My Two Cents: It's Red Sox-Yankees Again, Highlighting Rare Flaw in New Schedule Format
BOSTON — As much as the rest of America hates to admit it, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees still have the best rivalry in baseball. We don't get 2003-04 drama anymore, but it still matters a lot, especially to the fans.
The Red Sox and Yankees are playing this weekend, with three games at Fenway Park. And if you're thinking you just saw this, well, you'd be right. They also played last weekend in New York, with the Red Sox winning two of the three games, all very close and entertaining.
This weekend will be fun, too, but it also highlights the one flaw in an otherwise good idea. MLB changed the schedule this year, going from 19 division games to 13 and setting up series between all 30 teams in baseball.
I like the schedule changes, but there's one thing that can get improved on. If rivals are now only going to play four series over six months, why have them play on back-to-back weekends?
What I hope happens is that they spread out these divisional series a little more. Six games have gone away, which I'm fine with, but it makes those 13 annual showdowns even more valuable and important now.
Here's a good example. Through the first 64 games of the season — nearly 40 percent of a 162-game season — the Red Sox and Yankees never saw each other once. Now they play six games in 10 days — and then don't see each other again until mid-August, with three games at Yankee Stadium Aug. 18-20. They finish the rivalry with four games at Fenway from Sept. 11-14.
The rivalry isn't the only one affected, of course. The Yankees play half of their games against division rival Toronto in the final two weeks of the season, and played only seven times in the first 150, all done by mid-May.
So, yes, the Yankees and Blue Jays go three FULL months without seeing each other.
I would love it if the schedule-makers divide the season into four parts — April to mid-May, then through the end of June. July to mid-August, and then to the end. Drop the four division series into each quarter so you're seeing your rivals at least once in every six-week or so window.
I'd even go one little step further and make sure the rivalry games are in September, so some head-to-head games might settle the division.
It's very hard to juggle this massive schedule, and I get that. Here's another bad example. Tampa Bay and the Chicago White Sox played all seven of their games in April, and their season series was over. Same with the Yankees and the Minnesota Twins, all seven games done by April.
The schedule-makers? They can do better.
But we get Yankees-Red Sox now for a second straight weekend, and we might as well enjoy it. It's not the high-profile stuff we're used to, and even the players notice. Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes questions whether the Red Sox are even the Yankees' biggest rival any more.
Clearly, he lives in the moment.
"It doesn't feel like what we have with Tampa now, or with Toronto now,'' Cortes said last week. "You could argue that (the Red Sox) haven't been who they really are the last couple years."
He's not wrong. The Red Sox are 34-35 this season, in dead last in the American League East and a whopping 14.5 games behind Tampa Bay for the division lead. The Yankees are 39-30 and in third place, 9.5 games behind the Rays.
Catching the Rays seems out of the question. Making the expanded six-team playoffs is still in play, of course, especially for the Yankees. If the season ended today — yeah, I know, it doesn't — they'd own the last spot, just a game ahead of the Los Angeles Angels.
So, yes, it's Red Sox vs. Yankees and that matters. We'll watch, because we always do. And the networks do their part too, of course, with MLB Network showing it in regional coverage on Friday night, and FOX televising Saturday night's game. ESPN is giving it the Sunday night prime-time treatment as well.
Here's the schedule, with game times, pitching matchups and TV information:
- Friday night: Yankees (Domingo German 4-3, 3.49 ERA) at Red Sox (Tanner Houck 3-6, 5.23 ERA). Time: 7:10 p.m. ET. TV: MLB Network, plus local broadcasts.
- Saturday night: Yankees (Clarke Schmidt 2-6, 4.70 ERA) at Red Sox (Brayan Bello 3-4, 3.78 ERA). Time: 7:15 p.m. ET. TV: FOX.
- Sunday night: Yankees (Luis Severino 0-1, 6.48 ERA) at Red Sox (James Paxton 2-1, 3.09 ERA). Time: 7 ET. TV: ESPN.
Enjoy the series. Another one, second in two weekends. Last week was fun, a 3-2 Boston win followed by a 3-2 Yankees victory. The series finale went 10, with the Red Sox winning 3-2.
The pitching matchups look familiar, too. This weekend's Friday and Saturday games are a re-do from Saturday and Sunday last weekend. So tee it up, and let's go.
