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Yankees: Do 2021 playoff logos mean Red Sox have World Series shot?

Adam Weinrib
Adam Weinrib

Yanks Go Yard

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 9: U.S. President Donald Trump is presented with a Boston Red Sox jersey during a visit to the White House in recognition of the 2018 World Series championship on May 9, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Yankees fans should breathe a sigh of relief after seeing the 2021 World Series logos. Only half kidding.

Hey, here’s something that sounds like a joke, but somehow isn’t: the Boston Red Sox have won the World Series four times since 2004. Each time, there has been a small pair of flags in that season’s World Series logo.

Have the flags appeared in any other World Series logo, you might ask? Seasons in which the World Series was not won by the Boston Red Sox?

If you’re already frustrated enough to ask this question, I believe you already know the answer.

In case the Red Sox summarily ejecting every single member of their star outfield trio from 2018, a stark reality that became official on Thursday when Jackie Bradley Jr. signed with the Milwaukee Brewers, wasn’t enough to signal that they’re attempting to rebuild, perhaps the flags’ absence from the 2021 MLB Playoff logos will tip you off.

An otherwise innocuous sponsored tweet — retweeted by Noah Syndergaard — tipped us off to some unexpected news on this hideous Thursday, otherwise pockmarked by a Yankees blowout loss.

Thor subtly pointed us to the ALCS and NLCS logos for 2021, featuring what appears to be a beautiful crystal baseball.

But also…there…are faded flags? In the middle portion? Should we take that as a sign of the Sox chances fading, or should we be worried?

There’s a form of the flags in the 2015 World Series logo, too, so perhaps we already have conflicting evidence on our hand. We don’t know what to believe. Do these flags count? Should we be furious?

Though the Boston Red Sox are objectively not that good entering 2021, featuring a pitching staff dotted throughout with “diamonds in the rough” who mostly just look rough (Nick Pivetta), every Yankees fan knows those are the type of seasons that occasionally result in Boston somehow dodging knives and axes all the way to the finish line.

Was the roster really that much better in 2013? Couldn’t Kiké Hernandez be Shane Victorino? Why was Steve Pearce the 2018 World Series MVP? Trash happens in that one particular city.

Do Yankees fans actually believe the Red Sox World Series flags conspiracy?

No, I’m not insane enough to actually be declaring that the game of baseball is rigged, or the reason the Red Sox have captured four titles in the past 17 seasons is the special magic embedded in a pair of flags.

But I am perfectly sane enough to notice that the stupid little flags just will not stop popping up. This is a reality.

Don’t believe me? Check the chart.

It’s especially egregious in ’04, ’07, and ’13. In 2018, I could’ve gone either way. Were these the same dumb flags? If Boston had somehow sputtered and choked out of October with their most talented team in franchise history, I would’ve pivoted and called them False Flags.

But nope. Noooooope. Another pennant, another trophy, and another instance of me cursing the league’s logo-makers.

If the Sox break the spell, it’ll be the literal first time since 1918. Laugh all you want, but it’s true.

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib is a Content Director on the FanSided network, and has been the co-editor at Yanks Go Yard for 6 years. He also co-hosts The Baseball Insiders Podcast thrice weekly, alongside FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray, as well as the Yanks Go Yard Podcast. Previously, he was a Senior Editor at 12up.com, and has been covering MLB and NFL for 10 years. He was also a headline and features contributor at ClickHole and Onion Sports, as well as the Associate Producer of the ESPN 30 for 30 film "Believeland". An avowed fan of the New York sports teams -- specifically the Yankees -- as well as the North Carolina Tar Heels, you can find Adam complaining mid-game on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn if the game goes really poorly.