For nearly two decades, the Boston Red Sox had the New York Yankees' number in the postseason. Following a Curse-shattering comeback in 2004, Boston utterly dominated New York in October, reversing the usual perspective of one of the greatest rivalries in sports.
The Red Sox beat the Yankees in the 2018 ALDS and the 2021 Wild Card game. But in the last two seasons — the first two years the Red Sox have made the playoffs since 2021 — the roles have switched back. Boston's losses to New York haven't been pretty. It's been outscored 26-5 in the last two Wild Card series, and it lost the most recent one before the calendar ever turned to October.
The Red Sox haven't played a home playoff game since 2021. The season ending in the Bronx twice in a row is demoralizing. It should also be galvanizing.
The Yankees are a beacon of success in this league. They've made the playoffs in all but five years since 2000. While they've only won one World Series since their three-peat from 1998-2000, no one ever counts them out for a deep run, just because "they're the Yankees."
Losing two consecutive Wild Card rounds to Yankees should motivate Red Sox to go above and beyond this offseason
New York is in the mix for almost every major free agent that suits their needs. It's always a threat because the men in charge there aren't afraid to do whatever it takes to win. Meanwhile, the Red Sox, the winningest team of the new millennium in terms of championships, can't be trusted to re-sign the third baseman they traded away a $300 million-plus franchise player to accommodate.
The Red Sox's offense disappeared when it counted, but a timely home run or two could've kept them in the games longer, chased starters sooner and shaken New York's confidence. Boston hoped to add a power hitter last offseason, but couldn't get Bregman or Pete Alonso for the underpay it offered, so it went with Ranger Suarez and Willson Contreras instead — both are great players who were integral to the Sox's success this year, but neither addressed the team's biggest need to the extent it needed to be fixed.
Boston's streaky offense revealed the flaws in the defense-first, "run prevention" ideaology Craig Breslow pursued this year. Even if a team's pitching staff holds opponents to one or two runs, the offense needs to score more than that to win. The Red Sox couldn't reliably do so early in the season and the same issue came back to haunt them in September.
There should be no world in which the Yankees shut the Red Sox out in the postseason. New York should never quadruple Boston's score in an elimination game. To lose in such a fashion should be embarrassing to the Red Sox, but they haven't shown that they've learned from their mistakes.
Boston's two-consecutive early playoff eliminations to its greatest rival has shown it exactly what it needs to succeed in the toughest division in baseball. There are no excuses for not acting on that knowledge. Continued humiliation at the hands of the Yankees should not be an option.
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