We all knew it would happen. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will once again battle it out for a trip to the World Series. We’ve seen it plenty of times before and every time it seems as if the rivalry can’t get any fiercer. But it does.
Since their first World Series victory in 1923, the Yankees have compiled 26 World triumphs over evil? Or both?
The Red Sox were on top of the world in 1918, but things fell apart for them the next year, and they sold Babe Ruth, who never got along well with Red Sox management, to the Yankees. Ruth led the Yankees to several championships, and the Red Sox just got worse. Though they eventually made it back to a few World Series, they just were never able to seal the deal by winning four games in the October Classic.
In 1978, the Yankees finished tied atop the division with the Red Sox, forcing a one-game playoff, which produced light-hitting Bucky Dent’s clutch home run. The Yankees went on to win the World Series, leaving the Red Sox and their fans angry and stunned until the Yankees had several sub-par seasons in a row and the Red Sox made it to the World Series against the New York Mets in 1986. But Bill Buckner, perhaps helped by the intervention of Babe Ruth, could not handle a soft ground ball in Game 6 of the series, giving the Mets the ability to come back and win Game 6 and the deciding Game 7, once again leaving the Sox fans to wonder if curses truly exist.
In 1999, the Yankees and Red Sox met in the American League Championship Series, and the Yankees handled the Sox in five games, en route to their second of three straight championships and third in four years. Then 2003 came along, and everyone in baseball who was a Red Sox fan or just not a Yankee fan was saying that it was the year for the curse to be broken, and that the Yankees were the evil empire because of their high payroll (although the Sox also have a very high payroll). But they Yankees are truly good guys. I’ve actually met and had conversations with three Yankees of the past and present: Roy White, Luis Sojo, and Clete Boyer. During my conversation with Boyer, he even mentioned that he was glad his brother got a chance to win a championship against the Yankees in 1964 (Ken Boyer played for the Cardinals) because Clete already experienced the thrills of winning two championships, something that no one on the side of evil had experienced for a long time.
The Yankees made sure the trend continued in the 2003 ALCS when the rivalry was at its fiercest level of all-time, and it reached a boiling point in Game 3. With the series knotted at one game apiece, the Sox sent the scary-looking Pedro Martinez to counter the man that the Red Sox released after the 1996 season, claiming he was washed up: Roger Clemens. The evil Pedro went on as usual, hitting Yankees with fastballs and nearly causing a brawl. This time his victim was outfielder Karim Garcia. But on the opposite side of the hill, Roger Clemens chose the path of righteousness, even after Pedro threatened to hit his battery mate, Jorge Posada, in the head.
Clemens decided not to retaliate against the Sox and turn to the dark side, something that Manny Ramirez couldn’t understand. On a high pitch that wasn’t even close to being inside, Ramirez, who looks like a guy that would eat your children, started shouting and charging the mound, causing both benches to empty and several punches to be thrown. Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer, thinking he was a few years younger than he actually was, ran out of the dugout with intention to throw a punch at the devil (Pedro Martinez), but in his old age Yoda forgot his light saber and Pedro threw the unarmed elderly man to the ground. When the dust cleared, the Bronx Bombers pulled out a one-run victory in Game 3, taking a 2-1 series advantage. The Sox would take two of the next three games, so it all came down to Game 7: Martinez versus Clemens II.
Before the game the World Series logo was painted on the field at Fenway Park and the confident Sox chased Clemens out of the game early on, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. The only offense that the Yankees could muster against Pedro was two Jason Giambi solo homeruns, leaving the Sox with a 5-2 advantage going into the bottom of the eighth. But the Yankees and their fans never lost hope (only several fingernails). Five outs away from breaking the curse, captain Derek Jeter, the embodiment of the words good and noble, started a Yankee rally with a double. The comeback was completed by a game-tying two-run single by Jorge Posada. It was sweet justice, and it hurt the Sox more than any inside fastball could. The rest is history. Mariano Rivera pitched three incredible scoreless innings, the Sox sent the seemingly unsolvable knuckleballer Tim Wakefield out to pitch in the bottom of the eleventh, and pinch-hitter Aaron Boone greeted him with perhaps the most famous homerun in baseball history!
The Yankees went on to lose the World Series to the Florida Marlins, but that series paled in comparison to the ALCS. During the 2004 regular season, the rivalry and bitterness between the two foes has continued to reach new heights. There were several great games, and several instances of the Red Sox instigating physical violence with the Yankees. But the Yankees clinched the division title, winning when it mattered the most. The bad guys salvaged the wild card, and both teams got past round one of the playoffs, so the stage it set. The war of good and evil begins tonight. Whose side are you on?