1999 Yankees Diary: Rivalry renewed in inaugural Yankees/Red Sox ALCS clash

10/11/2024 12:00 PM

The Yankees and the Red Sox faced off in the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

New York and Boston. Boston and New York. Two cities, both alike in dignity, have stood as rivals in the Northeastern United States since European colonists first stepped foot on the continent of North America. The enmity between their two leading sports teams, the Yankees and the Red Sox, needs no introduction: when you refer to "The Rivalry" in North America, almost everyone knows that you mean the two titans of the American League East.

And yet, for the better part of a century, The Rivalry was a regular season phenomenon, with the closest thing to postseason baseball being Game 163 in 1978, or perhaps the coincidental end-of-year series for the 1949 AL pennant made famous by David Halberstam in Summer of '49. With the advent of the Wild Card in 1995, however, suddenly it became possible for the two teams to meet each other in the playoffs. There was a near-miss that very first year, as New York and Boston fell in the ALDS to Seattle and Cleveland, respectively. In 1998, the Yankees made it through to the ALCS, but Boston lost to Cleveland again.

1999 was a different story.

Heading into '99, the Boston Red Sox were a team on the rise. After a disappointing 1997 season that saw them finish in fourth place in the AL East, Boston general manager Dan Duquette went all-in with a big splash by acquiring Montreal Expos ace, reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, and future Hall of Famer Pedro Martínez to headline his rotation. Boston proceeded to improve their win total by a full 14 games in 1998, allowing them to notch their first ever Wild Card appearance.

Although they were largely quiet in the 1998-99 offseason, Boston entered the season as David to the Yankees' Goliath, the up-and-coming squad looking to take down the behemoth that had simply stomped all over the American League the previous season. And at the end of the day, they proved a worthy challenge, spending over a month in first place and finishing just four games out of the division.

The strength of the Red Sox was their pitching. Martínez, of course, was their headliner. The Boston ace put together a historic season en route to his second career Cy Young Award. His traditional stats already look fantastic — he finished the season with a miniscule 2.07 ERA (243 ERA+) and a WHIP under 1.000, numbers that you expect out of elite relief pitchers, not frontline starters with more than 200 innings on the year. These numbers would look fantastic in a modern environment, in which offense is down throughout the league; Pedro, however, did this in an offense-filled era, fanning a career-high 313 — capped by a legendary 17 at Yankee Stadium on September 10th.

Perhaps it should not be surprising, then, that the 11.6 fWAR he put up that season is the most Wins Above Replacement that any pitcher has posted in a single season since at least 1900 (it ranks 13th overall, tied with Ted Williams in 1946 and behind a handful of Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, and Rogers Hornsby seasons).

But the pitchers behind him in the rotation were no slouches, either. Despite making only 22 starts, veteran Bret Saberhagen put up more fWAR (3.3 fWAR) than every Yankees pitcher except for David Cone (3.4), and he finished the year ranked tenth in K-BB% with 14.6 percent. Behind them, things got a little bit more uncertain — but as we've seen year in and year out, the top of the rotation can carry you in a short series. The bullpen was dicey as well, as knuckleballer Tim Wakefield lost his spot as the team's closer, and the team mostly relied on Trade Deadline acquisition Rod Beck, a young Derek Lowe, and veterans like Rheal Cormier.

Much like the starting rotation, the Red Sox lineup was top heavy. Outside of star shortstop Nomar Garciaparra — the .357-hitting batting champion for the first of back-to-back seasons with the crown — and rookie first baseman/designated hitter Brian Daubach, their lineup was filled with inconsistent bats at best. They did have Troy O'Leary leading the team with 28 bombs, but it all resulted in an end-of-season OPS+ from the Red Sox of just 99, which isn't nearly as intimidating as the Boston teams so often seen in the subsequent decade. Fortunately for them, however, their offense started to click quite a bit in September, with young right fielder Trot Nixon and catcher Jason Varitek in particular going on hot streaks (135 and 124 wRC+ in September, respectively). While the bottom of the lineup still struggled, having just a couple of bats on fire in October is all you need when you've got a rotation as good as Boston's was in 1999.

Boston looked to be in a good a shape as anyone heading into the 1999 playoffs, as they had threatened the Yanks for the AL East crown and finished seven full games ahead of the A's for the Wild Card. So it likely surprised everyone when Boston immediately fell behind 2-0 in the ALDS to Cleveland. Moreover, the losses were brutal. They lost the first game in walk-off fashion, as Travis Fryman singled in future Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez to give Cleveland a 3-2 victory. Game 2, on the other hand, was never close, as Cleveland's offense first bullied Saberhagen, then reliever John Wasdin, en route to an 11-1 victory.

If there's anything we know about the Red Sox, though, it's that they are historically hard to keep down. They rallied from behind with a six-run seventh inning in Game 3 at Fenway, knocked Bartolo Colón out after just one inning in a 23-7 win in Game 4, and survived an 8-8 grind through three innings in Game 5 to ride six no-hit frames from Martínez in relief. They won at Jacobs Field, 12-8, to complete the comeback and secure a trip to the ALCS for the first time since 1990.

A crazy series that goes the distance always results in the pitching rotation going completely off the rails. As we know, how a team lines up their staff has a major effect on how a particular series plays out, so let's take a look at how each team set up their rotation.

Game 1: Kent Mercker vs. Orlando Hernández (10/13)

Forced to use both Martínez and Saberhagen in Game 5, the Red Sox were forced to turn to Kent Mercker to start the ALCS. Acquired via a post-deadline deal at the end of August, the ten-year veteran made five starts down the stretch, in which he posted a .235/.327/.316 slash line. Although predominantly a starter throughout his career, the 1999 playoffs was the first time Mecker had not been used out of the bullpen in the October.

After sweeping the Rangers, the Yankees were able to set up their rotation, and manager Joe Torre turned to second-year starter Orlando Hernández for Game 1. Despite having only three postseason starts to his name, El Duque had already built a reputation for himself as a postseason weapon: in 22 innings, he had allowed just one run and 11 hits, holding opposing hitters to just a .491 OPS. And that's on top of his career abroad, where he regularly made pivotal starts in both the Cuban National Series and for Team Cuba in international play.

Game 2: Ramón Martínez vs. David Cone (10/14)

For the second time in as many games, the Red Sox sent out a starter who had just a handful of starts for them during the regular season. Although he signed a minor league deal with Boston during spring training, Ramón Martínez — the older brother of Pedro — spent most of the team rehabbing a torn rotator cuff and did not make a start with the team until late in the season; across four starts, he posted a 3.05 ERA, capped off by six shutout innings against Baltimore on October 2nd.

The Yankees countered with David Cone, making his first start of the 1999 postseason. Although he was the team's best starter over the course of the season, Cone had stumbled down the stretch, allowing 18 runs in 27 innings across his final five starts and allowing opposing hitters to post a .788 OPS in that span. This was not quite the same Coney who twirled a perfect game in July.

Game 3: Pedro Martinez vs. Roger Clemens (10/16)

Because the Boston/Cleveland ALDS matchup went five games and required Martinez to spin six innings in relief, the Red Sox were unable to turn to their ace and his aching shoulder until the third game of the ALCS. Already that had given the Yankees a massive leg up, as they were able to jump out to an early series lead. Just as importantly, if the series were to go the distance, that meant that Pedro could pitch at most twice (although the second would be a Game 7).

The Yankees, meanwhile, sent out Roger Clemens, completing a matchup that we would see three times in October across two separate American League Championship Series (1999 and 2003). Brought in to be a Martinez-esque ace atop the New York rotation, Clemens had largely disappointed in the regular season, putting together his worst campaign since his rookie season. Although demoted from the top of the rotation, however, he still had the capacity to put together a big game — he had spun seven shutout innings in Game 3 of the ALDS to clinch the sweep over the Texas Rangers. Thus, Pedro vs. Clemens was a widely-hyped matchup already.

Game 4: Bret Saberhagen vs. Andy Pettitte (10/17)

As reliable as he was during the regular season, the 1999 postseason was an absolute disaster for the former Royals icon Saberhagen. In Game 2 of the ALDS, he allowed six earned runs in just 2.2 innings, and was a major reason Boston fell down 2-0. He got the ball to start Game 5, likely hoping to save Martinez for Game 1 of the ALCS, but allowed Cleveland to jump out to an early lead (five runs in just one inning) that forced the Red Sox to turn to Martinez for six innings in relief.

Standing in the way was Andy Pettitte, a young starter who was already a postseason veteran. He had spun 7.1 innings of one-run ball in Game 2 of the ALDS, his ninth playoff start of more than six innings.

Game 5: Kent Mercker vs. Orlando Hernández (10/18)

Faced with elimination, the Red Sox turned to their only rested starter, Mercker, to try to keep their season alive. Unfortunately for them, Hernández once again matched up with him. Both starters had done well in their Game 1 matchup, although neither got a decision as the game had ultimately been decided in extras.

So how would this heated rivalry series play out as a whole? Well, we'll let Yogi and Bernie spoil it for you before getting into the details over the next week.

Read the full 1999 Yankees Diary series here.