Mike Celizic

It’s been two months and then some since greatest rivalry in sports last commanded our attention, more than long enough to build up a mighty load of anticipation for the clash next to which all others pale into insignificance.

I hate the phrase “This is what it’s all about,” but I’m tempted to use it to describe the Friday-Monday five-game series looming in Fenway between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. I’ll resist the temptation, because two teams can not define a league or a sport. What it’s all about is 30 teams and eight playoff spots and nearly 2,000 games.

But Boston and New York do define a rivalry as no others can. And it is moments like these, when a slow-paced game becomes riveting theater, that give fans all the reasons they need to appreciate what is great about competition.

When the Yankees and Red Sox are both competing for the same prize, they transcend regional loyalties like Notre Dame and USC when both of those teams are on top of their games, like the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts have for the past five years. And it’s been our great good luck to be sitting in on a 12-season stretch when both teams have been at or near the top of their games, an eight-season stretch during they have been one-two in the AL East and a three-year stretch during which both have made the playoffs.

This year, even the weather conspired in our favor. Back in May, a game between the two was rained out in Fenway. It was rescheduled as the first game of a day-night doubleheader Friday. Another rainout in New York in June added another game and another doubleheader to what is now the final four-game showdown between the ancient rivals in mid-September. The schedule-maker had given us seven games in the final seven weeks of the season; the weather gave us nine.

The nine games should go a long way toward deciding whether Boston can finally finish ahead of New York, something it hasn’t done since 1995. Unlike the past three years, when Boston copped wild cards for finishing second, winning the AL East could actually mean something, given the strength of the AL Central and a three-team battle for the extra playoff spot.

We’ve come to expect this kind of theater from Boston and New York, thanks to both team’s recent histories. But we shouldn’t get complacent about it, because, despite all that’s been written about the rivalry and the great moments over the years, we are lucky enough to be living in the first sustained period during which both teams are actually among the game’s elite, when every year begins with the anticipation of the battle to come.

It’s easy to forget that it hasn’t always been that way. Indeed, for most of their history from the birth of the American League in 1901, the two teams have rarely actually fought head-to-head down the stretch for the game’s grand prize.

The Red Sox were the early powerhouse in the American League, winning five World Series between 1903 and 1918 while the Yankees limped along, known for neither power nor excellence. That changed in the single act that gave the rivalry its impetus over the years, the sale of Babe Ruth after the 1918 season to New York.

For the next 19 seasons after the sale, the Yankees dominated and the Red Sox sank into the lower levels of the standings, never in all those years finishing higher than fourth. Even that lofty level was attained only twice, equaling the number of times they won more games than they lost.

MORE FROM BASEBALL

Baseball Section Front

Morneau, Pujols lead midseason awards Money dominates baseball diamond in 1st half Cubs officially put Soto on DL   Sanchez an unlikely candidate for no-hitter Special feature: MLB’s midseason report Live updates on Saturday's baseball games Live odds Rumors: Mattingly successor to Torre?   Slideshow: Rosters for 2009 All-Star Game Special feature: Top MLB All-Star moments Baseball Section Front   Add Baseball headlines to your news reader: