Garion Thorne gives you a preview, prediction and pick for tonight’s Game 2 between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.

I think that it’s fair to suggest that the Red Sox and Yankees rivalry has been lacking some heat in the past decade, but if we get a couple more tilts like Game 1 on Tuesday, that shouldn’t be an issue anymore. It was a battle of two of the best left-handed pitchers in baseball, with Garrett Crochet crucially outlasting Max Fried in an eventual 3-1 victory.

The question now becomes: Can Boston win a game without their southpaw ace toeing the rubber?

Let’s preview Game 2, which gets going at 6:08 p.m. ET, with the help of some of some odds and lines on the DraftKings Sportsbook.

Red Sox vs. Yankees Game 2 prediction, preview

With Crochet icing his arm after tossing 117 pitches on Tuesday, and Lucas Giolito nursing an elbow injury, there’s suddenly a lot of pressure on Brayan Bello. It’s been a bit of an odd season for the 26-year-old. Bello’s been outperforming his advanced statistics all year long, but after throwing seven scoreless innings against the Yankees back on June 15, it truly seemed like the breakout campaign was upon us. However, more recent results have made that proclamation appear very premature. In five outings in September, Bello pitched to a robust 5.40 ERA with just a 1.33 K/BB ratio. You read that right. Bello posted a microscopic 14.3% strikeout rate with a massive 10.7% walk rate in the month. That is not the type of momentum that you want to be bringing into a playoff series with an opponent that led all of baseball in expected wOBA (.350) and wRC+ (119) throughout the regular season.

In terms of head-to-head matchups, Bello has had his struggles against some of the Yankees’ secondary sluggers. Jazz Chisholm, who will certainly be back in the starting lineup on Wednesday night, is 5-for-15 (.333) off Boston’s RHP with a .941 OPS. Cody Bellinger has been even better, with two home runs and a 1.417 OPS in 10 career at-bats against Bello. Funnily enough, it’s almost more notable that Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton haven’t seen Bello well at all. Judge has only two hits (zero home runs) in 21 at-bats versus Bello, while Stanton has struck out in seven of his 10 at-bats. Bello’s ability to continue to keep those two dangerous men quiet will be a key storyline to watch in Game 2.

On the other side of this pitching matchup, we find Carlos Rodon. After a couple of shaky seasons to start his Yankees tenure, Rodon looked as good as he ever has in pinstripes in 2025, setting a new career-high with 33 starts and 195.1 innings thrown. It wasn’t just about volume, either. Rodon also maintained a 3.09 ERA and a 3.31 xERA, though a league-low .228 opponent BABIP certainly helped his cause. That said, Rodon did have some underwhelming results specifically against the Red Sox. In three starts and 15.2 combined innings, the southpaw allowed 10 walks and 10 earned runs. Not ideal! However, this incarnation of Boston isn’t quite the same as the version Rodon struggled with in June. In fact, since losing Roman Anthony to injury on September 2, the Red Sox posted an 89 wRC+ and ranked last in the AL in home runs (17) to close out the regular season.

Red Sox vs. Yankees Game 2 pick, best bet

Best Bet: Yankees Over 3.5 Runs (-145)

Bello looked uninspiring down the stretch and the Yankees’ lineup is far more potent with left-handed bats like Jazz Chisholm and Ben Rice in the mix.

Strong Lean: Brayan Bello Under 14.5 Outs Recorded (-101)

Boston only used one reliever on Tuesday. Even with the prospect of a bullpen game looming in Game 3, expect Alex Cora to be aggressive. Lefties Connelly Early or Kyle Harrison could be used early to re-gain a platoon advantage.