There’s nothing that can match the spectacle of a prime-time baseball showdown. If you’ve kept tabs beyond the regular season games and have had the chance to follow the league’s promotional cues, you’d know how MLB wants the Dodgers-Yankees rivalry narrative front and center. The storyline of these two powerhouse rosters meeting in a potential World Series clash has always been hyped. While the media and MLB lean into this narrative, some fresh data has revealed a different rivalry story about where the fans’ hearts really lie.
Fox Sports dropped a post recently revealing that the Yankees-Red Sox game on June 7 had a mind-blowing 3.045 million viewers. It marks the highest MLB regular season telecast since September 2022. It just gives all of us a moment of truth: despite all the buzz around Yankees-Dodgers, it’s actually the decades-old Yankees-Red Sox rivalry that continues to be a true fan favorite.
No rivalry like it
3+ Million viewers tuned in for Saturday’s Baseball Night in America, featuring Red Sox-Yankees in the Bronx- the most watched MLB regular season telecast on any network since 2022 pic.twitter.com/Rp43gllulB
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 10, 2025
In fact, this telecast also surpassed last week’s high of 2.73 million viewers for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball matchup. Take a guess…well, it was Yankees vs. the Dodgers. Even before that, it was the highly anticipated Yankees-Mets cross-town rivals Subway Series that held the 2.54 million views.
Clearly, overall MLB viewership is on the rise this time. On average, Fox Sports’ MLB games are gaining around 1.84 million viewers. It’s a stunning 10% jump from last year. As for ESPN, its numbers are even more interesting. It reflects a 22% spike year over year. Most of the credit also goes to the increasing popularity of MLB stars like Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge. Maybe that’s why MLB is more inclined to Dodgers-Yankees matchups.
But despite their attempt, Fox Sports’ data has shifted the long-standing perspective. For fans, it’s always going to be nothing like the timeless rivalry of the Crimson Hose and the Bronx Bombers.
Why is the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry arguably the most heated one in baseball?
This feud actually spans across 120 seasons in MLB’s American League. It goes beyond baseball; it’s a century-old ongoing saga built on betrayal, drama, and whatnot. It all goes back to 1919 when the Red Sox owner, Harry Frazee, traded the most iconic slugger of all time, Babe Ruth, to the Yankees. Then, unfortunately, followed an 86-year championship drought for the Red Sox. As bad as it sounds, it eventually got dubbed as the “Curse of the Bambino”. This curse was finally broken in 2004.
And all this while, the Yankees were thriving in the league. The year 2004 was a turning point in their long-standing rivalry. The Red Sox, after falling behind 3-0 in the American League Championship Series, pulled off something surprising. They won four straight games, including two in extra innings, to eliminate the Yankees. In the bigger picture, it also marked the first time in Major League Baseball history that a team had made a comeback from a 3-0 deficit to win a series. A few days later, the Red Sox won their first World Series title since 1918.
Credit: MLB.com
In each of their last three postseason meetings with the Yankees, the Red Sox won—all in 2004, 2018, and 2021. From 2008 to 2010, both teams finished 9-9 in their matchups for three consecutive years. Presently, the Bronx Bombers are cruising atop the AL East, while the Red Sox’s hatred for the Yankees knows no bounds. To say the least, there’s no end to it. It’s arguably the most personal rivalry in all of American sports.
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