The New York Yankees eliminated the Boston Red Sox from the playoffs during the 2025 postseason in the Wild Card round. Just like any other year, there was plenty of trolling and rivalry-laden rhetoric thrown around.
Now in the offseason, both teams will compete, this time for the top free agents on the market. Boston made the first move, trading for the St. Louis Cardinals and former Yankees starting pitcher Sonny Gray.
Shortly after the trade, Gray, in a piece from Tim Healey of The Boston Globe, shared his thoughts on the Yankees and Red Sox rivalry. Gray is already embracing the Red Sox side of things with his "hate" message for the Yankees.
Sonny Gray shares 'hate' message on Yankees after Red Sox trade
"It feels good to me to go to a place now where you know what, it's easy to hate the Yankees, right?" Gray said. "It's easy to go out and have that rivalry and go in it with full force, full steam ahead. I like the challenge, I appreciate the challenge, I accept the challenge. But this time around, it's just go out and be yourself."
Gray is ready for the Red Sox and Yankees rivalry, one he's already experienced from the side of the Yankees in 2017 and 2018. But that short Yankees stint wasn't one of his favorites.
Healey shared that Gray "never wanted to go there in the first place." Gray and the Yankees weren't a good match, and eight years later, Gray still holds some reservations about the Yankees.
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He doesn't view his Yankees tenure as all bad, as Gray said: "But I do appreciate my time there, because... I do feel like the last seven years of my career, my life, and everything has been better. I've been a better baseball player, husband, everything from having that experience and going through that."
His two seasons with the Yankees were a rough time for the veteran right-hander, and while Gray is ready to "hate" the Yankees this upcoming season with the Red Sox, he's not completely unappreciative of his time with the Yankees.
Gray is adding another spark to the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, and even with a few months before Spring Training or any baseball begins, Yankees fans won't forget this quote from Gray the first time he pitches against the Yankees this season.
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