On the June 2 edition of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball presented by Taco Bell, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox will continue their historic rivalry at Yankee Stadium. The exclusive telecast will begin at 8 p.m. with Dan Shulman providing commentary alongside analysts Orel Hershiser and John Kruk and reporter Buster Olney. Sunday Night Baseball is available across multiple ESPN platforms including ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio, WatchESPN and ESPN International. Baseball Tonight previews the action at 7 p.m. led by Karl Ravech with analysts Barry Larkin and Manny Acta.
In advance of the Sunday night showdown, ESPN analysts and commentators shared insights about the status of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry this season, their favorite Red Sox-Yankees memories and their thoughts on budding rivalries across Major League Baseball.
ESPN MLB analyst Aaron Boone on the state of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry:
I still think it’s the biggest rivalry in baseball but I don’t think it’s at its peak like it was at some points in the 70s or in the early 2000s. I don’t think it’s like that right now but it’s still the biggest rivalry in the sport.
ESPN MLB analyst Nomar Garciaparra on Teixeira and Youkilis returning for the series:
I think the rivalry is still strong. There’s no question. Here’s a perfect example – you see guys like Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis who are on the disabled list and it looks like they are going to come off for this series. Trust me, they want to get out there as soon as they can but there is probably added incentive given the fact that they are playing the Red Sox. You still see it everywhere you go around Boston and New York. You can still feel that. When they play each other, it’s always there. The fans and the media hang on every single pitch.
ESPN MLB analyst Alex Cora on the fans’ role in the rivalry:
For the fans, it is still the same. I used to joke that when these two teams play, baseball just stops. Nobody else plays. Baseball fans will always talk about it, maybe moreso now with Twitter. And, whenever the visiting team would beat the home team, you could tell how big of a deal it was because the visitors take over Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park.
ESPN MLB commentator Dave O’Brien on how Red Sox successes transformed the rivalry:
It’s still the best rivalry in baseball, even though it changed a bit when the Red Sox won in 2004 and again in 2007. What was a one-sided series wasn’t anymore. But the mutual disgust, the feuds and the fights from decades of ill will – it’s never very far from the surface. That goes marrow-deep when it’s Red Sox-Yankees.
ESPN MLB commentator Sean McDonough on the atmosphere at Red Sox-Yankees games:
The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry is the best in baseball and one of the best in all of sports. It is particularly exciting on a weekend like this when the two teams are battling for first place. The atmosphere around these games is tremendous. There is a buzz in the ballpark, at both Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium, that isn’t there when these teams play other opponents. When you walk into Fenway or Yankee Stadium for a Sox-Yankees game, it often has the feel of a postseason game.
Boone on realizing what the rivalry meant:
When I first got traded at the trade deadline in 2003, I remember Tim Naehring, who was in our front office with the Reds, he was sending me off and saying good luck. He was a good player with the Red Sox back in the day. He said, ‘you have no idea what you are in for.’ I thought as a fan of baseball and as a player who paid close attention to the game, that I knew what I was getting into. I realize I was in the National League, but I figured – ‘I know, Yankees, Red Sox. It is a big deal.’ But the first time I went to Boston, it was a regular season game in August and I realized that Tim was right. I had no idea what I was in for. You could feel the tension. You could feel the importance of every single pitch – much like the playoffs, but in a regular season game in August. There was just a really good tension in the air that is hard to describe.
Cora on his favorite Red Sox-Yankees memory as a player:
It was 2007 and during the bottom of the third inning, the Red Sox hit four back-to-back home runs against the Yankees [Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek]. It was a Sunday Night Baseball game, although every game between these two teams felt like a Sunday night game. That particular one was really special.
Garciaparra on what makes a rivalry strong:
I look at the Cubs and Cardinals rivalry, especially when I played there, and it was just a different kind of rivalry. The Dodgers and Giants still have a very good rivalry. I think that’s starting to get a little bit better just because of the fact that the Giants have won the World Series and the Dodgers are obviously trying to go after them. I see that still building. Rivalries are great. You can’t create a rivalry. Rivalries take time and come with two quality teams going at it.
Boone on budding rivalries across MLB:
There are others I see developing. Certainly with new ownership in Los Angeles talking hold, the bar has been raised. Then you look at what the San Francisco Giants have been able to do. I don’t know if people outside the West Coast appreciate how strong that rivalry is. It’s a big deal. I also see Cincinnati and St. Louis as a pretty good rivalry. These are two teams that really don’t like each other.
Cora on the Reds-Cardinals rivalry:
I think the fight between the Reds and Cardinals a few years ago started something special and obviously those two teams have been good the last few years. They are going to be good for a long time. I think that’s going to be one of the hottest rivalries in baseball.
