Why Yankees should be open to trading Aaron Judge: Sherman

The Red Sox have spent much of the past two decades remaking themselves. Sometimes that has meant last place, beer and fried chicken, and a year with Bobby Valentine that served neither side well.

But often it has meant contention and, for more than any other team this century, it has meant championships. Four of them. And here they are again having risen. They were last in the AL East in 2012 and won the World Series the following season. They were last in 2014 and ’15 then won three straight AL East titles and the World Series in 2018. They were last in 2020 and completed a weekend sweep of the Yankees to earn the AL’s second-best record. For more than a quarter of a century, the Yankees have never fallen like the Red Sox. They have not had a losing record since 1992 and — at minimum — have been in playoff contention well into September in every season since. Maybe that will be so again in 2021. But nearly halfway into this season, they were fourth in the AL East heading into Monday, tied with the Mariners for the AL’s eighth-best record and playing most days what looks like slow-motion baseball.