Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees rivalry is back with a literal bang!

The  Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees haven’t both been good at the same time since 2004, cooling off the rivalry considerably; until last night.

The Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees rivalry is back, my friends. Recently, when one was up, the other was down or at least lagging a bit behind. Not so coming into the 2018 season. The ingredients for a resurgence were there.

All it needed was a spark, and it started with a standard slide. Tyler Austin came into second base with his spikes up and his foot swinging just to the inside of the bag to catch Brock Holt’s leg.

Historically speaking, that’s not an egregious slide. Compare it to, say, Chase Utley in the 2015 playoffs, and it doesn’t look too bad.

But times have changed, and the rules have been clarified and supplemented to avoid the kinds of plays that ended Ruben Tejada‘s season in the middle of the Mets’ playoff run.

After some words between Holt and Austin, the benches cleared:

The fuse was lit, but would the powder keg explode?

Some didn’t think the slide was dirty.

Austin professed innocence in a post-game interview, claiming it was a clean slide and he didn’t expect any retaliation:

Jared Diamond played it down as not being a big deal:

And again, compared to the way players used to slide, and the way someone like Austin grew up watching players slide, it was relatively light on contact. But no matter how you slice it, the spikes were up and clearly inside the bag with the intent to make contact:

The slide was illegal.

The rulebook is pretty clear on slides. The key language is found on pages 70 and 71:

"“A runner who engages in a bona fide slide shall not be called for interference under this Rule 6.01, even in cases where the runner makes contact with the fielder as a consequence of a permissible slide. In addition, interference shall not be called where a runner’s contact with the fielder was caused by the fielder being positioned in (or moving into) the runner’s legal pathway to the base.”"

The umpires told Alex Cora that the play wasn’t reviewable, but the batter should have been called out wither Holt attempted to throw to first or not.

This is because the slide was not a “bona fide slide” as described in the rulebook:

Altering his path, as he did to align his left foot with Holt’s back leg, and sliding through the bag without holding it makes the slide impermissible, and thus, illegal. The umps missed the call on the field, even if it wasn’t a reviewable play.

And we’re back!

The stage was set, and Joe Kelly was happy to kick things off in the top of the 7th:

First off, let’s be honest here. If you spike a guy, you should expect to get plunked. If it’s in the ribs or on the hip, take your base and move on. While I don’t love seeing pitchers throw at batters intentionally, Joe Kelly did it the right way. Unlike Matt Barnes against Manny Machado in 2017, the ball was kept well low enough to avoid the head.

But Austin charged the mound anyway, and just like that, the rivalry was back on.

Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge are stand-up guys.

They both got right into the mix, and to their credit, worked to de-escalate the situation, not inflame it. Teammate Gary Sanchez might want to take notes. So might Tyler Austin…

Tyler Austin is the new Karim Garcia.

No, not for being the spark that led to the 2003 ALCS brawl. For being the guy who got charged with assault and battery for attacking a groundskeeper in the bullpen.

While Joe Kelly was being pulled away by Judge and Stanton, this happened:

That’s Red Sox third base coach Carlos Febles getting sucker punched by Tyler Austin. In the post-game interview linked above, Austin described that punch as “defending” himself. Watch it again. And again. One more time. Now tell me that you can call that self-defense with a straight face.

I didn’t think so.

It’s not all fisticuffs.

It wasn’t just the brawl that kicked off the latest flare-up of the Rivalry. It was the fight. With the Boston Red Sox down 8-2 in the 5th inning, J.D. Martinez stepped into the box and did this:

Being down six runs in the 5th is no fun, but this Boston Red Sox team has already shown itself capable of overcoming significant deficits in the late innings.

While they didn’t complete the comeback, Martinez stepped up in a big moment and made it a game again is a fantastic sign.

Next: Benches clear after Nolan Arenado is hit by a pitch

This version of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees rivalry promises to have many more explosive moments, so strap in.

This is just the opening chapter. And like Joe Kelly, we say “Let’s go.”