From the time they sold a young pitcher named Babe Ruth, who was also a pretty good hitter, to the New York Yankees in 1920, the Boston Red Sox suffered from what local sportwriter Dan Shaughnessy dubbed “The Curse of the Bambino.
The Red Sox vs. Yankees rivalry burns again on Tuesday, when the two teams meet in the AL Wild Card series opener.
There was no real “curse” or anything supernatural going on, but there was a big difference in the way Yankees and Red Sox franchises were managed, both on the field an in the front office. The result was that for the remainder of the 20th century the Red Sox failed to win even a single World Series while the Yankees were busy winning an all-time record 26.
The difference in the team’s fortunes and the fact that they were forever linked by the Ruth sale as well as basic geography — the two east coast cities are only about 200 miles apart — led to an intense rivalry that built up over the decades.
In 1995 with the addition of the Wild Card to an expanded MLB postseason, the rivalry grew even more intense because the Red Sox and Yankees who had always played in the same division could now meet in the heightened atmosphere of the playoffs.
That happened for the first time in the 1999 ALCS, but it was a bit of an anticlimax as the Yankees won the series four games to one.
But the next time they met in the postseason, in the 2003 ALCS, the Yankees won on an extra-innings, Game Seven walk-off home run. Then everything changed the following year. In the 2004 ALCS the Red Sox became the only MLB team in history to come back from an 0-3 deficit in a seven-game series to win the next four games and the series.
The Red Sox went on to win their first World Series in 86 years.
The teams didn’t meet again in the playoffs for 14 years, but the Red Sox won again in the 2018 AL Division Series, three games to one. In 2021 the Red Sox beat the Yankees in what was then a one-game, win-or-go-home Wild Card playoff.
Now, on Tuesday, the Red Sox go for their fourth postseason series win in a row over the Yankees, this time in a two-out-of-three series.
Red Sox vs. Yankees Odds
According to the BET MGM sports book, the Red Sox are the underdogs in Tuesday’s game, with moneyline odds of +115. In other words, a wager of $100 would pay a $115 profit if the Red Sox win the game.
The Yankees are favored at -135, that is, a bettor must put to up $135 to win $100 in the event of a Yankees victory.
Expert Predictions
The New York Post surveyed five of its top baseball experts and insiders. All five see the series going the full three games, and all five have the Yankees as the victors.
The site Covers.com didn’t rely in humans to make its pick, instead feeding data into the artificial intelligence engine ChatGPT.
The AI result, however, also had the Yankees winning — though ChatGPT saw the Yankees losing Game One, then bouncing back to take the next two. If that happens it would be a first.
In the 12 best-of-three Wild Card series played from 2022 to 2024, the team that won the first game has won all 12 series.
The baseball video game MLB The Show also ran a simulation of the entire MLB postseason, and got different results. The simulation not only predicted that the Red Sox would beat the Yankees, but that Boston will make it all the way to the World Series, only to lose to the Philadelphia Phillies.
How to Watch Red Sox vs. Yankees
Games One and Two of the Red Sox vs. Yankees AL Wild Card series will be carried by ESPN on television, as well as live streamed on the new ESPN app, which requires a paid subscription. First pitch for all three games at Yankee Stadium is set for 6:08 p.m. Eastern Time.
If game three becomes necessary, the network has not yet been announced. It could be ESPN or the main ABC, over-the-air network. First pitch is scheduled for the same time.
Red Sox vs. Yankees: Predictions, Odds, How to Watch AL Wild Card Playoff