Yankees Playoff Schedule has very annoying wrinkle for possible Game 3 vs. Red Sox

The New York Yankees won't be able to avoid the Boston Red Sox in the 2025 MLB playoff bracket for very long. In fact, their clash will be instantaneous; New York and Boston will face off in the third game of the postseason's first day, following only Detroit-Cleveland and Chicago-San Diego in the Wild Card madness.

Despite the inherent agita, are two very good things about this reality: the Yankees won't have to go to Fenway Park again in 2025, and either the Sox or Blue Jays are guaranteed to be out before the ALCS. Beyond those two silver linings, though, the Yankees need to get to work and conquer their extended gauntlet to make sure their first October series isn't their last.

The madness begins at 6:08 PM EST on ESPN on Tuesday, with Game 2 following the exact same pattern on Wednesday. The action will be called by Karl Ravech, Eduardo Pérez and David Cone (phew), with Buster Olney in the dugout. On ESPN Radio, it'll be Roxy Bernstein and Gregg Olson.

But ... if the series is not a sweep ... things could get aggravating for the deciding game, depending on the rest of the outcomes. If both the Detroit-Cleveland and San Diego-Chicago series end early, but Cincinnati-LA stretches to a winner-take-all, the Yankees and Sox will be banished to the mid-afternoon at 3:08 PM EST.

If you want to create a strange atmosphere in the Bronx and neuter the intensity of what should be a difference-making crowd ... that's how you do it.

Yankees vs. Red Sox Wild Card series announcers revealed as schedule leaks

The Yankees were able to overcome this afternoon weirdness in Game 5 of the 2022 ALDS against Cleveland, but ... that was Cleveland. This is Boston. A switch into the afternoon shadows would feel more like when the Yankees were robbed of their biggest primetime advantage against Gerrit Cole in Game 3 of the 2019 ALCS, losing 4-1 in a feckless game that started at 4:08 PM EST on a Tuesday. And that was the ALCS! Why did they do that?!

There are plenty of ways for the chips to fall differently and for the Yankees to avoid this sun-baked discomfort. But it's certainly in the back of our minds as the intense action gets underway.