The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is back: The Yankees perspective

As a Yankees fan, it seems like I’ve spent the better part of the decade living in the Upside Down. The last six years forced me to question everything I thought I knew about baseball. They even challenged the most basic principle of the game: The Yankees and Red Sox, bitter rivals since the dawn of time, are perennial postseason foes. Instead of another October showdown between the age-old enemies, we had ... the A’s vs. the Royals.

Thankfully, order has been restored to the baseball universe. The Royals now reside by the American League’s cellar, while the A’s continue to do whatever it is they do. Meanwhile, the Yankees and Red Sox have reignited their rivalry, and it just feels right.

The bad blood, however, didn’t reemerge overnight. The feelings surfaced in phases. Since it’s not just about the destination, but the journey, it makes sense to talk about the three key stages from a Yankees fan’s perspective. They each had their moments and deserve savoring.

The story began, oddly enough, with hope. Take the offseason for example. Giancarlo Stanton fell into the Yankees’ lap. A few months later, the Red Sox signed J.D. Martinez. Did that signal a knee-jerk reaction on Dave Dombrowski’s part? Was this their answer to Stanton? No, the Sox planned on injecting power into their lineup well before the Marlins and Yankees hooked up for a trade. Still, I wanted to believe.

The last few years conditioned me to automatically respond to winter moves with rational, clear thinking. Just because Boston traded for Chris Sale doesn’t mean Brian Cashman will have a counter-move. He did not, because these teams no longer operated under such competitive circumstances. How boring is that?

Maybe this winter was different, though. The Yankees and Red Sox both made the playoffs last year, marking the first time they participated in the same postseason since 2010. Plus, the division went down to the wire in 2017. While the in-your-face nature of the contempt remained beneath the surface, something was there. You could feel it with each winter transaction. Fans counted down the days, dreaming of iconic showdowns between the AL East’s two mega-teams. Besides, what else is there to do during the offseason?

“Be careful what you wish for,” the rivalry jeered back at Yankees fans. Soon enough the season started, and it did not go according to plan. Day one turned out fine, as Stanton swatted two home runs en route to a Yankees’ victory. At the same time, Alex Cora never summoned Craig Kimbrel and the Red Sox fell to the Rays. Great start!

Then things got real annoying as Boston rattled off 17 wins over their next 19 games. One of those losses came at the hands of the Yankees, but we’ll get to that later. The Bombers, on the other hand, stumbled out of the gate. Aaron Boone’s squad struggled to play .500 baseball. Fans turned on Boone and Stanton. Boos echoed throughout Yankee Stadium and things got ugly in the Bronx real quick.

Having your team fall on its face is one thing, but watching a rival soar adds insult to injury. Phase two definitely gets labeled as the annoying portion of the reignited hostilities. Few things in baseball stand out as more insufferable than scoreboard watching in April. “Will they ever lose again?” I asked myself day in and day out for the early part of the season.

The Yankees did beat the Red Sox April 12, in a game that signaled the full arrival of the hostilities of old. To borrow a phrase from one of the great philosophers of our age, this represented the exact moment I realized the Red Sox had to “get these hands.” It started, innocuously enough, with a Tyler Austin slide into second base. Brock Holt had a problem with it, arguing Austin’s spikes were too high and the slide too aggressive. They exchanged words, the benches cleared, but cooler heads prevailed.

At least until the seventh inning. That’s when Joe Kelly decided to exact vengeance on Austin and the Yankees by engaging in beanball. Kelly threw at Austin a couple of times before finally drilling him, sparking a full-fledged brawl.

Much has been written about the fiasco, so I won’t overdeliver the point. The Red Sox transformed from pesky rivals to villains in this showing. Prior to the fight, I was annoyed Boston refused to lose, all the while maintaining their scrappy underdog persona. Here, though, they started a battle that conjured up a decade’s worth of rage. For the first time since 2010 or 2011, I loathed the Red Sox.

The Red Sox’ reaction to the altercation — namely the presence of several of the larger Yankees on the roster — proved remarkably entertaining. Per Michael Hurley of CBS Boston, Brock Holt had no desire to scrap with the Bombers. “We’re not trying to fight those guys over there,” he explained. “They’re big.” They sure are, and they’ve cut that lead in the AL East down to one game, too.

In recent years, I found myself less enthused by Yankees-Red Sox games. Maybe the absurd number of times they play each other had to do with it. Or perhaps the absence of relevance on one side of the equation. I even wondered if the Astros represented the new rivals for this incarnation of the Yankees. However, a return to normalcy occurred, and these two teams are back at each other’s throats.

It wasn’t easy or particularly fast, but the Red Sox and Yankees have once again climbed to the top of baseball relevance, exchanging blows all along the way. As a Yankees fan, I moved from optimistic that a clash would someday come, to frustrated by Boston’s unending success, before finding myself downright infuriated. The Yankees and Red Sox, equal and hostile in 2018. I wouldn’t have it any other way.