Boston Red Sox Tickets : The Yankees Red Sox Rivalry Is One Of The Fiercest Rivalries In Sports

The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of the Major League Baseball American League Eastern Division. Founded in 1901 as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since 1912. The "Red Sox" name was chosen by the team owner, John I. Taylor, around 1908, following previous Boston teams that had been known as the "Red Stockings".

Boston was a dominant team in the new league, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series in 1903 and winning four more championships by 1918. However, they then went into one of the longest championship droughts in baseball history, called by some the "Curse of the Bambino" after its alleged beginning with the Red Sox's sale of Babe Ruth to the rival Yankees in 1918, an 86-year wait before the team's sixth World Championship in 2004.

However, the team's history during that period was hardly one of futility, but was rather punctuated with some of the most memorable moments in World Series history, including Enos Slaughter's "mad dash" in 1946, the "Impossible Dream" of 1967, Carlton Fisk's home run in 1975, and Bill Buckner's error in 1986.

Red Sox history has also been marked by the team's intense rivalry with the New York Yankees, arguably the fiercest and most historic in North American professional sports.Since 2003, the Red Sox have been perennial playoff contenders and have won two World Series, emerging as one of the most successful MLB teams of the last decade.

The Yankees Red Sox rivalry is one of the oldest, most famous and fiercest rivalries in professional sports.For over 100 years, the Red Sox and New York Yankees have been intense rivals.The rivalry is sometimes so polarizing that it is often a heated subject, like religion or politics, in the Northeastern United States.

Since the inception of the wild card team and an added Division Series, the American League East rivals have squared off in the American League Championship Series three times, with the Yankees winning twice in 1999 and 2003 and the Sox winning in 2004. In addition, the teams have twice met in the last regular-season series of a season to decide the league title, in 1904 (when the Red Sox won) and 1949 (when the Yankees won).

The teams also finished tied for first in 1978, when the Yankees won a high-profile one-game playoff for the division title.The 1978 division race is memorable for the Red Sox having held a 14-game lead over the Yankees more than halfway through the season.Similarly, the 2004 AL Championship Series is notable for the Yankees leading 3 games to 0 and ultimately losing a best of seven series.The Red Sox comeback was the only time in baseball history that a team has come back from a 0/3 deficit to win a series.

The rivalry is often termed "the best rivalry in sports."Games between the two teams are often broadcast on national television, schedule permitting, and have led to an increase in television ratings.In most cases, whenever the two teams play a weekend series, the Saturday game is broadcast on Fox, while the Sunday game is broadcast on ESPN as part of Sunday Night Baseball. These games have had at least 50% higher ratings than all of the other games broadcast.

Currently, the flagship radio station of the Red Sox is WEEI, 850 AM. Joe Castiglione, in his 25th year as the voice of the Red Sox, serves as the lead play-by-play announcer, along with Dave O'Brien and Jon Rish. Some of Castiglione's predecessors include Curt Gowdy, Ken Coleman, and Ned Martin. He has also worked with play-by-play veterans Bob Starr and Jerry Trupiano. Many stations throughout New England and beyond pick up the broadcasts.

All Red Sox telecasts not shown nationally on Fox or ESPN are seen on New England Sports Network (NESN) with Don Orsillo calling play-by-play and Jerry Remy, former Red Sox second baseman, as color analyst. During Remy's recovery from cancer, former Red Sox players Dennis Eckersley and Dave Roberts have alternated doing color commentary.

NESN became exclusive in 2006; before then, games were shown on such local stations as WBZ, WSBK, WLVI, WABU, and WFXT at various points in team history. Red Sox commercials have featured notable performers in thirty second spots, including Jonathan Meath in 2009.