MLB playoffs 2018: Yankees’ young players finally get a taste of Boston Red Sox rivalry in ALDS | Politi

Most of the New York Yankees were just kids the last time they faced the Boston Red Sox in the MLB Playoffs. That’s about to change.

Watch video

NEW YORK — They have no idea what they are about to experience over the next few days. How could they?

Aaron Judge was a Little Leaguer in Linden, Calif., the last time the Yankees played the Red Sox in the postseason. Gleyber Torres was just a 7 year old kid in Venezuela. Brett Gardner, at least, is pretty sure he was watching — but the details are a bit foggy. 

“I was in college,” the veteran outfielder said, “so I was probably watching in a bar somewhere.”

That’s still better than Luis Severino, who was a 10-year-old in the Dominican Republic when the Red Sox and Yankees played in the ALCS for a second-straight year in 2004. 

“I think at that time I didn’t even have TV,” Severino said on Wednesday night after the Yankees steamrolled the Oakland A’s, 7-2, in the AL Wild Card. “I’m not even sure. But I think I’ve been shown the highlights. It will be fun. Really fun.”

That much is a given. Can it possibly match what happened when these two old rivals faced off in back-to-back Octobers with the American League pennant at stake a decade and a half ago?

In a word: No. 

Those two series were packed with so many incredible moments that it seems absurd to measure anything up against it. They were, without an ounce of hyperbole, two of the most remarkable playoff matchups in modern baseball history. 

The 2003 series had Pedro Martinez vs. Roger Clemens, and Martinez tossing Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer across the field during a wild brawl, and Grady Little’s managerial meltdown, and Aaron (Bleeping) Boone launching a forever home run in Game 7 into the left-field seats.

The 2004 series had a 3-0 Yankees lead, and Dave Roberts dancing on the base paths in extra innings, and a pair of marathon games at Fenway, and the single greatest comeback in baseball history with a band of self-described “idiots” ending an 86-year-old curse. 

For the Yankees — or, for that matter, their fans — who were too young to remember: Trust us. It was epic. 

Five observations from the AL Wild Card win  

The current players don’t need the added history to get excited. From the moment the 2018 campaign started, this matchup felt inevitable given how the teams performed. The Red Sox won 108 games. The Yankees won 100. They have the two most prolific offenses in the American League. 

“I think they can’t wait,” said Boone, the 2003 hero turned Yankees manager. “They’re ready and relish the opportunity to go up against the game’s best this year. We’re very familiar with them. We know how good they are. We know we have to be at our best and they’re very tough at Fenway.”

His Yankees were at their best in the wild card victory. They had their ace, Severino, dominate for four innings. They had their bullpen, including the previous unpredictable Dellin Betances, take over from there. They had sluggers Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Luke Voit contribute big hits, and even turned a few nifty defensive plays.

Still: This was Oakland, a fine team that won 97 games but couldn’t match the Yankees depth of talent. Boston can. Boston does.   

“They have two of the best pitchers in the league in (Chris) Sale and (David) Price,” veteran pitcher CC Sabathia said. “[Rick] Porcello is really good, and their lineup from top to bottom is probably just as good, if not better, than ours.”

Sabathia was a 23-year-old workhorse for the Cleveland Indians the last time the Yankees and the Red Sox faced each other in the postseason, so he’s seen, from a far, how a series between them can generate so much intensity.

But for all his time in pinstripes, he hasn’t seen it up close. He will now. 

“I haven’t played them in the playoffs since I’ve been here,” the lefty said. “I know it’s gonna be intense. We get a chance to finish the series right now in five games to see who’s the best.”

Yankees-Red Sox. New York-Boston. Fourteen years is not the longest gap between postseason meetings — it wasn’t until realignment in 1994 that the two teams could play in a playoff series — but it feels like an eternity. That ends on Friday. 

“We’re ready,” Judge said.

And so is everybody else. 

Steve Politi may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.