Rivalry gets set for trip abroad
NEW YORK — The players sound a little hesitant now about the overseas travel in the middle of the season, but next June 29 and 30, the Red Sox and Yankees will play a first-ever regular-season series at London’s Olympic Stadium.
The Sox will be the “home” team — if you can imagine that.
“Jet lag is a response to it,” said J.D. Martinez with a laugh before last night’s stateside series opener. “I guess it’s cool, going for only two games and then have to come all the way back, so it’ll be fun because we get to play in London and it’s something different, but it’s a lot of travel. I’m eager to see how the scheduling’s going to be around it and stuff like that.”
Brock Holt also expressed a wait-and-seeand-sleep perspective.
“We heard about that; travel’s going to be kind of tough,” said Holt. “It will be exciting just to go over there and play in, I guess, a neutral environment and see how many Red Sox and Yankees fans there are overseas. It’s kind of a cool thing that MLB’s doing, I’m looking forward to that.”
Said Martinez: “I think it will be cool, definitely different; definitely exciting to step out of your comfort zone and go somewhere else and play in front of a different fan-base.”
At the press conference in London, with commissioner Rob Manfred, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Yankees managing general partner/co-chairperson Hal Steinbrenner and general partner/vice chairperson Jennifer Steinbrenner Swindal, Sox principal owner John Henry put the matchup in terms football (soccer)-mad sports fans might relate to.
“They’ve been fighting it out for over a hundred years,” Henry said about the rivalry. “It’s been . . . tremendous . . . .
“It’s been at times a brutal rivalry, as brutal as any you would see here in the derbies in the Premier League.”
Sox manager Alex Cora was quite enthused about the idea, and already has made some travel plans.
“As you know, I am a big fan of International baseball. Last year, I had a blast being GM of the WBC and whenever you can play overseas and expand the game, it’s always fun. It’s going to be a different crowd. Hopefully it’s kind of like the same crowd as in Liverpool right now. Everyone is excited about going to the finals of the Champions League. I follow it.
“It should be fun. The family is going to go and we’re going to have a blast. The players, they are going to experience something different. We did it in Japan in ’08 and it was great. For us to go over there and play the Yankees, everyone knows about the rivalry and how much it means over here, so they are going to have a taste of the rivalry over there in London.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone looked and sounded pleased.
“I’ve never been to London, so I think it’s pretty cool, we’re going across the pond. I like that,” he said. “Look, a chance to spread our game. I think that’s awesome to have this rivalry, Yankees-Red Sox, going over there to promote our game and the amount of young star players that exists on both clubs hopefully is something that our guys will always take with them, something that will be memorable for them but also on a larger picture, something that will hopefully continue to grow our game, a game that we love.”