God bless Cam Schlittler and his one-man crusade to reinvigorate the rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Now, all he needs is someone to fight back.

Schlittler is scheduled to be the Yankees starter in Tuesday’s first game of the best-of-three American League wild-card series, looking to build on an AL Cy Young award-worthy season with a repeat of that memorable eight-inning, 12-strikeout shutout in the deciding game of last year’s wild-card series against the Red Sox. He owns the Red Sox, with a 0.74 ERA and 27 strikeouts in four regular-season starts, too.

The fact is, you’d be hard-pressed to make the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry one of the top three in the game. The Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays mix it up with the Yankees more than the Red Sox, and fans beat the hell out of each other routinely in the National League West between the Giants, Dodgers and Padres. It’s been a while since Pedro Martinez body-slammed Don Zimmer, you know?

But Schlittler, a native of Walpole, Mass., and childhood Red Sox fan, is trying. After last year’s win, he took to social media and posted: ‘Drinking that Dirty Water,’ a reference to a hashtag used by the Red Sox referring to a song by Boston-based garage punk band ‘The Standells’ that went through a renaissance during the Red Sox run of success in recent seasons. Might as well stand in the middle of Barrack Street and yell: ‘You know, the Tragically Hip weren’t all that.”

Even with injuries, the fact their post-season fates were settled for a while allowed managers Aaron Boone and Chad Tracy to get their ducks lined up. The Yankees averaged almost a run per game less without Aaron Judge in the lineup this year, and a calf strain means his utility will be in doubt even if he plays. Garrett Crochet is a question mark for the Red Sox, but a bigger issue will be the status of Willson Contreras's wrist.

In the other AL series, the wild-card Chicago White Sox will continue a remarkable turnaround that saw them become the first team in........

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