Ever since Don Zimmer’s head was tossed into the wind and Dave Roberts slid in safe into second base, the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry has become something different entirely – what with the Sox now with more championships than New York since 2001. It now involves World Series contenders that are curse-free and includes teams with rosters that add a superstar or two each year.
Winning the season series always seems to be a barometer for pundits comparing the two teams, and this year seems to be as up in the air as any. It’s probably no surprise that after Boston’s collapse in 2011 and the offseason moves made by New York, the Yankees are -130 favorites to win the season series, according MLB Betting Odds available at Bovada Sportsbook.
A popular predictor for the season is usually what the Sox and Yanks did during the winter. As far as new guys that will have any effect, Michael Pineda, Hiroki Kuroda, Andrew Bailey, and Cody Ross say hello. The Yankees brought in Pineda and Kuroda so C.C. Sabathia doesn’t have to pitch all seven games in the playoffs.
With A.J. Burnett no longer plaguing the rotation every five days and Andy Pettitte coming back to play a little baseball, the rotation might actually be a strong point for the Yanks this season. Pineda is a young guy that can throw some of the finest cheddar cheese you can buy and having someone like Kuroda gives the team a solid third guy that can push them through a playoff series against someone like the Red Sox. The lineup looks like a fantasy baseball dream team and the bullpen still has the best closer in baseball.
The Red Sox on the other hand, didn’t stack up on as many big names as they lost. The collapse last year that was highlighted by the excitement of the final night, resulted in losing long time manager Terry Francona and the man responsible for the final loss in closer Jonathan Papelbon. Papelbon fled to Philadelphia for a fresh start, while Francona was fired as the skapegoat. Bobby Valentine was then brought in to be Joe Girardi’s new arch nemesis and take the team back to their winning ways. The good news for Sox fans is if he has to draw on a fake mustache just to win a game, he has shown the capability.
The key players brought in by the Sox were closer Andrew Bailey and former Giants outfielder Cody Ross. Bailey doesn’t have the 
velocity that the former closer did, but he does feature a changeup that will get the job done. Ross was the hero in San Francisco during their recent World Series championship season and will definitely help replace the old bones of J.D. Drew. It should be another big year for the rivalry and the crowd will get their money’s worth at each game. The complete series schedule is listed below.
April 20-22 @ Boston
July 6-8 @ Boston
July 27-29 @ New York
August 17-19 @ New York
September 11-13 @ Boston
October 1-3 @ New York<