NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 20: Xander Bogaerts #2 and Mookie Betts #50 of the Boston Red Sox celebrate after defeating the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on September 20, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Do the Boston Red Sox match up better with the Yankees or A’s? They have some influence over who they play when they face New York this weekend.

We have come to the final weekend in the regular season with home-field advantage throughout the postseason already locked up for the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox have won the AL East three consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history.

For the team to make it a successful season they must do well in the playoffs. Winning division titles and 100+ games isn’t enough. Manager Alex Cora has stressed from the beginning that the goal is a world championship. With the Red Sox playing the Yankees this weekend to close the regular season, it’s a bigger series for the Yankees, who play the Athletics on Wednesday in the Wild Card game.

The Red Sox are 9-7 against the Yankees so far this year. At the beginning of the season, the Yankees really couldn’t connect with their new manager Aaron Boone. When they met for this first time this season in a three-game series at Fenway Park, the Red Sox were 9-1 and the Yankees were 5-6. The Yankees had some injuries but that’s really no excuse. Going into the season it was predicted the Yankees would win over the Red Sox because of the powerful lineup they had with Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, and Aaron Judge. However, Stanton struggled in the beginning and was even booed at Yankee Stadium after striking out a lot of times.

The Red Sox and Yankees would play a big four-game series in the beginning of August at Fenway Park. The Sox would sweep that series, securing a commanding lead in the AL East. Finally, last week the Red Sox would clinch the division at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees, even with having Judge back, I really don’t think are capable of beating the Red Sox in the ALDS. If Joe Girardi was managing that team then I would say it would be 50/50 if the Sox should play the Athletics or the Yankees in the ALDS.

I think the Red Sox should rest their starters at least one of the games this weekend against New York. If the Yankees do end up winning the series this weekend they would be hosting Oakland on Wednesday night since they currently have a two-game lead in the Wild Card standings.

As for the Athletics, the Red Sox haven’t seen much of them this season. When they did face Oakland at the beginning of the season the Red Sox won only two out of the six games. The two games the Red Sox lost in Oakland, Chris Sale and David Price were pitching. Sale pitched seven innings giving up six hits and three runs in the loss and recorded 10 strikeouts. At that time, the offense was struggling when Sale was taking the mound. But that turned around quickly as the offense has been on fire pretty much for the rest of the season. The following night Price gave up nine hits, four runs, and six strikeouts.

The offense isn’t really familiar with the Athletics either. They only scored 22 runs against the Athletics all season. Whereas they’ve scored 95 runs against the Yankees this season.

Sale is 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA and 19 strikeouts against the Yankees this season. Against the Athletics, he’s 1-1 with a 3.75 ERA and 19 strikeouts.

As for Price against the Yankees, he’s 0-3 with a 10.34 ERA. But remember, he pitched awfully last Wednesday night in New York giving up five hits, allowing six runs, and two strikeouts which is why his ERA is so high. However, on Sunday Night Baseball in August, he pitched six innings giving up four hits, two runs, and five strikeouts. Against the Athletics, he’s 0-1 with a 4.70 ERA.

The A’s are ranked first overall with having the most outs pitched per game according to teamrankings.com.The Red Sox ranked 6th with the most outs pitched while the Yankees rank 10th.

Rick Porcello also has a better record and ERA against New York than Oakland. Against the Yankees, he’s 2-0 with a 2.53 ERA, against the Athletics 0-1 with a 7.50 ERA. For Eduardo Rodriguez, he’s not good against the two teams. He’s 0-1 with a 6.14 ERA against the Yankees and 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA versus the A’s.

Assuming the rotation is Sale, Price, Porcello, and Rodriguez, as a whole they match up better against the Yankees.

As for the offense Mookie Betts has better numbers against New York than he does Oakland. Against New York, he has 25 hits, three home runs, 15 RBI’s, and a batting average of .417. Betts has zero home runs, one RBI, and only a .238 batting average against Oakland.

As for the other power hitter, J.D. Martinez against New York has three home runs, 17 RBI’s, and a batting average of .333. Martinez has two home runs three RBI’s and an average of .222 against the A’s.

Clearly, Betts and Martinez are better against New York pitching than Oakland pitching. As for the complete team, the Red Sox rank 1st overall in runs per game, win % and Total bases/ game. The Red Sox are second in run differential. For the Yankees, they are third in opponent win %, tenth, in opponent total bases and third in run differential. See the chart below from teamrankings.com

Boston vs NY Yankees Overall BOS Value (rank) Value (rank) NYY Win % – All 0.673 (#1) 0.386 (#3) Opp Win % – All Runs/Game 5.38 (#1) 0.439 (#8) Opp Win % – Close Total Bases/Game 15.72 (#1) 13.32 (#10) Opp Total Bases/Game Run Differential 229.0(#2) -171.0 (#3) Opp Run Differential

The A’s they rank fourth overall in opponent win%, eleventh overall in total bases and sixth overall in opponent run differential. See the chart below from teamrankings.com

OAK Win % – All 0.396 (#4) Opp Win % – All Runs/Game 0.378 (#4) Opp Win % – Close Total Bases/Game 13.35 (#11) Opp Total Bases/Game Run Differential -140.0 (#6) Opp Run Differential

You can make the case they haven’t played Oakland as much as New York which is why they haven’t scored many runs. However, I’d much rather have them play a team they are familiar with all season which is the Yankees.

I also want to see that playoff atmosphere rivalry again between the Yankees and Red Sox because we haven’t seen it since 2003-2004. There’s really no excuse for the Red Sox losing in the first round after the season they’ve had. Again the goal is not division titles, it’s World Series titles.