adding a big bat to the middle of their order (J.D. Martinez and Giancarlo Stanton, respectively).
The Yankees defeated the A’s in the AL Wild Card Game to set up the highly anticipated ALDS showdown against the Red Sox, who claimed the AL East title with a franchise-record 108 wins in the regular season.
However, there wasn’t much drama to be found in this chapter of the rivalry, especially after the clubs split the first two games at Fenway Park. The Red Sox tattooed the Yankees’ starting rotation for 15 runs in 17 innings (7.94 ERA) over four games in the series, jumping out to early leads in all three of their wins. That included a 10-0 advantage in Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, en route to a 16-1 victory. Every Red Sox starter had at least one hit in the game, while Brock Holt delivered the first cycle in postseason history. Nathan Eovaldi was brilliant on the mound for Boston as well, tossing seven innings of one-run ball.
The Red Sox took care of the Astros and Dodgers fairly easily over the next two rounds to win the franchise's fourth championship in 14 years (2004, '07, '13, '18).
2004 ALCS
Red Sox won, 4-3, then defeated Cardinals in World Series
The Red Sox finally got their revenge in 2004 en route to their first World Series championship since 1918. And they did so in dramatic fashion, becoming the first team in MLB history to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a postseason series. New York and Boston met again in the ALCS, the Yankees as the AL East champs and Red Sox as the AL Wild Card team.
Yankees starter Mike Mussina pitched six perfect frames to start Game 1, before the Red Sox finally got to him in the seventh. New York withstood a late seven-run rally by Boston to take the opener, then defeated Martinez in Game 2 and dominated for a 19-8 win as the series moved to Fenway Park for Game 3.
The Yankees appeared primed to sweep the Red Sox in Game 4, taking a one-run lead into the ninth inning with their All-Star closer on the mound. But Dave Roberts' clutch steal set up Bill Mueller's game-tying single, and David Ortiz delivered his second walk-off homer of the postseason with a two-run shot in the 12th that sparked Boston's remarkable four-game comeback. Ortiz, the ALCS MVP, was also the hero in Game 5 with a walk-off single in the 14th.
Game 6 featured Curt Schilling's infamous bloody sock, as the right-hander pitched seven innings of one-run ball with an injured ankle and the Red Sox rode a four-run fourth to victory. Boston's potent offense was on full display in the series clincher; the Red Sox scored six runs in the first two frames -- including a grand slam by Johnny Damon -- and won, 10-3, to advance to the World Series and eventually end their 86-year title drought.
2003 ALCS
Yankees won, 4-3, then lost to Marlins in World Series
The AL Wild Card Red Sox wiped out New York's home-field advantage with a win in the opener behind a strong performance from starting pitcher Tim Wakefield, but the Yankees reclaimed the series lead with wins in Games 2 and 3. The third game featured a rematch between Martinez and Clemens, but this time Clemens got the better of his counterpart in a one-run victory.
Boston won Game 6 to push the series to seven games, and the climactic Game 7 didn't disappoint as the Yankees and Red Sox delivered an all-time classic.
The Red Sox jumped out to an early lead with two of their 12 home runs in the series -- a two-run shot from Trot Nixon off Clemens and a solo homer from Kevin Millar -- but the Yankees stormed back and sent the game to extras with a three-run eighth inning vs. Martinez. Yanks closer Mariano Rivera came on for the ninth and turned in a dominant three-inning performance, and New York clinched the series in the 11th as Boone launched Wakefield's first knuckleball into the stands for a walk-off home run.
1999 ALCS
Yankees won, 4-1, then defeated Braves in World Series
MLB's realignment in 1994 added one Wild Card spot to each league, making it possible for New York and Boston to both reach the postseason out of the AL East. And in 1999, it happened. The Yankees won the division and swept the Rangers in the ALDS. The Red Sox finished four games out of first but secured the AL Wild Card berth and defeated the Indians in five games in the ALDS.
New York would keep rolling against Boston, taking the first two games of the ALCS, but by one-run margins. The Yankees needed a walk-off homer from Bernie Williams in extra innings to win the opener in the Bronx, and they came from behind for a one-run win in Game 2.
The Red Sox and Pedro Martinez handed the Yankees their only loss of the 1999 postseason in Game 3, scoring five runs in two innings against Roger Clemens and winning, 13-1, when the series transitioned to Fenway Park. The Yanks then rebounded to decisively win the next two games in Boston to clinch the AL pennant before sweeping the Braves in the World Series.
1978 AL East tiebreaker game
Yankees won, 5-4, then defeated Royals in ALCS and Dodgers in World Series
The 1978 AL East tiebreaker game -- "the Bucky Dent game," in Yankees-Red Sox lore -- was technically a one-game extension to the regular season, but for all intents and purposes, it was a winner-take-all playoff to decide the fate of the division.
The Bronx Bombers had trailed the Red Sox by 14 games as late as July 19, but they staged a huge rally down the stretch capped by a four-game sweep of the Sox in Boston in mid-September to pull even in the standings. The Yankees took over first place a few days later, and they held a one-game lead over the Red Sox entering their regular-season finales, but New York lost and Boston won to finish tied for first and force the one-game tiebreaker on Oct. 2 at Fenway Park.
It was a thriller. The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead into the top of seventh inning thanks to a solo home run by Carl Yastrzemski and an RBI single by Jim Rice, both off Ron Guidry. But in the seventh, the Yankees put two runners on, and Dent belted the go-ahead three-run homer in one of the most iconic moments in the long history of the rivalry. New York would tack on two more runs (including a homer by Reggie Jackson), then hold on for a 5-4 win, with Goose Gossage retiring Rice and Yastrzemski to end the game and send the Yanks to the postseason. They would go on to win the World Series.