New York and Boston on Wild Card Destiny?
October 2, 1978 the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox met in Game 163 of the season to break a tie to determine the American League East champion. If you don't know about the game, look up Bucky Dent home run at Fenway. It will come up.
43 years later, Major League Baseball's ever changing playoff structure has the Yankees and the Red Sox poised on a collision course to meet in the AL Wild Card game on either October 5th o 6th. Baseball fans are salivating at the prospect of a one game showdown between aces Gerrit Cole and Chris Sale.
Yankee manager Aaron Boone and Red Sox skipper Alex Cora have each had to steer their respective ships in some turbulent waters this season. Cora's team once owned a convincing lead of 10.5 games over the Yankees in the AL East prior to Boone basically clung to a sponge for a life preserver as he tried to keep his team afloat in the midst of the turbulent New York baseball waters.
The big question now facing both teams, is will they get there? Red Sox are 24-25 since the All Star break. Conversely, the Yankees are 32-16. Both teams are being chased by Seattle, Oakland and the an old division friend stacked with talented youth, the Blue Jays. The Mariners and Toronto are playing great baseball right now while the Yankees struggled to take 1 of 3 games against the Orioles this weekend and were blown out by the Blue Jays on Monday 8-0. The Red Sox have lost 2 straight and continue to flounder.
If both teams want to relive that awesome one game playoff of 1978, then both teams need to bare down during the month of September and start to play some consistent baseball. If not, October 5-6 could feature the young stars of Toronto, Oakland or Seattle, instead of one or both of the American League's most storied franchises.