The Yankees are beginning a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox this weekend in what is shaping up to be one of the biggest of the year so far.
Instead of four games, the New York Yankees will now host the Boston Red Sox for three this weekend as Thursday’s game was moved to August due to rain.
Regardless, this series will be one of great importance for the Yankees. Some may argue it’s only late May/early June or the Yankees already have a 7.5 game lead, but the Bombers have a chance to do something that Boston did to them last year; bury them early.
The Red Sox to their credit were baseball’s best team in 2018 from day one. They got off to a red hot start and never looked back dominating their way to an AL East title and eventual world series championship while the Yankees sat well behind in second place for nearly the entire season.
In 2019 the tables have a chance to turn. 7.5 games is a good amount, but it’s not enough. Though the Red Sox have underachieved and have a shaky bullpen, they still are the defending world champions and are loaded with talent. Weather Yankee fans like it or not, the Red Sox are going to be a factor in 2019 and a team New York still needs to prove they can take out of the division race.
This weekend will give them a chance to do just that. If the Bombers were to sweep the Red Sox, they’d extend their division lead to 10.5. Even by taking two out of three, the Yanks would be looking at an 8.5 game lead.
No an 8.5 game isn’t a huge difference than 7.5 but the by winning the series the Yankees could suck the life out of the Red Sox and force them to start shifting their focus to the wild card race.
It’s early but the earlier the Yankees could bury a team like the Red Sox the better a chance they will have of winning their first AL East title since 2012.
Thus, it may be the end of May, but this series has great importance.