Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees Wild Card matchup would be epic

While there are still more than three weeks left in the 2021 Major League Baseball regular season, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox could well be on a collision course to meet in the American League Wild Card game.

Can you imagine if the two bitter rivals met in October with one game to decide which team moved on in the postseason and which one went home? The build-up to the game and the emotions of it before, during, and after the contest would be off the charts.

A Wild Card matchup would add another postseason chapter to the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox rivalry

The Yankees and Red Sox have met five times in the postseason, with the last coming in 2018 when Boston topped New York 3-1 in a best-of-five American League Division Series. In addition, the teams have met in Game 163 one time to decide the winner of the American League East. New York earned a 5-4 decision at Fenway Park on October 2, 1978, to claim the division in a game that is well known for Bucky Dent’s momentum-grabbing seventh-inning home run.

Here are the other times the Yankees and Red Sox have met in the postseason.

New York topped Boston 4-1 in the 1999 American League Championship Series

New York beat Boston 4-3 in the 2003 American League Championship Series

Boston beat New York 4-3 in the 2004 American League Championship Series

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Since the Wild Card entered into the MLB postseason picture in 1995, the Yankees and Red Sox have been Wild Card winners seven times each, but they have never faced each other in that round. However, entering play on Tuesday, both teams are well behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the race for the AL East title, meaning they would have to make the postseason through the Wild Card route.

According to FanGraphs, that’s a very real possibility. Both the Yankees and Red Sox are hovering around an 80 percent chance to earn a Wild Card berth while no other AL team is above 30 percent.

There’s also no lock on where the single game would be played, with both the Red Sox and Yankees within a half-game of each other in the standings (New York has the slight lead). The teams do have one three-game series remaining against each other this season, with the Yankees visiting Boston from September 24-26.

The possibilities of what each manager would do in a winner-take-all Wild Card game are fascinating. Would the Red Sox start Chris Sale or go with a pitcher like Nathan Eovaldi who has made more starts this season? Would the Yankees counter with Gerrit Cole or save him for a potential Game 1 matchup in the ALDS?

There is a lot of baseball left to play, but a Red Sox-Yankees “one game for all the marbles” would absolutely be must-see television and add yet another chapter to a storied rivalry.