New York Yankee Rivalries: Out with the Red Sox and in with the Tampa Bay Rays (video)

For the New York Yankees, the rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees is that of Yankee lore, ever since the Red Sox made the worst trade in baseball history.  The Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. From then on it would be called the curse of the Bambino. The Yankees would win seven American League (AL) pennants and four World Series Championships during Ruth’s tenure with the Yankees.  To add insult to injury the Red Sox would go 86 years without a Championship.

That animosity between the clubs would set the stage for decades of rivalry between the two teams, that are just two hundred miles apart.  In an era when there were actually fans in the stands, at both Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium, opposing fans would wear their team’s t-shirts just to irritate each other.  That’s not to deny an occasional beer wouldn’t be split on an unexpecting head.  Every Yankee Red Sox game would take longer to play than with other clubs, and fans would be more involved in every game. Each game was a must-win for their team.

Since that drought, the Red Sox have won four World Championships in 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018.  The Yankees only won one during the span in 2009.  Even so, in the last decade, the rivalry between the two teams has faded somewhat.  Mostly because the competition with the Rays and the Astros seemed to take center stage.  This year the Astros have taken a back seat to the Rays, as the division lineups don’t have the two teams playing against each other.  However, that’s not to say that the Yankees or it’s fans have forgotten that the Astros may have taken a chance at a World Series away from them in 2017.  The Yankees will deal with that situation in good time.

That brings us to the shortened 2020 season. With the tension between the clubs escalating over the years, the New York Yankees failure this year to win games from the Rays has risen the rivalry to new heights.  After winning a game last night, the Yankees are now 2-9 with the Rays this year.  The Red Sox series were always looked forward too, as fans couldn’t wait to beat the pants off them.  This year is much different, the Yankees go into each series with the Ray with trepidation.

The bottom line in all of this is that the two teams just don’t like each other.  Last night at the ninth inning, the first pitch from Aroldis Chapman whizzed by Michael Brosseau’s helmet, it was a pitch that the Rays thought was on purpose, not to just move him off the plate. Brosseau struck out to end the game, but the interaction between the teams was not over. After a few words were said, both dugouts emptied causing a shouting match that was quelled by the umpires. In an after-game interview, Rays manager Kevin Cash was very angry, and appeared to suggest that retaliation might be forthcoming when he said, we have a pen full of pitchers that can throw 98 mph.

Both of these teams are going to protect their players, and won’t be afraid to do so.  With tension running high tonight, let’s hope that no gets hurt and that both teams behave themselves.  Just like this crazy season, you never know what’s going to happen.  The only thing we can be sure of is that fans will be watching intensely. The Ray’s Kevin Kiermaier said it best in an after-game interview.  It is what it is, we just don’t like each other.