Red Sox vs. Yankees: Series set to fuel renewed rivalry

Aaron Boone’s walk-off home run to end the Boston Red Sox 2003 Season. Jason Varitek passionately fighting Alex Rodriguez with tension in the Fenway Air. And of course, the famous 2004 ALCS.

These moments stand out in the minds of fans as the pinnacle of the modern-day rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees. The teams battled it out for AL supremacy in the 2000s, captivating the baseball world with intense games.

However, the rivalry that was once considered the largest in professional sports has seemingly cooled down in recent years, with the Red Sox and Yankees peaking at different times or both having lackluster seasons.

The teams have not finished 1 and 2 in the AL East standings since the 2009 season, which has not been conducive to gritty battles between them. This season has been a completely different story, as the Yankees currently sit atop the AL East leaderboard with the Red Sox a close 2 games behind them.

A new wave of stars

Boston and New York have both clawed themselves back to the elite of the MLB with new waves of talented young stars. The “Killer B’s” of the Red Sox – Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, Xander Bogaerts, and Jackie Bradley Jr. – took the MLB by storm last year and look like they will dominate for years to come. Betts and Bogaerts have especially continued their strong play this year, as they have been having the 11th and 17th best seasons in the league, respectively according to FanGraphs WAR.

Also, despite a slow start to the MLB season, the Red Sox offense has recently been on fire and has the third highest team batting average in the MLB at .267.

Two offenses finding their stride

The Yankees aren’t far behind that number, with the seventh highest team batting average of 0.265. The Bronx Bombers have been lead by some serious firepower in their lineup from rookie outfielder Aaron Judge.

While Boston’s Benintendi was widely considered as the favorite to win AL Rookie of the Year prior to the start of the season, Judge has taken that title away from him as the season has progressed. The mammoth 6′ 7″ Judge has the third highest WAR (3.0) in the MLB according to FanGraphs, not far from reigning AL MVP Mike Trout (3.4 WAR), leads the MLB in home runs (18), and has the 14th highest batting average (.326), putting him not only atop the leaderboard in the AL rookie of the year race but also in the conversation for AL MVP.

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Other Yankees have also been producing at top levels, including Aaron Hicks, who has a wOBA (a number that attempts to evaluate all-around batting performance) of 0.424, which is 7th-best in the majors, and Starlin Castro, who is batting 0.315 with 9 HR and 31 RBI.

Pitching towards a new rivalry

Both Boston and New York have had similar situations with their pitching staffs, as each team’s ace from last season has struggled early on while other pitchers have picked up the slack. For Boston, reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello has a rough 4.24 ERA, but his MLB-leading 0.367 Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP) suggests that he has been one of the most unlucky pitchers this year.

Can Price and Pomeranz repeat stellar performances?

Porcello and Price will be joined by southpaw Drew Pomeranz to make up the starting pitching staff for this series. His 3 runs allowed and 19 strikeouts in his final two games of may indicate that he has been on fire.

Similarly, Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka has posted a horrendous 6.34 ERA to begin the season, but youngster Luis Severino has seamlessly stepped into the spotlight with a 2.90 ERA and 76 strikeouts. Like Sale, Severino will not appear in this series, but the Yankees will feature righty Michael Pineda who has been solid with a 3.76 ERA and 67 Ks.

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This is the best combined talent that we have seen between the Red Sox and Yankees in a while, and this series should be the ultimate showcase of the continuation of a storied rivalry for years to come.

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