BOSTON — The Red Sox finished the regular season with their 108th win, a franchise record, and they will have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The finale was a 10-2 victory over the Yankees, and now the AL East champs will wait to see if they’ll face their rivals again this season.
To get back to Fenway Park, the Yankees will have to beat Oakland in the AL wild-card game on Wednesday in The Bronx.
First-year manager Alex Cora said he didn’t have a preference in opponent.
“No, those are two good teams,’’ Cora said of the Yankees and A’s. “I’ve been saying since May that the A’s had something good over there. And [the Yankees] are a great team. What [Aaron Boone] has done with them — winning 100 games — is not easy to do. It should be a fun game to watch. I’ll be watching not only because we’re looking for finding out who we’re gonna play, but as a baseball fan.”
His team had similar feelings about a potential matchup with the Yankees.
Getty Images“I guess I’ll say New York, just so we don’t have to travel across the country,’’ J.D. Martinez said of who he wanted to see when the ALDS opens in Boston on Friday. “That really would be the only thing. They’re both really good teams. They both are very strong. It’s gonna be a battle. There’s not one that’s easier than the other, in my opinion.”
The Red Sox will no doubt like their chances, regardless of opponent. They won the AL East by eight games, a wider margin than they’d ever won it by.
They also won the season series against the Yankees 10-9 and went 7-3 against them at Fenway in the first season both rivals finished with at least 100 victories.
The numbers are nice, but as Martinez said, the season “was exciting, but now we’re focused on the playoffs.”
“I can’t wait for it,’’ Cora said. “I went through it last year [as a coach with the World Series champion Astros]. It was amazing. As special as that group was, I feel like we’re in the same boat. It should be fun.”
Cora said he planned to start Chris Sale in Game 1, followed by David Price and then likely Rick Porcello in Game 3.
“We’re happy with [our season], but we know what’s coming,’’ Cora said. “Our goal is to win 11 games in October. That’s what we set out to do in spring training. We’ve done a good job staying in the moment. … Everything starts Friday.”
