I Don't Care That It's Only April, This Red Sox-Yankees Series is HUGE

Don't for one second think just because it's April that this series doesn't matter, because it does. 

Casual baseball fans will say that "April baseball is meaningless" and I just want you to know that people who believe that are fucking idiots. Just because there's a 162 games in a season doesn't mean a win in one month is more or less valuable than another. That notion is simply false. A win, is a win. A win on April 18th matters just as much as one on September 18th. 

An example I love to use to further explain that is the 2011 Boston Red Sox. They are infamous for the chicken and beer scandal and September collapse that ended up costing Terry Francona his job after they let a 9 game playoff lead disappear in a month after going 7-20 in September. Still makes me mad when I really think about it. They ended up finishing 90-72 good for 3rd place in the American League East with no trip to the postseason after entering the season as World Series favorites. Well, did you also know that same 2011 Red Sox team started the season 0-6? They were 2-10 through 12 games. Many would say that is a bad start to the season. I would have to agree. It took them almost a week to get into the win column. Had they gone even 1-5 to start the year, if they're 4-8 which still sucks after 12 games even with that September implosion they still make the playoffs. Then who knows what happens? At the very least that bullshit Evan Longoria home run that went over the part of the fence in Tampa that is 9 inches tall wouldn't have meant shit.

My point is every game counts.

That is why I'm so fired up for this Red Sox-Yankees series this week. Idk if the rivalry is fully back, but I'm hoping there are some fireworks this week to bring a little 03-04 life back into it. I know it's impossible to truly replicate that level of tension since the Curse has since been broken (remember when the Yankees were up 3-0 in the 2004 ALCS? lolol). But I do think given how good both of these teams are and with the importance winning the division has over being in the one-game wild card playoff, every pitch between these two teams matters. This series is going to say a lot about these teams considering who is pitching for both clubs. 

Both teams are coming into 2018 off trips to the postseason, with new managers and World Series aspirations. Sure it's only the 3rd week of the season and regardless of the outcome there are still like 140+ games to be played, so it's not exactly make or break but IMO this series is HUGE for setting the pace of the rest of the season or at least the next few weeks of the year. 

The 8-1 (best start in franchise history nbd) Boston Red Sox and 5-5 New York Yankees begin a three game mid-week series in Fenway Park starting tonight. Side note it's fucking bullshit that this is a Tuesday through Thursday series. I could be wrong but I feel like every Red Sox-Yankees series growing up was always on the weekend. Just not the same juice during the week imo. 

​If these pitching match-ups don't get you jazzed up then what are you even doing here? If it wasn't my final week at FedEx working nights I would 100% be going to Fenway to catch at least one of these games. Tickets are still available for p cheap.

Just a tad less jazzy.

The Red Sox are notably 8-1. Best record in the American League. If it wasn't for a Joe Kelly meltdown on opening day this team very well could be undefeated. Although the Red Sox have won 8 of their first 9 games they have all been played against teams who reside in Florida. 7 games against the Rays and 2 against the Marlins. Not exactly the 27 Yankees or 2004 Red Sox, but hey you play who's on the schedule and to this point they've done quite well. Red Sox starting ERA through 9 games is basically 0.00. You gotta take care of business against the bottom feeder teams. 

The Yankees have on the other hand have struggled. Giancarlo Stanton has had multiple platinum sombrero games this season. For those of you unaware of that nomenclature it means he's struck out 5 times in a game not once, but twice. Not ideal! Even in today's "we don't care about strikeouts" culture of baseball. 20 strikeouts through 48 at bats in alarming. Is Giancarlo Stanton even good?

With these teams facing off against one another for the first time in 2018 there is a lot on the line. Sure the Red Sox are 8-1 so far, but if the Yankees come into Fenway Park and sweep them, with their 1-2-3 starting pitchers going that will be v alarming and pretty much wipe out all the good that has taken place so far this season. Nobody is going to care that they swept the Rays. It's going to be that Chris Sale, David Price and Rick Porcello all (potentially) lost to the Yankees at home. David Price hasn't allowed a run since like July of last year but if he gets rocked by Gary Sanchez people aren't going to care about 14 scoreless innings to start the season.

But on the other side of the coin, if the Red Sox sweep the Yankees then they're sitting at 11-1 with the Yanks at 5-8 (s/o me) with a 6.5 game lead through less than two weeks of baseball.  Not a bad place to potentially be for the Red Sox. Pretty much every hitter on the Yankees roster except for Didi and Aaron Judge are struggling so far. They have a great opportunity to shut some critics up by having a good series against one of the best top 3's in all of baseball. Nobody is going to be talking about Stanton's platinum sombreros if he hits 4 home runs this series.

Pretty much every MLB "expert" picked the Yankees to win the AL East despite the Red Sox being two time defending champs with a healthy roster and new management to bring life back to this sort of just there ball club who won 93 games in the most unexciting way possible last season.

While regardless of the outcome of the series the season is faaaaaaaaaaaaar from over. Winning 2-3 or sweeping for either team will be huge for moral going forward. I can't wait. Fuck the Yankees. Please Sox just don't get swept.