New York Yankees star Aaron Judge. © Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Aaron Judge Sends Strong Message About Red Sox Ahead of AL Wild Card Series

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Cole Sullivan | Last updated Sep 29, 2025 12:25 PM ET

With the MLB season concluding on Sunday, the postseason bracket is set—and right out of the gate, one of the greatest rivalries in sports will take center stage, as the Boston Red Sox travel to New York to face the Yankees in a best-of-three series.

While the Yankees will have home-field advantage, which is certainly significant in the postseason, Boston controlled their head-to-head matchups this season, winning nine of the 13 meetings between the two teams. At one point, the Red Sox won eight straight games against New York.

Ahead of Game 1 on Tuesday, Yankees star Aaron Judge sent a clear message about this year’s Red Sox squad. As expected, Judge was respectful of the opposition, noting, “Tough ball club, with a great lineup. Obviously good starting pitching… we’ve had some battles with them all year, and it’s going to be another fun series.”

Check it out:

"Tough ballclub. Great lineup, good starting pitching... we've had some battles with them all year and it's going to be another fun series"

Aaron Judge on the Red Sox: pic.twitter.com/O62TXntp92
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) September 28, 2025

Aaron Judge is coming off another MVP-caliber regular season, winning the batting crown with a .331 average, 179 hits, 53 home runs, 114 RBIs, and leading the league with an impressive 1.444 OPS.

However, his postseason numbers have shown a slight dip over the course of his career. Since his first playoff appearance in 2017, Judge has played in 58 postseason games, totaling 45 hits, 16 home runs, 34 RBIs, and 36 walks across 220 at-bats.

The first two games of the Red Sox-Yankees series will air on ESPN, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:08 p.m. EST on Tuesday. Boston ace Garrett Crochet will take the mound against Yankees ace Max Fried.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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