The Yankees set their weekend pitching plan for the Red Sox on Thursday afternoon, locking in the starters for a Friday-to-Sunday series that opens one of baseball's oldest rivalries again. Ryan Weathers is scheduled to take the ball Friday night against Sonny Gray.
That matchup arrives with the Yankees and Red Sox meeting for the second time in the 2026 MLB season, and the first round went badly for Boston. New York swept a three-game series at Fenway Park in late April and outscored the Red Sox 12-3, a margin that made the rematch look less like a routine divisional series and more like a chance for Boston to answer back.
Weathers brings both upside and a recent scare to the start. Last weekend, he worked 6 2/3 innings, struck out 10 and still took the loss in a 6-4 defeat to the Athletics after allowing five earned runs on six hits. That line also fit a rougher stretch: he has given up five earned runs in two of his last three outings, even though he has been strong at home overall with a 2-2 record and a 3.27 ERA in seven starts.
The Red Sox have reasons to believe they can make contact, but not enough to ignore the matchup in front of them. They are batting.273 against left-handed pitching this season with a.342 on-base percentage and 119 strikeouts in those situations, and that comes against a Yankees club that has not exactly been rolling after its series against the Guardians did not go its way. Boston enters the weekend in last place in the American League East, which only adds pressure to turn a series like this into something useful.
One piece is still missing from the full picture: the Yankees have revealed their weekend starters, but not the complete list for all three games. What is known is that Friday night begins with Weathers against Gray, and that gives the series its first test before either side can settle into the rest of the weekend.
