Yankees vs Red Sox: Stats, head-to-head record & how to watch MLB on the BBC

Just 215 miles apart, New York and Boston are home to two of the most successful sides in Major League Baseball.

The Yankees have won the sport’s top prize – the World Series – more times than any other franchise (27), while the Red Sox are the third most decorated team with nine championships.

The two teams first played one another in 1903 but the rivalry gained serious traction when baseball’s greatest-ever player, Babe Ruth, was controversially sold to the Yankees by the Red Sox in 1919.

The Red Sox, who had won three World Series titles with Ruth in the side, had to then watch the New York side dominate the sport for most of the 20th century.

The era popularised the ‘Curse of the Bambino’ – a reference to Ruth’s nickname and a superstition Red Sox fans would carry until they finally won the World Series again in 2004, ending an 86-year wait.

Their most recent championship was 2018, while the Yankees have not won one since 2009.