NEW YORK — The Yankees and Red Sox will renew one of baseball’s oldest postseason rivalries Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, and Anthony Rizzo will be back in the Bronx for another October chapter involving the two clubs.
Rizzo has not played for the Yankees since the 2024 World Series, but his return comes as New York prepares for another best-of-three Wild Card Series against Boston. The matchup brings a recent Yankees favorite back to a Stadium where his final seasons were defined by injuries, a pennant run and the pressure that follows every October meeting with the Red Sox.
New York enters the American League Wild Card Series after a 93-68 regular season, while Boston finished 87-75. The Yankees won the season series 7-6, including four of six games in the Bronx, according to MLB. The winner advances to face the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays in the Division Series.
It is the second straight season the Yankees have hosted Boston in the Wild Card Series and the seventh postseason meeting between the franchises.
This time, Rizzo will be part of the event from a different vantage point. The former Yankees first baseman is returning to Yankee Stadium as part of NBC Sports’ broadcast coverage of the Wild Card Series.
Rizzo returns to the Bronx in a new role
NBC has assigned Rizzo to its coverage of the Yankees-Red Sox Wild Card Series, putting him back inside Yankee Stadium for the opening round.
NBC announced that Rizzo will work as an “Inside the Pitch” analyst for the 8 p.m. ET telecasts Tuesday and Wednesday on NBC and Peacock. Jason Benetti will handle play-by-play, with former Yankees manager Joe Girardi and former Red Sox infielder Lou Merloni also serving as analysts.
The former Yankees fan favorite will also join Bob Costas on-site for pregame coverage.
The assignment brings him back to a building where he spent parts of four seasons as the Yankees first baseman. Rizzo played his final major league game for New York in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series before the Bronx Bombers declined his option that November. He retired as a Chicago Cub in September 2025 after 14 major league seasons.
NBC added Rizzo to its MLB coverage before the 2026 season. He has since worked regular-season broadcasts and pregame shows, including a June Yankees-Red Sox telecast from Fenway Park.
His Wild Card history runs deeper than the booth
Rizzo was in the Yankees lineup the last time New York and Boston played a winner-take-all Wild Card Game before MLB expanded the round.
In 2021, Rizzo batted leadoff at Fenway Park and homered off Nathan Eovaldi in the sixth inning of a 6-2 Yankees loss. The homer cut Boston’s lead to 3-1 and gives the former first baseman firsthand experience with the pressure surrounding this rivalry in October.
His Yankees tenure ran from the 2021 trade deadline through the 2024 World Series. Across 370 regular-season games in pinstripes, Rizzo hit 60 home runs and drove in 172 runs. His best Bronx season came in 2022, when he hit 32 homers with an .817 OPS.
He also returned from two fractured fingers to play in the final two rounds of the 2024 postseason. MLB records show he hit .267 with six walks in 10 playoff games as the Yankees won the AL pennant before losing to the Dodgers.
NBC built the booth around both sides of rivalry
NBC’s assignment gives the telecast direct connections to both clubs.
Girardi managed the Yankees from 2008 through 2017 and led the franchise to its most recent World Series championship in 2009. Merloni spent parts of six seasons with Boston.
Rizzo supplies the most recent Yankees perspective. Several players he shared a clubhouse with remain central to New York’s postseason plans, including Judge and Gerrit Cole. He also played for Aaron Boone through four playoff races and the 2024 World Series run.
That recent familiarity gives his “Inside the Pitch” role an added layer. Rizzo can break down at-bats and decisions involving players and coaches he worked with only two seasons ago.
Rizzo’s return comes with the stakes already high
All games in the series will be played at Yankee Stadium. Game 1 and Game 2 are scheduled for 8 p.m. ET Tuesday and Wednesday, with a deciding Game 3, if necessary, on Thursday.
The setting makes Rizzo’s return more than a routine studio assignment. His Yankees career ended in the same Stadium after the 2024 World Series, and his earlier postseason history against Boston includes a Wild Card home run at Fenway.
Now he will watch the next chapter from the broadcast side, with the Yankees again trying to survive Boston and move one step closer to the World Series.
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