What Went Wrong: We Still Own You, Boston

A familiar saying comes to mind in this case: "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

First off, let's talk about the fact that this was the best Wild Card Series round ever. Yes, we're only four seasons in to this format, but still. In the first three years, there were 12 series. Only two went the maximum three games: Mets/Padres in 2022, and Brewers/Mets in 2024. This year saw three deciding Game Threes, and the last one was between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.

I had a feeling that the Red Sox would be postseason bound. There was something about them that made them look like they would be a bit of a force. Then they traded Rafael Devers. That cinched it. Boston went on a winning tear and got into the playoffs within the final week of the season, and when the Blue Jays locked up the American League East, that set up the ultimate rivalry in the Wild Card Series: Red Sox/Yankees. This wasn't your dad's Yankees/Red Sox rivalry. A lot of the names have changed over the years, there's one thing that remains true: the Yankees own Boston.

The Red Sox took Game One, 3-1, after getting out of a bases loaded, no outs jam in the ninth inning. But after that, Game Two would see the Yankees take over with three separate leads, including the last one in the eighth inning to win it. Game Three saw the Red Sox totally run out of gas and go right into the Schlittler (couldn't resist). A 4-0 shutout loss, on the anniversary of the Bucky Dent game at that.

The only thing that went wrong for Boston was the very thing that had plagued them for over a century: the Yankees own them.

When the final out was recorded, I only had one question: "Where's Alex Bregman?" My fellow Yankees fans understand why I'd ask that. Beating the Red Sox is delicious enough, so is seeing their disappointed faces. But the face I wanted to see was Bregman's. We owed Bregman so many ass-whippings, solely because he was part of all of those Houston Astros teams who plagued us, including the crooked 2017 squad. Bregman went 3-for-10 and drove in the insurance run in Game One. Trevor Story had three RBIs and the team's only homer in the series, and Masataka Yoshida had two RBIs. Homophobic fuckrag Jarren Duran went 1-for-11; poetic justice that he sucked in the postseason. He also struck out four times, one of four Boston hitters with four strikeouts in the series.

And with that, the Division Series field is complete. The New York Yankees advance to the American League Division Series and will face the Toronto Blue Jays in the best-of-five series. After we all take a breather, the Division Series will start on Saturday. As for the Boston Red Sox, well, they did exceed some expectations. They were a little bit messy, but not messy enough to miss the postseason. They have the San Francisco Giants to thank for being stupid enough to actually take Rafael Devers off their hands. A postseason appearance for the first time in four years. But as I said before, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The statement remains true, and will always remain true: the Yankees own Boston.

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