Long Hot Summer: Yankees and Red Sox tied with 125 to go. Compare that to 1953.

The big three game series just completed left the two teams with the best records in an unsatisfying tie. They got there from different directions but both got a jolt of reality.

The Boston Red Sox started the 2018 season 17-2 and were in first place by four games on April 20.

The New York Yankees started 9-9 but entered the Red Sox series at Yankee Stadium on a six game winning streak preceded by a loss and a nine game winning streak. That means that the Yankees had gone 15-1.

The Red Sox came to New York only one game ahead of the surging Yankees. Some wondered how the Red Sox felt having such a great start only to be facing the possibility of dropping out of first place in early May.

The Yankees won the first game 3-2 to tie for first place. The Yankees won the second game 9-6 to take a one game lead. A sweep would send the Red Sox reeling.

But the Red Sox ended the Yankees latest winning streak at 8 with a 5-4 win. The Yankees hot streak was 17-1. The teams are tied at 26-11.

On Monday May 25, 1953 the Yankees lost to the Red Sox 14-10. That made their records:
Yankees 23-11 up one game in first place
Red Sox 20-15

HR: Jim Piersall (1, off Whitey Ford, 8th inn, 0 on, 2 outs).
HR: Mickey Mantle (6, off Ellis Kinder, 8th inn, 0 on, 1 out).

Ford pitched the final two innings in relief.

The Yankees then won every game from Wednesday May 27, 1953 through Sunday June 14, 1953, 18 games, including Sunday doubleheaders June 7 and June 14. Those final two games completed a four game sweep in Cleveland. The losing pitchers for the Indians were Early Wynn, Bob Feller, Bob Lemon and Mike Garcia. The next season, 1954, the Cleveland Indians would win the American League pennant with a record of 111-43. Here are the standing for games completed June 14, 1953:

Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	RS	RA	pythW-L%
NYY	41	11	.788	--	314	189	.717
CLE	30	21	.588	10.5	226	190	.579
CHW	30	26	.536	13.0	239	257	.467
BOS	30	27	.526	13.5	227	223	.508
WSH	29	26	.527	13.5	253	196	.615
PHA	27	29	.482	16.0	226	244	.465
SLB	19	38	.333	24.5	216	273	.394
DET	13	41	.241	29.0	228	357	.306

On Tuesday June 16, 1953 Whitey Ford lost 3-1 to the St. Louis Browns at Yankee Stadium. Vic Wertz homered off Ford for the Browns and Satchel Paige got a save. It was the first game - ever- that Ford started and the Yankees lost. The Yankees won all of Ford's first 22 career starts.

The Red Sox swept a three game series in Yankee Stadium on the final weekend of the 1953 season. Here are the final 1953 standings:

Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	RS	RA	pythW-L%
NYY	99	52	.656	--	801	547	.668
CLE	92	62	.597	8.5	770	627	.593
CHW	89	65	.578	11.5	716	592	.586
BOS	84	69	.549	16.0	656	632	.517
WSH	76	76	.500	23.5	687	614	.551
DET	60	94	.390	40.5	695	923	.373
PHA	59	95	.383	41.5	632	799	.394
SLB	54	100	.351	46.5	555	778	.350

That 18 game Yankee winning streak did the trick back in 1953. Only the first place team moved on ... to the World Series, which the Yankees won 4-2 over the Brooklyn Dodgers (105-49). But the 2018 run of 17-1 simply left the Yankees tied for first with a long hot summer ahead.