Red Sox vs. Yankees Lineups: The beginning of something special, or a continuation of the end

Looking at the playoff odds, it’s really not a stretch to say the Red Sox are already out of the playoff hunt. They need a whole lot to go right — both on their side and in how their competition plays — to get back in the thick of things. That said, it’s not over yet and crazier things have happened than the Red Sox making a real run. We all lived through 2011, so we now how wild things can get in September.

If they are to make some sort of miracle run, there is no way for it to happen without us eventually looking back at this series as the catalyst. If they can somehow grab a four-game sweep of the division-leading Yankees, we could be looking at a special run we’ll be talking about for years to come. Are the odds in favor of that happening? Of course not. But baseball has a funny way of making the unforeseeable happen. The mantra in 2004 was “Why not us?” They can have the same mindset this year, and there’s no reason to totally discount it until the tragic number falls to zero. What is there to lose when you believe, ya know?

As for the game at hand, the Red Sox are going to have to get creative to win this first one. They are going up against a very talented pitcher in Domingo Germán, though he hasn’t been as consistently excellent as he was in the first half. They’ll have their normal everyday lineup in against him. On the mound, they are starting Jhoulys Chacín, who is making his Red Sox debut. He’s stretched out, but don’t expect this to be a full start unless he really rolls through this deep and talented Yankees lineup. Instead, we should expect a whole lot of pitching changes with this 17-man Red Sox bullpen.

The full lineups are below: