If history is any guide, Yankees-Red Sox wild-card duel will be unforgettable

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From Teddy Ballgame versus Joe D, from Bucky “freaking” Dent to Aaron “Bleeping” Boone, and through the most historic comeback in baseball annals, the current Red Sox and Yankees already have so much drama to live up to on Tuesday night inside a surefire frenetic atmosphere at Fenway Park.

The 2021 American League wild-card game will mark the fifth time the Yanks and Sawx have squared off in an elimination game for both teams in the 101 years since Babe Ruth infamously shifted from Beantown to The Bronx. The first four delivered oodles of historical significance and ramifications for the most storied rivalry in sports.

Before Nathan Eovaldi and Gerrit Cole square off in Boston in the first postseason meeting between the storied rivals since the Yanks were eliminated in four games in the 2018 AL division series — in Boone’s first season as manager — let’s take a look back at those four previous winner-take-all encounters: