Yankees fans will lose their minds over WFAN's 'rivalry' take before Red Sox series

With the Boston Red Sox in town to face the New York Yankees for the first time in 2025, regardless of how either team is performing, this is the rivalry. Fans of both teams genuinely no longer enjoy these matchups because they typically bring pain, but both parties never hesitate to bring the heat.

Yankee Stadium was alive Friday night, cursing out Walker Buehler for hitting Anthony Volpe with a pitch. The sellout crowd of 46,783 was making noise throughout the evening and enjoyed a 9-6 win with some tight moments in between.

Some have looked back on the Subway Series in May and thought differently, however. That series was objectively louder. It was filled with drama. It was the story of the year so far. But not because it was Mets vs Yankees. It's because Juan Soto was returning to the Bronx after rejecting the Yankees pound-for-pound offer alongside Steve Cohen's this past offseason.

Regardless of what anybody says — including the typically spot-on WFAN host Evan Roberts — the Mets are not the Yankees' biggest rival in 2025. And they never will be the Yankees' biggest rival in any singular campaign. Not unless Aaron Judge demands a trade there tomorrow.

But Roberts went off on this take before the start of the Yankees-Sox series and it's fair to say Bronx Bombers fans are united in the belief that this is 100% untrue.

Yankees fans will lose their minds over WFAN's 'rivalry' take before Red Sox series

The hatred runs deep between the Yankees and Sox. These teams face each other 13 times a year (and it used to be 19). All of these games have direct playoff implications. The history over the last six years alone supersedes the entire Yankees-Mets canon. The Yankees and Mets face each other anywhere between 4-6 times per year and the outcomes of the games mean nothing, outside of one fanbase earning brief bragging rights.

We will say getting the series win over the Mets and watching Juan Soto go 1-for-10 was incredibly satisfying? Absolutely. It's glorious that we don't have to hear a peep about this until they go head to head again in July. But "biggest rival" vibes? Give us a break. Not even close. Maybe for the Mets. But not for the Yankees. As Derek Jeter said, "It's just the Mets."

Yankees fans hate every single player on the Red Sox, whether they've been there for 10 years or 10 days. Yankees fans only pay attention to the Mets' players/transactions if they involve former Yankees. Just because that's been aplenty the last few years doesn't mean the rivalry scales have been tipped in any significant manner. The matchups might have more meaning, but Yankees fans don't think about the Mets until one day before their scheduled series begin.

The Red Sox occupy a special kind of real estate in Yankees fans' minds. We hate to admit that, but it's the truth. Even on Friday night, when the Yankees went up 7-0, everybody had the twisted thought in the back of their head that Boston would stage a comeback. And they almost did! The 9-6 victory was still too close for comfort. The Red Sox never die. They never go away. They are always an agitator. They have the most unlikeable players on an annual basis. And their performance directly impacts the Yankees' life.

We get it, though. Roberts and Mets fans don't have this type of rivalry in their lives because ... well, the Mets don't have a rich history and their league-wide impact is hardly notable to date. That's just the truth. There's no ill will here. It's the reality.

The Yankees and Red Sox have over a century of hatred ingrained in their DNA. The last 20 years of their rivalry could legitimately be multiple volumes of a baseball encyclopedia. The Yankees and Mets share a city, and that's being generous. An historic landmark in the middle of the Bronx vs a glorified minor league stadium in the middle of a parking lot off a highway in Queens.

Just give it a rest please. Everybody's over Soto. Sorry that it happened faster than you thought it would.