MLB 2026: What’s gone right for Yankees and wrong for Red Sox

So far in 2026, the most famous rivalry in Major League Baseball has been one-sided.

with the broom of boston red sox This week at Fenway Park New York Yankees Young improved to 16–9 on the season, the best record in the American League. The Red Sox, who fell to 9-16, entered the weekend in last place in the AL East.

What went right for the Yankees – and what went wrong for the Red Sox? ESPN MLB experts Jorge Castillo and David Schoenfield analyze New York and Boston, respectively.

New York Yankees

Three things they’re doing right so far

1. The starting rotation is elite (and it’s going to add two All-Stars soon). The Yankees’ 2.59 starter ERA is the best in the majors by a wide margin (the) los angeles dodgers 2.81) is in second place. Excellence was on display at Fenway this week. louis gilNew York’s fifth starter, allowed two hits in 6⅓ scoreless innings in Monday’s series opener. max fried Grabbed the baton and performed even better, throwing eight scoreless innings with nine strikeouts. To conclude, cam schlitlerA revelation as a rookie in 2025, holding the Red Sox to two runs in eight innings and lowering his ERA to 1.77 in six starts.

Meanwhile, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon are progressing from their respective elbow surgeries and are close to returning. Cole, who underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2025, surrendered two runs and threw 42 of his 52 pitches for strikes in 4⅓ innings for High-A Hudson Valley in his second rehab start on Thursday. Rodon will take the field for Hudson Valley on Friday for his first rehab start. He underwent surgery on his left elbow to remove the loose body and cut the bone spur. Yankees project Rodon will join the club at the end of May. Cole plans to return at a later date.

Should the current rotation remain healthy, Cole and Rodon will allow the Yankees to move two starters to the bullpen. This should lead to a relative weakness that the front office can address moving forward at the trade deadline.

2. ben rice The real deal. The Yankees offered juan soto His generational combination of power and patience led to a 16-year, $760 million contract after the 2024 season. Rice took Soto’s No. 22 following his departure — and took his place in the Yankees’ puzzle at pre-arbitration value. Rice, who is earning the lowest salary in the league, is second in the majors in on-base percentage (.453), slugging percentage (.716), and OPS (1.169). He is batting .311 with eight home runs. And metrics support production. Few players hit the ball as consistently as Rice. His average exit velocity, barrel percentage and hard-hit percentage all rank in the 96th percentile or better. His chase rate is in the 88th percentile. Rice, like Soto, is 27 years old, but he is just in his third major league season. He experienced some bad luck on balls last season and still posted an .836 OPS in 530 plate appearances. Nothing suggests that their high-level production is a mirage.

3. They’re tearing up the basepaths. The Yankees are fourth in baseball with 35 home runs. Hitting the ball over the fence remains an essential scoring tool for him. But this Yankees roster doesn’t rely entirely on the long ball to score runs. He ranks second in the majors with 28 steals on 32 attempts and fourth in baserunning value.

jazz chisholm jr. Has made eight steals in nine attempts. jose caballeroAcquired at last season’s trade deadline, 2025 is a perfect 9 of 9 on steal attempts after leading the majors with 49 steals. aaron judgeJoe, who indicated he would run more this season during spring training, has five steals in six attempts. Manager Aaron Boone has been more aggressive against the hit-and-run. With two speedsters in Chisholm and Caballero in the spotlight, having the right personnel helps.

a cause for concern

The bottom of the lineup is at the bottom of the lineup for a reason, but the last four spots in the Yankees’ order have been an issue. The Yankees’ No. 6-9 hitters rank 29th in the majors in batting average (.197) and OPS (.591). Chisholm, Ryan McMahon And Austin WellsSpecifically, there is scrimmage at the plate.

Chisholm, who is a free agent after the season, hit his first home run of the season on Thursday against the Red Sox and has a .556 OPS in 95 plate appearances. To be fair, he also started the 2025 season slowly – before finishing the year with 31 home runs, 31 steals and a 123 OPS+.

The Yankees will likely address their bullpen at the trade deadline, but they won’t be able to completely eliminate the bottom of their lineup. The Yankees need their internal options to produce.

boston red sox

Three things they’re doing wrong so far

1. They’re not hitting home runs. tied with the red sox san francisco giants Hitting only 14 in his first 25 games, for the fewest home runs in major tournaments. It was a bit of a concern at the start of the season trevor story Had 25 home runs, the most of any player on the roster last year. Still, the Red Sox hit 186 home runs last year, slightly less than the MLB average of 188, and at least a few more home runs can be expected throughout the season and with development. roman anthonyan improvement occurred willier abreu (Alex Cora predicted 30 home runs from him in spring training) And also wilson contreras.

However, as this series showed, it’s not just a lack of power, it’s a complete lack of offense. On Tuesday, the Yankees shut out the Red Sox at Fenway Park for the first time since 2020. The Red Sox barely avoided another shutout on Wednesday, scoring one run in the ninth inning. He could score only two runs in Thursday’s defeat. He has scored two or fewer runs in six of his last seven games and is hitting just .223 overall, while ranking last in the majors in OPS.

Cora’s disappointment was visible after Wednesday’s defeat. “Everyone here believes we have a good team,” he told reporters. “Good teams have to find a way to score runs against good pitching.”

Case in point: Trailing 3-0 on Wednesday, the Red Sox put runners on second and third, with no outs against Fried in the bottom of the second, in a must-scoring situation against one of the best starters in the league. Caleb Durbin Killed while swinging. Connor Wong Killed while swinging. Isia Kiner-Falefa Killed while swinging.

Hope: Bats get hotter with the weather.

2. Garrett CrochetThe last two starts… weren’t good. On April 13 at Minnesota, the 2025 Cy Young runner-up gave up 11 runs on 55 pitches while recording only five outs and only three swing-and-misses. His final four hits allowed, including two home runs, were all hit at 102 mph or faster. In his next start, Crockett gave up five runs, including two more home runs, in five innings while recording nine swing-and-misses in 93 pitches, a fairly pedestrian total for him.

Although his velocity took a slight dip against the Twins, it was fine in the next outing. Crochet says he is healthy. The Red Sox say he is healthy. Perhaps this is merely a temporary lapse and loss of order. Last year, he led in the count on more than 31% of his pitches thrown; This year, it has come down to 25%. And he’s absolutely being blown away in the count, allowing a line of .364/.632/1.000 compared to .347/.463/.525 in 2025.

Note: His arm angle has dropped from 35 degrees to 31. It’s hard to know if this is an issue, although you can guarantee the Red Sox coaching staff is looking into it. It may be nothing; Crockett has been dropping his arm angle over the years, and went from 43 degrees to 38 degrees during his breakout in 2023. chicago white sox In 2024.

Obviously, the Red Sox need Crockett to pitch at a high level: his start last year was 23-9; They are 2-3 in 2026.

3. It has been difficult to bridge the middle innings. aroldis chapman And Garrett Whitlock The back of the Boston bullpen should be reliable, but getting the ball to them has been an issue at times. See Thursday’s loss. Then ahead 2-1 in the seventh payton tollAn impressive six innings combination of danny coulombe And greg weisert Took lead with three runs. Coulombe walked with the bases loaded and two outs but Cora inexplicably went to Weissert instead of Whitlock, who was well-rested after not pitching the first two games of the series (and throwing only 22 pitches in the previous week). Weisert gives up hits cody bellinger And judge. It’s only April, but this was a big game for Boston and it seemed like a situation to use Whitlock for four outs.

a ray of hope

Novice left-handed players, Tole and Connelly Early. Toal, who was called up to replace Sonny Gray in the rotation, was dominant on Thursday, striking out 11 in his six innings while recording 18 swing-and-misses. Early has been steady in his five starts with a 2.88 ERA. Aside from Crockett, the rest of the Red Sox rotation has performed poorly. This was supposed to be the strength of the team, but right now the group relies heavily on two novices to crochet, brian bello, ranger suarez And a healthy gray pitch is better.