Boston Red Sox: 3 keys to winning ALDS vs. New York Yankees

Justin Keene

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 08: Gleyber Torres #25 of the New York Yankees is tagged out by Christian Vazquez #7 of the Boston Red Sox trying to score on Aaron Judge #99 single in the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium on May 8, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

The 2018 ALDS matchup is set, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees will face off in the postseason for the first time since 2004.

The 108-win Boston Red Sox welcome the New York Yankees into Fenway for the first 2 of a potential 5 game series to advance one step closer to the World Series.

The AL East rivals played 19 games against each other so far, with the Red Sox winning 10 of those games. The most recent series coming on the last weekend of the season, where the Yankees took 2 of 3 in Boston.

This matchup is possibly the most intriguing matchup of the MLB postseason, as the division rivals will battle it out to advance to the ALCS and play the winner of the Astros-Indians series.

Lets take a look at 3 keys to beating the Bronx bombers for the Red Sox.

1. Starting Pitching needs to be elite

Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello. The first 3 starters for the Boston Red Sox. These players will be the keys to the series and ultimately how far this team goes into October.

Chris Sale has been out for the last month and a half with a shoulder injury. The lefty has pitched 12 innings in the month of September, allowing 11 hits, 5 runs, 1 HR, while striking out 18 and yielding only 1 walk. Chris Sale needs to be the Chris Sale we all know and love in order for the Sox to beat the Yankees in Game 1 and potentially Game 5. In his 2 games against the Yankees this season, Sale has gone 13 innings, with 9 hits, 1 earned run, 19 strikeouts and allowing only 1 walk. He picked up the Win in both games.

David Price is your game 2 starter. He has been absolutely dominant since the All-Star break, going 6-1 in 11 starts, with 68 innings pitched, 68 strikeouts, 16 walks, 19 runs, while allowing 50 hits and posting a 2.25 ERA. His track record in the playoffs aren’t all that great however. Price carries a career 5.03 ERA in 73.1 innings of post season work. He needs to be better this go around, especially against the Yankees.

Rick Porcello is probably one of the most overlooked pitchers in all of baseball. He is the third starter in a stacked rotation for Boston, but he has also won a Cy Young award in 2016 with the Red Sox. This season against New York, Porcello has 20 strikeouts in 4 games while allowing 6 runs and holding the Yankees to a sub par .443 OPS. If he can continue his success, he could help the Red Sox steal game 3 on the road.

2. Keep the Yankees big bats at bay

The 2018 Yankees set the MLB record for most home runs in a season with 267 home runs. Their biggest bats are Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sanchez. They also have complimentary pieces in Didi Gregorious, Andrew McCutchen and Luke Voit.

Both Judge and Stanton homered in their 7-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics in the Wild Card Game.

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The Boston pitchers need to keep the Yankees in the yard if they want to have a chance at beating them. If the Yankees start hitting multiple home runs in games, the score could get ugly quickly.

The Yankees are also susceptible to strikeouts, as Stanton is second in the American League in strikeouts with 211, while Judge has 152, and that was on a shortened season. If the Boston Red Sox can get these guys to swing and miss, they could be in great position for victory.

3. Alex Cora needs to out manage Aaron Boone

This is probably one of the most interesting storylines coming into this series. Both teams are sporting first year managers in Cora and Boone.

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Alex Cora spent the last two seasons as a bench coach for the Houston Astros. He helped them win the World Series last season. 2018 was his first year as a manager, and he surprised a lot of fans.

Cora led them to a franchise record 108 wins and has changed the culture in the clubhouse. Now, some of his in-game decisions have been questionable but that obviously comes with the lack of experience. Let’s hope he makes the right decisions in these high leverage games

Aaron Boone has been out of baseball since 2009. He was then a broadcaster for 9 years, most notably with ESPN calling Sunday Night Baseball games since 2016. He is now in his first year as a manager with the Yankees. Boone led the team to 100 wins , but has had his struggles along the way. There were points where he seemed to have lost the locker room, but he seemingly has turned it around. He also will be faced with tough decisions in the playoffs.

Cora, for the most part; has been great all year-long. The roster really seemed to buy in to the culture change he brought to Boston. Cora has a great relationship with the players, and this can be a very good thing to carry over into October.

There will be times where a tough decision is to be made on who to pinch hit and who to bring in out of the bullpen. These little decisions could ultimately end up deciding a game and potentially the series.

All in all, this will be a very entertaining series. Anytime the Red Sox and Yankees meet up, especially in the playoffs, you know it’s going to be a rollercoaster of emotions and always a tough fight. Both teams are up to the task and ready to do whatever it takes to advance, lets just hope its the Boston Red Sox who get to do so.