Two of the most expensive rosters in baseball meet at Citi Field on Friday night, and as of Friday afternoon, one of them was still trying to get out of Chicago.
Red Sox at Mets: How to Watch
- First pitch: 7:50 p.m. ET (delayed), Citi Field, Queens
- Stream: Apple TV, exclusive, no blackouts
- Probables: RHP Sonny Gray (10-1, 2.61) vs. RHP Nolan McLean (6-5, 3.73)
- Records: Boston 43-48, New York 40-54
Developing: Red Sox Delayed Getting to New York
First pitch has been pushed to roughly 7:50 p.m. ET after the Red Sox spent Friday afternoon working to get out of Chicago following multiple plane issues, according to the Boston Globe. The team left the ground around 3 p.m. ET and was expected to land shortly before 5, leaving a tight window to reach Citi Field. The game is on; it will just start late.
Boston has done this before. The current six-game winning streak, which includes a four-game sweep of the Yankees and a three-game sweep of the White Sox, began after an overnight travel mess earlier this season had the club landing around 5 a.m. on a game day. They won that night too. The Red Sox have taken 11 of their last 13.
Boston has done this before. The current six-game winning streak, which includes a four-game sweep of the Yankees and a three-game sweep of the White Sox, began after an overnight travel mess earlier this season had the club landing around 5 a.m. on a game day. They won that night too. The Red Sox have taken 11 of their last 13.
Lineups: Red Sox at Mets
Lineups subject to change.
| # | Red Sox | Pos | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Seigler | 2B | .283 |
| 2 | Ceddanne Rafaela | CF | .283 |
| 3 | Wilyer Abreu | RF | .260 |
| 4 | Romy González | 1B | .310 |
| 5 | Masataka Yoshida | DH | .259 |
| 6 | Caleb Durbin | 3B | .225 |
| 7 | Jarren Duran | LF | .198 |
| 8 | Connor Wong | C | .295 |
| 9 | Tsung-Che Cheng | SS | .273 |
| # | Mets | Pos | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A.J. Ewing | CF | .277 |
| 2 | Juan Soto | LF | .297 |
| 3 | Francisco Lindor | SS | .211 |
| 4 | Carson Benge | RF | .269 |
| 5 | Jorge Polanco | DH | .188 |
| 6 | Jared Young | 1B | .235 |
| 7 | Francisco Alvarez | C | .252 |
| 8 | Brett Baty | 3B | .219 |
| 9 | Zack Short | 2B | .159 |
Two Interim Managers, One Dugout Apiece
Alex Cora managed his last Red Sox game on April 25. Chad Tracy has run the club every day since, and the interim tag has never come off. Carlos Mendoza managed his last Mets game on June 25. Andy Green has run that club every day since, under the same provisional title.
Boston is five games under .500 at 43-48 but arrives on its best run of the year, winners of six straight and 11 of 13 heading into the break. New York is fourteen under and has stopped pretending. What Apple TV is putting on national television Friday is not a pennant race. It is one club playing its best baseball of the season against one that has quietly started to think about next year.
Sonny Gray Is 36 and Having the Best Year of His Life
Gray is 10-1 with a 2.61 ERA across 16 starts in his fourteenth major league season. On June 28 he carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Yankees at Fenway before surrendering a hit and walking off to a standing ovation. There is no version of the Boston season that makes sense without him.
Nolan McLean Has Already Pitched a Bigger Game Than This
McLean is 24, in his second major league season, and holds a 3.73 ERA with 118 strikeouts over 18 starts for a team that has given him almost nothing to work with. He is also the pitcher the United States sent to the mound in the World Baseball Classic championship game on March 17 in Miami, where he faced Ronald Acuña Jr. with a title on the line.
That is the whole argument for watching. Boston has an ace who spent fourteen years arriving at this season. New York has a young arm who has already stood in the loudest room baseball built. Neither is pitching for anything in the standings on Friday. Both will pitch like they are.
United States pitcher Nolan McLean reacts after walking Venezuela Ronald Acuña Jr. during the third inning in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic Tuesday, March 17, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
New York Mets pitcher Nolan McLean (26) prepares to face an Atlanta Braves batter during the first inning of a baseball game, Sunday, July 5, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)
Juan Soto Is the Best Bat on the Field
Batting second for the Mets is the one player on either roster having an unambiguously great year. Juan Soto is hitting .297 with 21 home runs and a .993 OPS, and on a night when Lindor sits at .211 in the three-hole and the lineup around him has struggled, Soto is the reason the Mets are worth the click. The Dominican outfielder has been most of the Mets offense by himself.
Baseball Without Borders at Citi Field
Thirty-two players have appeared for these two clubs this season who were born outside the United States. The Mets account for eighteen of them, drawing on the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Japan and Canada. Soto, Francisco Lindor, Kodai Senga and Freddy Peralta anchor that group.
Boston brings fourteen, led by five Venezuelans including outfielder Wilyer Abreu and catcher Carlos Narváez. Ceddanne Rafaela was born in Curaçao, an island of roughly 150,000 that has sent an outsized share of talent to the majors. Infielder Tsung-Che Cheng was born in Taiwan. Masataka Yoshida came from Japan by way of the Orix Buffaloes.
One Red Sox name is missing on purpose. Catcher Willson Contreras, a four-time All-Star hitting .285 with 20 home runs, is serving a five-game suspension and will not return until July 17. He remains slated for the Home Run Derby as a replacement for Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The Mets, meanwhile, placed infielder Mark Vientos on the injured list Friday with a fractured right hand, thinning an already thin lineup.
Boston Red Sox’s Willson Contreras tips his cap to fans as he steps in the batter’s box during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Friday, April 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Boston Red Sox’s Sonny Gray tips his hat to the crowd as he exits the game after giving up a hit in the eighth inning after pitching seven innings without a hit against the New York Yankees in a baseball game, Sunday, June 28, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Apple TV carries the game in 60 countries and regions. A meaningful number of them are represented on the field.
How to Watch Apple TV for Free
Friday Night Baseball streams exclusively on Apple TV with no local blackout restrictions, which means this game is available in Boston, in New York, and everywhere else. There are three ways in, and only one of them is the one people think it is.
- Seven-day free trial. New subscribers get one week, then $12.99 per month. Cancel before day seven and you have watched both halves of Friday’s doubleheader and all of next Friday’s for nothing.
- Three months free with a device. Activate a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV and Apple includes three months. One offer per Family Sharing group.
- Apple One. The six-service bundle carries a 30-day trial and starts at $19.95 per month afterward. This is the 30-day offer people mean when they say it. It is not the Apple TV trial.
An annual Apple TV plan runs $99, roughly $8.25 a month. Viewers in the United States and Canada can also pipe in home or away local radio during the broadcast, subject to availability.
Devices and Broadcast Team
Apple TV streams on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO and TCL, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation, Xbox, and at tv.apple.com. MLB Network’s production team builds the broadcast alongside Apple’s live sports unit.
Play-by-play rotates between Wayne Randazzo, with Dontrelle Willis and Heidi Watney, and Alex Faust, with Ryan Spilborghs and Tricia Whitaker. Rich Waltz calls select games. Lauren Gardner hosts the pregame show with Eric Hosmer and Russell Dorsey. Assignments are announced weekly.
Kansas City Royals’ Salvador Perez, center, is doused by teammates while being interviewed by Apple TV sports commentator Tricia Whitaker after a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
What Follows
The second half of Friday’s doubleheader sends Chris Sale and the Braves to Busch Stadium at 8:15 p.m. ET, also on Apple TV. The two windows overlap by roughly an hour.
The 2026 MLB Draft opens Saturday, July 11.
Two interim managers, two aces, and a stream that costs nothing for a week. If the Red Sox make it off the tarmac in time, it starts at 7:15.
