Yankees were just given perfect blueprint if they face Red Sox in Wild Card round

On the national stage, the Boston Red Sox have had the New York Yankees' number for quite a while now. Boston fans will continue to cry victim for the pain that was inflicted upon their ancestors from 1919-2003, but ever since then it's been all Red Sox. And even in seasons the Yankees were "better," New York found a way to unravel and embarrass themselves in new ways, which ended up being a moral victory for the Sox.

This year, the Sox have had their way with the Yanks, logging an 8-3 record heading into Saturday's action. New York notched a big win on Friday to take a 1.5-game lead over Boston in the Wild Card standings, but at this rate it's looking like we could end up with the two teams doing battle in the first round of this year's playoffs.

If that's the case, the Yankees better hope they have home field advantage. And regardless if they do or not, they should know who to pitch in that series. Max Fried will undoubtedly be taking the mound for Game 1 because that's just how the Yankees will probably handle their business.

But at this point, there needs to be consideration for Luis Gil starting Game 1. And if he doesn't, which we'd understand, then he must start Game 2 whether they win or lose.

Potential Yankees vs Red Sox playoff series must feature Luis Gil early

This is not to take anything away from Carlos Rodón. He's been incredible this season and will be a weapon for the Yankees in the playoffs. But he has a 5.74 ERA in three starts against Boston this season. Fried, on the other hand, has a 1.38 ERA in his two outings.

Gil has faced the Red Sox five times since debuting in 2021 and two have came this year. Friday night's six-inning no-hit masterpiece was his best. He threw five innings of one-run ball against them three weeks ago, too. He's never had an outing where he's surrendered more than one earned run.

Yankees fans have their concerns with Gil. Even though he's been fairly impressive in his return from Tommy John surgery, he's still struggling with his command a bit and he's proven to labor through his outings. He's hovered around the five-inning mark and has yet to pitch beyond the sixth. Understandable for his first eight starts after Tommy John surgery, but this has also been a trend for him before that.

Nonetheless, it seems as if the man is unfazed by the Yankees' chief rival — something that might be the most valuable trait on this team. The Yankees' playoff success for the better part of the last 15 years has been against the Athletics and AL Central teams. They've repeatedly failed to beat the Red Sox and Astros, and need to rediscover the mental edge they had on the rest of the league 25 years ago.

Gil won't be the antidote, but it's a start, and he needs to be on the mound for one of the first two games of a hypothetical Wild Card series against the Red Sox.