Even if the Red Sox don’t win the World Series, at least they beat the Yankees

Even if the Red Sox don’t win another game in this postseason, it’s not going to take away from what they did to their arch rival Yankees.

There is a reason they call it the greatest rivalry in all of sports. When it comes to the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, there is nothing else quite like it.

As a Red Sox fan of the diehard variety, watching my team eliminate the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALDS was something special. To see this particular Red Sox team take down this particular Yankees team in October, finishing it off in front of a raucous crowd at Yankee Stadium, was something that I’ll be thinking about for the next several months. The image of it probably won’t leave my mind until Opening Day 2019.

The Red Sox beat the Yankees 4-3 on Tuesday night to officially wrap up this ALDS in four games. Because of it, they now have a date with the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series. Boston may have been the best team in baseball in 2018 with a league-leading 108 wins, but the 103-win Astros are the defending World Series champs, and they still might be the team best built to compete in October. They showed just how dangerous they are with a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians in their division series.

I’m very much prepared for the fact that Houston might be too much for the Red Sox to handle. I would love to see my team overcome the obstacles and go to another World Series, and I will be rooting with every bone in my body for it to happen. But I know just how good the Astros are, and there’s a very good chance they could stop the Red Sox dead in their tracks.

And if that happens, I’m 100 percent OK with it. Even if the Astros sweep the Red Sox right out of the playoffs by outscoring them 40-5 in four games, I will be smiling from ear to ear for the next five months.

Why? Because we beat the Yankees.

This was a Yankees team that came one win shy of reaching the World Series last year. Their second-year slugger Aaron Judge hit an incredible 52 home runs last year as a rookie. The Yankees followed that up by making the biggest deal of the offseason, bringing the National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton to the Bronx. They have been lauded for their starting rotation that features stars like Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, and C.C. Sabathia, as well as for the dominant relievers in their bullpen like Dellin Betances, David Robertson and flame-throwing closer Aroldis Chapman.

Simply put, this was a Yankees team that should’ve easily ran away with the AL East, and then cruised right to its 28th World Series title in franchise history. But instead, the Red Sox showed up out of nowhere and ruined that for them.

No matter what happens against the Astros in the ALCS, it won’t take away from the fact that the Red Sox won the AL East over a New York team that was built to dominate Major League Baseball — even clinching the title in the Bronx — then played the Yankees in the ALDS and once again celebrated on their arch rival’s home field.

Does it get more enjoyable than that? To top everything off, the series just had to end in the most dramatic way possible. Leading 4-1 in the ninth inning of Game 4, the Red Sox dangled an opportunity right in front of the Yankees’ noses when closer Craig Kimbrel could not find the strike zone to save his life. Nine times out of 10, you want Kimbrel closing out games for you. But on this particular night, the Red Sox would’ve preferred just about anybody else.

Kimbrel quickly loaded the bases, then hit a batter to walk in a run. Now trailing 4-2 with the bases still loaded, Gary Sanchez blasted a ball to deep left field and missed a walk-off grand slam by no more than a couple of inches. The ball fell just short of the wall and right into Andrew Benintendi’s glove, but Didi Gregorius still tagged up from third base to make it a 4-3 game.

Just then, and only then — with the Yankees on the verge of either tying up the game with a base hit or winning it with an extra base hit, and the fans at Yankee Stadium believing that they were about to witness some pre-2004 October magic — did Kimbrel finally get Gleyber Torres to dribble a ground ball to third base for the final out.

The officials even had to take a quick look at the replay machine to make sure Torres was out at first. But that was quickly cleared up, and then the celebration was on. The Red Sox celebrated on the field at Yankee Stadium while the New York players looked on from the home team’s dugout, their faces filled with frustration and disappointment.

But the best part of all was watching the Red Sox celebrate in the middle of that field while thousands of fans wearing Yankees hats and jerseys watched in silence, absolutely stunned and crushed. When it comes to a rivalry like this, just seeing the devastation surrounding the other team is almost as enjoyable as seeing your team win.

That’s what the Red Sox gave me in 2018, and that’s what I’ll be thinking about when they play the Astros in the ALCS.

I hope the Red Sox go on to win the World Series. But if they don’t, it’s cool. If Houston drops the hammer on them, I will be totally fine. If Kimbrel blows every save opportunity presented to him in this series, I won’t sweat it. No matter what is in store for the rest of October, I’ll be going into this offseason as a very happy fan.

The Red Sox knocked the Yankees out of the postseason, on their home field, and in front of their home fans. That’s more than enough for me.

Any games they win from here on out are just bonuses.