Boston Red Sox: 4 stars who must shine on October playoff stage

The Boston Red Sox begin their postseason run against the New York Yankees Friday night at Fenway Park. These four stars will set the tone as to how far this team goes.

Bring on the New York Yankees!  After defeating the Oakland Athletics Wednesday night, the Pinstripes will invade Fenway Park to battle the Boston Red Sox in the American League Divisional Series.

This crash between two 100-win teams seems destined to happen.  It is just a shame that the showdown between the historical rivals didn’t wait until the American League Championship series.

Anyone born prior to 1998 remember the 2004 great collapse when the Red Sox ended the “Curse of the Bambino” to storm back form a 3-0 deficit to send the Yankees home packing and eventually win their first World Series championship since 1918.  How ironic that exactly 100 years later, the team will have a shot to win again and must defeat their heated rivals to get it done.

While this playoff series will certainly add another chapter to the long history of these two historic teams, the Boston Red Sox do enter the playoffs with some questions of concern.

The bullpen is the obvious question mark, but for a team that performed so well in the regular season, how the big stars perform will determine how far this team goes. Red Sox manager Alex Cora is confident in his team, but in order for this team to get past the Yankees and make this 108-win season count, here are the four players who have to shine in October.