The chaos that could have been never came to fruition, but the AL wild card picture was dramatic nonetheless in Game 162. With the Yankees and Red Sox both needing to win to clinch a postseason berth, New York walked off Tampa Bay 1-0. A few minutes later Boston's Rafael Devers hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth against Washington, capping a comeback in a game where the Sox trailed 5-1.
It brings us to one of the most anticipated matchups since the implementation of the wild-card game in 2012: Sox-Yanks at Fenway Park on Tuesday night. Gerrit Cole will face Nate Eovaldi in a one-game showdown for the right to meet the Rays in the ALDS.
While the two are obviously century-old rivals, their postseason history isn't long, given there was no LCS or LDS for decades. Alas, the brief history is dramatic, giving us some unforgettable moments.
1978: For a long time it was the poster child of the Yankees-Red Sox dichotomy. Boston led New York by 14 games on July 19, and then played .712 baseball the rest of the way, including a four-game sweep of the Sox at Fenway in September to tie in the standings. Eventually they forced the first-ever one-game playoff to determine the division champ, and with Boston up 2-0 in the sixth the famous (or, depending on your fandom, infamous) Bucky Dent hit a three-run homer to give the Yankees a lead they wouldn't surrender in what became a 5-4 win. New York would go on to win the World Series for the second straight year.
1999 ALCS: The rivals' first true postseason series against one another might be the least dramatic of the group. In midst of their eventual World Series three-peat, the Yankees took the series in five games, though there was some drama. Bernie Williams walked off Game 1 in extras with a home run, and New York used a seventh-inning rally to take Game 2. But outside of a 13-1 drubbing by the Sox in Game 3, the Yanks just mowed down everyone, going 11-1 in the postseason to win it all.
2003 ALCS: The fun really begins here. Facing elimination in Game 6, Boston scored five times over the final three innings to force a Game 7 at Yankee Stadium, and you probably know the rest. The Sox led 5-2 in the eighth when Grady Little came to take out an exhausted Pedro Martinez... only he didn't take out his ace. Two batters later it was a tie game, and in the bottom of the 11th Aaron Boone walked it off with a home run to left to send New York to the World Series, where they'd lose in six games to the Marlins.
2004 ALCS: Of course, the script historically flipped one year later. A 19-8 thumping by the Yankees at Fenway gave New York a 3-0 series edge, a previously insurmountable lead in baseball history. And then you've seen the rest: going for the sweep in Game 4 with Mariano Rivera on the mound in the ninth, Kevin Millar walked, Dave Roberts stole second, Bill Mueller singled to tie it, then David Ortiz walked it off in extras. Then he did it again in Game 5. Back in the Bronx, Game 6 saw Curt Schilling and the bloody sock, and Game 7 was over almost from the start, a 10-3 party to cap the greatest comeback in baseball history. A sweep of the Cardinals later, and the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years.
2018 ALDS: Despite both experiencing more success in the ensuing 14 years - the Sox won World Series again in 2007 and 2013, while the Yankees did in 2009, and they make the postseason basically every year - the rivals didn't meet again in October until 2018 in the best-of-five ALDS featuring two 100-win teams.
The two split the first two games at Fenway, with Aaron Judge seen after a Game 2 win blaring "New York, New York" out of his backpack. In the return to Yankee Stadium, Boston won Game 3 by a 16-1 final, capped by Brock Holt's cycle, the first in MLB postseason history. The Sox would finish the job in Game 4, holding off a late New York rally to win the game 4-3 en route to an eventual World Series championship.