No sizzle to Red Sox-Yankees

The Athletic lays off staff

Good morning, all. I hope your week is off to a great start.

This may be considered blasphemy among the Red Sox-Yankees faithful, but “The Rivalry” these days has as much sizzle as a burnt steak. I’ll go so far as to write the sizzle has been lacking for nearly two decades.

For years now the media hype around Red Sox-Yankees games has far outweighed the actual importance of the games. In reality, outside of the northeast corridor, most of the country has little interest in what is constantly billed “The Greatest Rivalry in Sports.”

Mind you, I carry no grudge here, having grown up a Yankees fan. The publicity that surrounds the games between these two clubs is the result of media coverage attempting to resuscitate an era that no longer exists. I, for one, am happy the more balanced schedule this season means fewer Red Sox-Yankees games. It means putting up with less hyperbole.

Obviously, fans in the northeast drink the Kool Aid. I watched the end of Saturday’s game and all of Sunday night’s game and Yankee Stadium was packed. It should be the same backdrop for Fenway, when the two clubs play again this weekend.

We are forever reminded of Babe Ruth, Bucky Dent, “The Curse,” Dave Roberts’ stolen base, etc., etc., etc. In reality, however, when was the last time the Red Sox-Yankees played a meaningful contest, along the lines of a late-in-the-year, regular season game with first place on the line? Try 1978, when the two clubs played two, huge series in September, setting up the Oct. 2 playoff game. Before that? 1949, when the American League pennant came down to the last two games of the season in the Bronx.

You would think with the expanded playoffs, diluting the regular season’s importance, it would be almost a given these two clubs would meet frequently in the post season, but that hasn’t been the case either. The Red Sox bounced the Yankees in the wild card game in 2021, but did that one game equal the 1978 playoff game? The eventual 2018 World Champion Red Sox dispatched of the Yankees in the ALDS, after Aaron Judge had added some intrigue by blasting “New York, New York” on his boom box, following a Yankees Game 2 win at Fenway to tie the series 1-1. Before that was the 2004 ALCS and the Yankees meltdown, after leading that series, 3-0. Of course, the two clubs met in the ALCS the year before, when the Yankees Aaron Boone launched the pennant-winning home run off Tim Wakefield. But big games and big series have been few and far between for “The Greatest Rivalry” in sports. Yes, some games in the last 20 years have had their moments, especially with Big Papi, Manny, Varitek and Pedro in the Boston lineup and Jeter, A-Rod and Clemens playing for New York. But even then, very little was on the line as far as impact on the standings.

These days a Yankees-Red Sox matchup is more reminiscent of a 1969 game between these two clubs. Believe me, growing up in the 60’s, I can never recall one big game between these so-called rivals. Not one. Listening on You Tube to games between these two clubs during that era confirms my mindset. The broadcasters did not present the hype that surrounds today’s Yankees-Red Sox games. That’s because there was nothing to hype. And there is nothing to hype now. The Red Sox are a mediocre club, even if they did win two-of-three from New York over the weekend. The Yankees are not much better. Even with Judge in the lineup they are flawed, lulled into believing their regular post season appearances sans World Championship is a way to run a franchise.

Rivalries are made, when clubs play in the regular season and post season with something on the line, when players battle each other; pitcher vs. batter, player vs. team, etc. These days, when the Yankees are healthy, Yankees-Astros, Yankees-Rays are a much better rivalry than Yankees-Red Sox. As for the Red Sox, seemingly in a constant state of rebuild, Red Sox-Yankees may be a perceived rivalry. Being nothing more than a .500 club, I am not so sure the Red Sox have any other rivals.

Will Yankees-Red Sox become must-see TV again? Sure. When the games mean something in the standings. After the 1950s and 1960s, when Yankees-Red Sox had no sizzle, things picked up steam with Fisk vs. Munson. By the mid-to-late 70’s, the rivalry had become legit again.

By the 80s and early to-mid 90’s, however, one team was always up ,while the other club was down. That is not a rivalry and neither is this. So while the media hypes Red Sox-Yankees, the reality is it will require the natural evolution of stars and playing games with something on the line in order to label it what the media is portraying it to be. Anything else is nothing more than bragging rights, nothing more than manufactured hype. Currently, there is no sizzle. There is no steak.

Layoffs at The Athletic

I was sad to read that The Athletic, the online publication covering sports, cut 20 jobs on Monday or 4 percent of its workforce. Now owned by the New York Times, the website seems to have lost its purpose, since the Times acquired it. To be fair, even when it started out as an independent entity, I always wondered about its business model. The originators of The Athletic were throwing around the money to attract reporters and lost it big time to operate the site, until scoring big when they sold it to the Times.

Per usual, The Athletic did not report the layoffs on its website. Don’t you find it interesting, by the way, how media outlets are quick to cover job losses of others but never their own? But I digress.

The reporters who lost their jobs had no inkling their week was about to start with pink slips, at least if you read their Tweets. Below are some of what was posted. Here’s hoping they can land jobs elsewhere.

Interleague play turns 26

It seems hard to believe that Monday marked the 26th anniversary of the first interleague baseball game between American and National League clubs in the regular season. The Texas Rangers played the San Francisco Giants on June 12, 1997. Now, of course, interleague play is common place. I maintain once two more clubs are added to MLB, you will see the dissolution of the American and National Leagues.

That is it for this week’s newsletter. As always, thank you for your support and have a terrific week.

SPORTSCASTER DAN