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The Top 5 Best Sports Rivalries: Difference between revisions
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=Red Sox vs Yankees= | |||
The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is one of the most storied in all of sports. This rivalry is a competition of images, teams, cities, styles, ballparks, fans, and media. History, style, culture, pace, dreams, bragging rights - all are mixed in, mixed up with the rivalry in one way or another. The competition is so much more than a baseball team representing Boston going against a baseball team representing New York. It is, at its heart, a competition between the provincial capital of New England and the mega-municipality of New York City, the different lifestyles, accents, slogans and symbols. Playing in the same division, the teams faced each other often. The teams divided neighbors, colleagues, and families. Red Sox fans blamed the Yankees for all of their problems, and Yankees fans gloated in return. The roots of the rivalry extend all the way back to the first time the teams faced-off on May 7, 1903 at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston. After a dormant period for the Yankees in the 1980s, and a similar time for the Red Sox in the 1990s, animosity heated back up in the late ‘90s. With stars like Pedro Martinez and Nomar Garciaparra, the Red Sox became competitive again. In 1999, the teams met in the ALCS. While the Yankees won decisively in five games, the series was a preview for later competition. The tension reached a high in 2003. Again, the teams played each other in the ALCS – but this time, it went seven games. It ended on a walk-off home run by Yankees third baseman Aaron Boone in the eleventh inning of Game 7. In 2004, the teams met once more in the ACLS. But the Yankees took a 3-0 series lead, all but crushing the Sox. Then the Red Sox did the impossible: they won the next four games to advance to the World Series, becoming the first team in sports to win a seven-game series after going down 3-0. They won the World Series for the first time since 1918, and exorcised the demons of Red Sox fans. Now, though the Yankees still hold a significant edge in World Series titles, both teams are among the most elite in baseball. They are the only teams to win multiple World Series in the past decade. Because both are now competitive, regular-season games are more important and fraught with tension than ever. | |||
==Red Sox by the Numbers== | |||
World Series Titles | |||
8 | |||
American League Pennants | |||
13 | |||
East Division Titles | |||
7 | |||
Wild Card Berths | |||
7 | |||
Retired Numbers | |||
7 | |||
Boston Red Sox Hall of Famers | |||
33 | |||
==Yankees by the Numbers== | |||
World Series Titles | |||
27 | |||
American League Pennants | |||
40 | |||
East Division Titles | |||
18 | |||
Wild Card Berths | |||
4 | |||
Retired Numbers | |||
16 | |||
New York Yankees Hall of Famers | |||
47 | |||