Sox-Yanks will face off 10 times in 4 weeks

Admit it – you’ve missed them.

For too long now, they’ve operated in some parallel universe, lurking, never too far away, but not terribly present, either.

They’ve been more of a concept than a rival.

Now, however, the Yankees are back, and with them, comes their rivalry with the Red Sox. Almost dormant, it is revived.

The Yankees never really went away, of course. But because they haven’t met the Red Sox in the post-season in 13 long years, or even qualified for the post-season in the same year that the Sox have in eight seasons, they’ve been off the radar.

That’s about to change. Starting tonight at Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox and Yankees will play 10 games, spread out across three of the next four weekends. Like some late-summer TV series that has everyone talking, you won’t be able to escape them for the next month.

Not since 2011 have the Red Sox and Yankees met this late in the season with the teams occupying the top two spots in the American League East.

Now, here they are, front and center. Again.

Sure, the rivalry has been re-cast. There’s not a single player still active from the epic ALCS confrontations of 2003-04. The Yankees’ Core Fore of Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera? Retired, every last one of them.

Gone, too, is the villainous Alex Rodriguez. David Ortiz, the Red Sox slugger whose Long Goodbye failed to convert Yankee fans convinced that he got a free pass from the PED police, is nearly a season removed from his farewell tour.

New villains must still be cast for the rivalry to be fully renewed. No Red Sox fan has had time to work up sufficient hate toward Aaron Judge or Gary Sanchez. And how can the most ardent pinstripe wearers hate on Mookie Betts or Andrew Benintendi.

These things take time.

But what can’t be denied or ignored is the Yankees’ relevance. They’re the Red Sox' closest competitors in the American League East standings, sitting four games back.

That distance assures the Red Sox of leaving the Bronx still in first place when the series concludes Sunday night, but even a sweep by the Red Sox won’t bury the Yankees – not with seven more games left between the clubs before Labor Day.

The Yankees’ renewed relevance was evident in the run-up to the non-waiver trade deadline last month. When they made a pre-emptive strike b y landing power-hitting third baseman Todd Frazier and two bullpen pieces in David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle, shaken Red Sox fans wondered how the Sox would respond.

When the Sox countered with two lower-profile acquisitions (Eduardo Nunez and Addison Reed), it seemed at first to be an inadequate response. But the team’s recent winning streak – eight straight and 10 wins in the last 12 tries – has managed to calm emotions, at least for the time being.

(It wasn’t long ago that Nunez himself was a Yankee understudy, but he’s been embraced by Boston fans more focused on his immediate impact than his baseball pedigree).

On Wednesday, when John Farrell was asked about the upcoming series, he maintained that the Sox were first focused on the final game of their series with the Rays, themselves hard on the heels of the Yanks in the standings.

But it’s not as if the Red Sox have ignored their rivals’ looming presence. The Sox took steps to guarantee that their ace, Chris Sale, was lined up to face the Yankees – not just this weekend, but in the subsequent two series ahead, too.

The presence of Sale may well represent the Red Sox’ biggest advantage over the next four weeks. No American League starter has been as dominant this season and his availability for all three series guards against any sort of full-scale unraveling by the Sox. It doesn’t hurt that Sale has historically tormented the Yankees.

The Yankees may lay claim to a more star-studded bullpen, with Robertson and Kahnle joining relief anchors Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances. But no bullpen has performed better this season – in either league – than Boston’s, right down to the current 18-inning scoreless streak and a collective sub-3.00 ERA.

As the division leaders, the Red Sox are well-positioned, needing only to play the Yankees to a relative draw over the new few weekends to maintain their margin while taking time off the regular season calendar.

Fans are advised to enjoyed the hostilities while they can. While 10 games between the two clubs are shoehorned into the next 31 days, in a scheduling quirk, the two clubs won’t meet again after Labor Day weekend.

Unless, that is, they meet again in the ALCS.

But first things, first.