Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning you’ll get a fresh, topical column to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
NEW YORK — Not since 1996 did baseball schedule the first meeting between the Yankees and Red Sox this deep into the season. With more than one-third of the season behind them, the truths that emerged from the weekend series at Yankee Stadium carried the weight of a large sample size. And no truth stood out more than this: New York is playing an outmoded style of baseball while Boston is a more functionable, aggressive team in a game that changes rapidly.