Hilarious wrinkle to Devin Williams' season has Yankees fans questioning reality

Devin Williams’ stormy saga in a New York Yankees uniform has more often than not made fans detest him. The Yankees traded for Williams last December and thought they were getting a bonafide closer. Williams has been anything but that, and most people assume he won’t be in the Bronx past this season. Entering Monday, Williams was 3-6 this season with a 5.30 ERA in 56 innings pitched. It’s been a massively disappointing campaign for the two-time National League Reliever of the Year, but there is at least one, oddly crucial way in which Williams has been an awesome Yankee in 2025.

The Yankees’ historic and bitter rivalry with the Boston Red Sox is still very much alive and well. And with the two clubs potentially meeting in a playoff series in the coming weeks, tensions and emotions will be off the charts, both in New York and Boston. Yankees fans love nothing more than having a “Red Sox killer” on their club — someone who seems to perform better than usual against the team’s most hated rival. It’s why Aaron Boone’s iconic walk-off in the 2003 ALCS to beat the Red Sox has bought Boone decades of good graces, offsetting a large chunk of the vitriol that’s thrown his way as manager of the current Yankees.

This begs the question: are there any players on the present Yankees who qualify as a big-time “Red Sox killer”?

Shockingly, Williams is making a case in 2025.

Yankees reliever Devin Williams always unleashes his inner All-Star against the Red Sox

Williams pitched two innings of scoreless relief in this past weekend’s series, which New York took from Boston by winning two of three games. Williams was nearly perfect in his two outings, and amazingly, when he allowed a single to Alex Bregman in the bottom of the eighth inning of Friday’s game, it was the first time Williams had allowed a hit against the Red Sox this season.

Williams retired the next three batters in Friday’s eighth inning, and then followed that up by retiring the side in the seventh inning of Saturday’s game with just 16 pitches. Notably, Williams was facing the beefy part of Boston’s lineup on both occasions. 

Before this past weekend, Williams had executed three scoreless (and hitless!) innings of work against Boston this season on three separate occasions. All in all, Williams has now tallied six strikeouts and allowed just one hit in five innings of work against the Red Sox in 2025.

Is this something for Boone and New York’s decision-makers to think about if and when the Yankees do indeed collide with the Red Sox in a postseason battle? Or is it safer to still view Williams the way that his overall 2025 resumé demands you to — as a guy who should only really be used during low-leverage situations?

Williams’ near-perfect performances against the Red Sox this season are as confusing as they are pleasantly surprising for Yankees fans. The temptation to label Williams a certified Red Sox destroyer is there, but it’s probably overzealous to do so until Williams has pulled off a pivotal inning in a playoff series against Boston.