America is going to get to watch a lot of great baseball being played in the Bronx over the next week. America is also going to constantly complain about it.
Red Sox-Yankees is the best rivalry in North
American sports and there is no close second. It’s a rivalry that has the scope of a historical epic. One that brings with it genuine hatred, passion, jealousy, and vengeance. Hype and narrative build in the lead-up to first pitch and then, despite that hype feeling almost overwhelming, the game play on the field somehow manages to match or surpass it, almost every time.
It is great baseball and America loves it, as is proven time and again not only by the TV ratings, but by the Red Sox or Yankees pennants you’ll find in random sports bars in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Asheville, North Carolina, or Butte, Montana.
But America is a country that often struggles to understand itself. And so, get ready to hear a lot of bitching about this:
That is the complete schedule for the Wild Card Series and, yes, Red Sox-Yankees will be in the prime time slot, every night: 6 PM on ESPN. If you’re a fan in Detroit, Cleveland, or Chicago, I feel your pain. It sucks that so many of your fellow fans won’t be able to watch the most meaningful innings of your season, even if there is a giddy kind of joy in daytime playoff baseball — in sneaking out of the office to catch a few innings at the bar in the middle of the day, in skipping class or streaming the game on your laptop during your poli-sci lecture.
But to the rest of you neutrals who are going to performatively pretend to be “over” Red Sox-Yankees: shut-up. You are going to watch it and you are going to be riveted. Red Sox-Yankees in October is as good as baseball gets. We get a brand new edition of it, starting on Tuesday night. You’re welcome, America.
