Do we need to educate the young’uns and remind everyone what this means?
Red Sox-Yankees is an all-timer. It’s Harvard vs. Yale, Kennedy vs. Nixon, Athens vs. Sparta.
It’s Ohio State-Michigan, Army-Navy, Trump vs. Comey.
It is the ultimate American sports rivalry and we are getting it in the first round of baseball’s ever-expanding playoffs.
Strap yourselves in for two (possibly three) nights of hard-ball history and histrionics. This could be great. Enjoy the ride.
The relationship between these franchises goes back to Creation. The Boston Americans (hello, Red Sox) were part of the upstart American League in 1901 and the New York Highlanders (now the Yankees) joined them in the “Junior Circuit” two years later. Since that time, the franchises have walked hand-in-hand with history, usually at the painful expense of the Boston franchise.
The Red Sox won five of the first 15 World Series, then sold their soul in a Yankee swap when New York owner Jacob Ruppert swindled Boston owner Harry Frazee (a New Yorker with designs on Broadway shows), acquiring Boston pitcher/outfielder George Herman “Babe” Ruth for $100,000 and a mortgage on Fenway Park.
The fallout from that hideous deal lasted 86 years. In that stretch, the Yankees won 26 World Series while the Red Sox won zero. Making matters worse, many of New York’s rings came at the expense of Boston. A three-time champ with the Red Sox, young Babe became the greatest player in baseball history, won four championships with the Yankees, then handed the Bronx baton to Lou Gehrig, who passed it on to Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Derek Jeter, and today’s Ruthian Aaron Judge (53 home runs, American League batting champ in 2025).
Back here in New England, we learned to suffer at the hands of the hated Yanks. The Pinstriped Gang annually pantsed the Bostons and any time the Sox threatened, they were swatted away like wannabe little brothers. Talented Boston teams took it to the brink in 1948, ’49, ’78, ’99, and 2003, only to be sent home crying by the vaunted New Yorkers.
This Lucy-Charlie Brown taunt/tease reached its gruesome zenith in 2003 when Red Sox manager Grady Little stayed too long with Pedro Martinez, then watched in horror when Aaron Boone homered off Tim Wakefield to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and deny the Red Sox the sweet satisfaction of winning the American League pennant on Yankee soil.
That very same Aaron Boone (grandson of Ray Boone, who played for the 1960 Red Sox and signed Curt Schilling to his first professional contract) today is manager of the Yankee nine and will lead his team into battle Tuesday, Wednesday, and maybe Thursday in the Bronx for the right to play the Toronto Blue Jays in a best-of-five American League Division Series.
Here in Boston, there is considerable comfort in “recent” history; the Sox have had the New Yorkers’ number for the last 22 baseball seasons.
That’s right, people. The Red Sox are now the ones who put fear into the hearts of New York bullies, a.k.a., “The Evil Empire.”
In case you missed it, in 2004, the Red Sox did something no team has done in more than 120 seasons of major league postseason series. The ’04 Sox came back a 3-0 series deficit, beating Alex Rodriguez, Jeter, and Co. four consecutive times — a biblical American sports thrashing that launched dozens of books, documentaries, and one major motion picture, threw off the Curse of the Bambino, and catapulted the Sox to their first World Series championship in 86 years, and three more Fall Classic victories in this century.
Since that seismic event, the Sox and Yankees have met twice in the postseason, with Boston prevailing both times (2018, 3-1 Sox series win in ALDS; 2021, 6-2 Sox win in Wild Card Game).
If we go back to “The Comeback” (four straight in 2004), this means that the Red Sox have beaten the Yankees in eight of their last nine postseason games. On top of that, the Alex Cora Athletic Club (ACAC) this year beat the Yankees nine times in 13 meetings, exposing and embarrassing the Pinstripe gang on a regular basis.
These thrill-ride Sox have Cy Young candidate Garrett Crochet (18-5, 2.59 ERA) going in Game 1, and will bring good vibes and unusual confidence into the set. Even without rookie sensation Roman Anthony (oblique), Boston’s Romy Gonzalez/Rob Refsnyder All-Stars have played over their heads for six months and see no reason to stop the music now.
This could be a lot of fun. It’s so much better than the annual postseason Fenway autopsy press conference in which Tom Werner and Sam Kennedy whine about another lost summer, apologize to fans, and pledge to “play meaningful games in October.”
Wednesday is Oct. 1. The Red Sox will be playing a meaningful game.
Against the Yankees. In Yankee Stadium.
So good. So good. So good.