Watch New York Yankees Vs. Boston Red Sox Live Online Free: Rivals Clash At Fenway In Key Matchup

Major League Baseball’s greatest rivalry returns this weekend, and fans can watch live online as the New York Yankees travel up Interstate 95 to face the Boston Red Sox in a three-game series that that just a couple of weeks ago appeared to be basically meaningless — but suddenly has become a must-win, mid-season matchup for both teams, though more so for the Red Sox.

To find out how to watch the middle game of the crucial trilogy live online free, see the information in the final paragraph of this article. First pitch on Saturday, July 11, is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. at legendary Fenway Park in Boston, 4:15 p.m. Pacific Time.

The American League East, once the elite division in baseball, has sunken into mediocrity this season. But the good news for the division’s five teams is that the generally middling quality of the division by all means that the AL East pennant is anyone’s to win.

Even the last-place Red Sox — though as recently as three weeks ago, it sure didn’t look that way. On June 15, Boston lost its seventh game in a row, sat in last place nine games under.500 and nine games out of first place.

Since that date, Boston has won 14 while dropping just seven, moving to within five games of the division-leading Yankees, heading into the weekend series — the final three games before the MLB All-Star break — which now appears critical.

A sweep by the Red Sox moves them to within two games of the top and the pennant race is on. On the other hand, if the Red Sox are on the receiving end of a New York sweep, they fall back to eight games out and will need to think about waving the white flag for 2015, becoming “sellers” at the July 31 trade deadline.

The pitching matchup for the Saturday night game appears to favor the Red Sox, who send their 22-year-old Venezuelan rookie sensation Eduardo Rodriguez to the mound, while the Yankees counter with sixth-year starter Ivan Nova, making only his fourth start since returning from Tommy John surgery — which shortened his season to just four starts in 2014.

Rodriguez, whom the Red Sox acquired as a minor league prospect from the Baltimore Orioles at last year’s trade deadline, will be making his ninth big league start — and he has given up one run or fewer in six of his first eight outings.

The Red Sox picked up Rodriguez in exchange for lefty Andrew Miller, who turned around and left the Orioles as a free agent after the season — and is now the Yankees’ closer.

While the Friday and Sunday New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox games at Fenway Park will be available live online only through the paid subscription MLB.tv service, Saturday’s game will be carried by Fox Sports Go at this link, available free to anyone with access to login credentials for a cable provider.

[Image: Jim Rogash/Getty Images]