Boston’s World Series triumph gives them eight championships as a franchise, which of course pales next to the 27 won by the Yankees.
But that kind of formulation, drenched in long-ago history, probably does not capture the current dynamic between the teams and their many fans. For a good number of people, the real score, in their gut, is Yankees 5, Red Sox 3, reflecting the number of titles each team has won in the here and now of the last 20 years.
And the troubling thought for Yankees fans is that based on the relative strength of the two rosters, it could soon be Yankees 5, Red Sox 4, and that Big Papi himself, David Ortiz, will have a fourth championship ring to just about match the five won by Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada.
Of course, the Red Sox, who may soon watch their valuable center fielder, Jacoby Ellsbury, sign somewhere else as a free agent, could go backward as quickly as they turned everything around this season. But looking ahead, they would seem to have enough continuity on their roster — Dustin Pedroia, Shane Victorino, David Ortiz, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, John Lackey, Jake Peavy, Koji Uehara, Xander Bogaerts, Daniel Nava, Jonny Gomes, Mike Napoli (who is unsigned but clearly wants to stay) — to perhaps be as formidable in 2014 as they were this season.
The Yankees, with Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera retiring, with Derek Jeter perhaps no longer able to play shortstop, with Alex Rodriguez perhaps not around to play third base, with C.C. Sabathia perhaps in an irreversible decline, have a good deal more uncertainty than the Red Sox do.
Look at it this way: The best player on the Red Sox, Pedroia, signed an eight-year, $110 million deal over the summer that will keep him at second base in Boston through the 2021 season. The best player on the Yankees, Robinson Cano, is about to declare his free agency, and it remains unclear if he will be back at second base in the Bronx next season or playing for a team that was willing to pay him more than the $200 million the Yankees might ultimately be willing to agree to in a new deal.
From 1996 to 2000, the Yankees, under Joe Torre, won four championships in five seasons, a remarkable achievement. But since 2000 they have won only one more, in 2009. Boston, meanwhile, has now won three titles in the last 10 years. If nothing else, a rivalry that forever tilted the Yankees’ way in the 20th century no longer does in the 21st.