The last time the Yankees saw the Boston Red Sox, they were walking out of Fenway Park in the wee hours of the morning dragging their luggage, equipment bags and metaphorical tails behind them.
It was early August, and the Yankees had been swept in a four-game series — the final one gifted by a throwing error from Miguel Andujar and a meltdown from closer Aroldis Chapman — turning what had promised to be a fight-to-the-finish race for the best record in baseball into a runaway in Boston’s favor.
“We can’t let this define what’s been a great season for us,” Manager Aaron Boone said that night, sitting at his desk inside the cramped visitors’ office in Boston.