For the second year in a row — and the seventh time ever — the Yankees and Red Sox will meet in the postseason.

And for a second straight year, the Yankees will be the host team in the wild-card series against their rivals, with Game 1 on Tuesday night in The Bronx.

Rarely have teams taken a stranger route to the playoffs, as the Yankees earned the top wild-card spot in the American League but seem unlikely to have Aaron Judge in the lineup as he recovers from a strained calf.

And the Red Sox, left for dead earlier in the season, used an unexpected sweep of the Yankees in late June at Fenway Park to spur a 32-5 run that gave them new life.