There have been dormant periods in the ancient rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees—which dates back to 1919 and the Curse of the Bambino—but not many of them.

The animosity will be on full display this week at the current version of Yankee Stadium as the two teams meet in a best-of-three AL Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday night. The winner heads into another hornet’s nest against the Toronto Blue Jays in an AL Division Series on Saturday.

The 48,000 Yankee faithful will be buzzing.

“We’ve got a rowdy crowd out there, a rowdy group that’s been behind us all year long,” Aaron Judge told reporters on Sunday. “Even in our tough times during the summer, they were still showing out in numbers, supporting us. They’re definitely going to be excited for a Yankees-Red Sox postseason matchup, that’s for sure.”

The Yankees finished with an identical 94-78 record as last year when they won the AL East, but ultimately lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. This year, they tied with the Blue Jays, but were deprived repeating because the Jays held the tiebreaker with an 8-5 head-to-head record vs. the Yanks in 2025.

The Yankees were equally inept vs. the Red Sox this season, losing nine times in 13 games, including five out of seven at home.

Both teams have their lefty aces going on Tuesday: Max Fried for the Yankees and Garrett Crochet for the Red Sox.

“It’s going to be exciting,” Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story told reporters in Boston on Sunday. “Obviously, a bunch of history there.”

History?

During the 1949 regular season, the Yanks trailed the Red Sox by a single game with two remaining, both against Boston at the original Yankee Stadium. Joe DiMaggio, nearing the end of his storied career, had only recently returned from a heel injury. He went 3-for-8 and led the Yanks to a sweep, eliminating the Red Sox, and ascending directly to the World Series where they defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In 1978, the Yanks trailed the Red Sox by 14 games on July 19 and passed them on Sept. 12 after sweeping a four-game series at Fenway Park dubbed the Boston Massacre. They wound up tied at 99-63 on the final day of the regular season. If today’s rules had been in place, the Yanks would have won the AL East by virtue of their 9-7 advantage in the season series. Instead, the teams played in the epic one-game playoff forever known as the Bucky Dent game at Fenway. Dent homered. Reggie Jackson homered. The Yankees won and ultimately defeated the LA Dodgers in the World Series for the second year in a row.

In 2003, the Yankees came from behind late in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series at the rehabbed version of Yankee Stadium. Pedro Martinez was losing it during the eighth inning, and manger Grady Little left him in to allow Jorge Posada’s tying double. Aaron Boone came up in the 11th against knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who tossed a pitch that didn’t knuckle. Boone parked it into the left field seats to win the game and the pennant. Little was soon fired. The Yanks lost the World Series to the then-Florida Marlins.

In the 2004 ALCS at Fenway Park, the Yanks had a 3-0 lead in the series and a 4-3 ninth inning lead in Game 4 with Mariano Rivera on the mound. Instead of closing out the series, Rivera opened by walking Kevin Millar, who was replaced by pinch runner Dave Roberts. Roberts stole second and scored the tying run on Bill Mueller’s single. The Red Sox won the game in 12 innings and the series in seven. It’s the only time in MLB history a team has come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a seven-game series. The Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series for the first time since 1918.

The Red Sox head into this year’s series having gone to the playoffs only once since winning the 2018 World Series over the Dodgers. The Yanks have been to the playoffs seven times in the last eight years, but haven’t won the World Series since 2009.

There’s a lot on the line for both teams.

“We can beat you in different ways, but we’ve still got to go out and do it,” Boone, the Yankees manager since 2018, said. “We’re a long way away from that. We’re confident going in. I know the guys are, and hopefully we put our best foot forward.”