BOSTON — The Red Sox showed up for their final day of the regular season knowing there were three potential opponents in play for their American League Wild Card Series that starts on Tuesday.
In the end, it wound up being the foe they are most familiar with, not only this season, but for all time.
MLB’s most storied rivalry is about to add another October chapter, as the Red Sox, by virtue of locking down the No. 5 seed with Sunday’s 4-3 win over the Tigers, will face the Yankees in a best-of-three series.
All games in the series will take place in the Bronx, starting with Tuesday’s 6:08 p.m. ET tilt on ESPN which will pit a pair of lefty aces in Garrett Crochet and Max Fried.
“It’s going to be exciting,” said Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story. “Obviously, a bunch of history there. And like we’ve said this whole time, we don’t really care who we play, as long as we get in and we feel like we’re a confident group and we can take care of business. So yeah, we’re looking forward to it.”
Going into the day, the other possible opponents for the Sox were the Blue Jays and Guardians. But Toronto clinched the AL East by defeating the Rays at Rogers Centre, 13-4, pushing the Yankees to the No. 4 seed. A Boston loss combined with a Cleveland win — only the latter of which actually happened — would have made the Sox the No. 6 seed, forcing a trip to Cleveland.
In Game No. 162, the Red Sox called up 33-year-old José De León for his first Major League appearance since June 24, 2023, which ironically also took place against the Tigers.
The righty, who was 0-9 with a 6.93 ERA for Triple-A Worcester this season, took advantage of his opportunity, going a career-high 6 2/3 innings while giving up eight hits, three runs and three walks with eight strikeouts.
If not for De León’s surprising performance, the Sox well could have been Cleveland-bound instead of the Bronx.
In a bit of a surreal story, De León was home in Puerto Rico on Saturday de-loading prior to his annual winter ball season when he was suddenly called into action.
“Three people texted me from the organization, and I knew something was up, and they asked me if I was playing catch, and still throwing,” De León said. “I told them yes, which was a lie. But it was very surprising. It was a dream, man.”
The journey to get to Boston was less dreamy and more hectic.
“It was a crazy, crazy flight. So, I left at midnight [and] had a layover in Philly,” De León said. “We landed in Philadelphia at like 4:30 in the morning. We had a two-and-a-half-hour layover there, so I slept [at] the gate for a little bit. Then, at seven in the morning, we flew from Philly here, so we landed at 8:30 in the morning. Slept like an hour at the hotel and had to show up here. So I’m very tired.”
His performance gave the Red Sox a shot of adrenaline as they geared up for the Yankees, a team they went 9-4 against this season, including 5-2 in New York.
“It’s New York against Boston. It’s going to be big,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “We’ve got a bunch of guys that haven’t been on this stage but they have a lot of guys that haven’t been on this stage, either. It should be fun. It’s going to be loud. Like always, if we pitch we’re going to be OK.”
As far as the postseason goes, the Red Sox have had the upper-hand ever since shocking the sporting universe by coming back from an 0-3 deficit in the ‘04 ALCS.
On their way to their fourth World Series title in the 21st century, the Sox beat the Yankees in four games in the 2018 Division Series.
This is the third postseason run for Cora in seven seasons managing the Red Sox, and also the third time the quest will start with a rivalry matchup.
However, for every player on the active roster but Garrett Whitlock, this will be the first Boston-New York postseason showdown.
“Just as a fan of the game, I think growing up, you know pretty well about the rivalry and what it means to both cities,” said Story. “And I think it’s a special thing. I think it’s the best in all of sports. So, yeah, it’s going to be special to see them in the postseason.”
