Yankees - Red Sox since 1949: four deciding games with both teams facing elimination. Yankees 3, Red Sox 1.

Each "league" has three ridiculous five team mini divisions. All three division winners qualify for the tournament plus two wild card teams, those non-division champions with the best records. The wild card team with the better record hosts a one game play in.

Here are the 2021 American League (AL) wild card standings after 157 games with five  games to go; division leaders are BOLD:

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	GBsum	Strk	R	RA	Rdiff	SOS	SRS	pythWL	Luck	vEast	vCent	vWest	Inter	Home	Road	ExInn	1Run	vRHP	vLHP	≥.500	<.500	last10	last20	last30
1	Tampa Bay Rays	97	60	.618	+9.0	--	L 1	5.3	4.1	1.2	0.0	1.2	97-60	0	49-24	19-13	14-18	15-5	52-29	45-31	7-12	19-23	61-33	36-27	45-40	52-20	6-4	11-9	18-12
2	Houston Astros	92	65	.586	+4.0	--	W 1	5.3	4.0	1.3	-0.1	1.2	98-59	-6	17-12	19-16	47-26	9-11	48-28	44-37	9-8	19-19	59-38	33-27	42-30	50-35	5-5	12-8	17-13
3	New York Yankees	90	67	.573	+2.0	--	W 7	4.4	4.1	0.3	0.1	0.4	84-73	6	34-37	22-10	22-12	12-8	45-33	45-34	10-8	27-18	59-44	31-23	46-40	44-27	8-2	12-8	15-15
4	Chicago White Sox	90	68	.570	+1.5	--	W 3	4.9	4.0	0.9	-0.2	0.8	94-64	-4	19-14	42-31	16-17	13-6	50-27	40-41	6-7	17-24	65-52	25-16	26-29	64-39	6-4	10-10	17-13
5	Boston Red Sox	88	69	.560	--	--	L 4	5.1	4.7	0.5	0.1	0.6	85-72	3	40-34	20-13	15-18	13-4	49-32	39-37	11-5	26-18	55-39	33-30	46-48	42-21	6-4	10-10	16-14
6	Seattle Mariners	88	70	.557	0.5	0.5	W 3	4.3	4.6	-0.3	0.1	-0.2	74-84	14	19-15	15-17	45-27	9-11	44-33	44-37	14-7	33-18	53-44	35-26	43-34	45-36	9-1	13-7	19-11
7	Toronto Blue Jays	87	70	.554	1.0	1.5	L 1	5.2	4.1	1.1	0.1	1.1	95-62	-8	38-33	19-15	16-16	14-6	43-32	44-38	3-9	14-15	66-50	21-20	47-43	40-27	5-5	12-8	21-9

The Yankees swept all three games in Boston over the weekend. If the Yankees and Red Sox finish tied, the team with the better record between the teams is seeded higher. In this case, that means hosting the wild card game. In 2021 the Red Sox are 10-9 against the Yankees.

Both teams have been in the AL since 1903. Here are the four regular season and tournament (since 1969) games in which the result meant moving on or elimination.

1949: Red Sox up one with two to play:

This Saturday game had only the Yankees facing elimination and is not counted among the four. But how could it not be mentioned?

Saturday, October 1, 1949

Attendance: 69,551

Venue: Yankee Stadium I

Game Duration: 2:30

Day Game, on grass

Yankees 5, Red Sox 4

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
	Boston Red Sox	1	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	0
	New York Yankees	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	1	X	5	12	0
WP: Joe Page (13-8) • LP: Joe Dobson (14-12)

HR: Johnny Lindell (6, off Joe Dobson, 8th inn, 0 on, 2 outs to Deep LF).

Sunday, October 2, 1949

Attendance: 68,055

Venue: Yankee Stadium I

Game Duration: 2:30

Day Game, on grass

Yankees 5, Red Sox 3

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
	Boston Red Sox	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	5	1
	New York Yankees	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	X	5	9	0
WP: Vic Raschi (21-10) • LP: Ellis Kinder (23-6)

HR: Tommy Henrich (24, off Mel Parnell, 8th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to RF).

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1978: 

1978 Yankees, 14 back July 19, sweep 4 in Boston September 7-10 to tie Red Sox for first. Friday, September 24, 2021

The September 10, 1978 tie was after 142 games but they were tied again after 162 games. They played an extra unscheduled regular season game; location decided by coin flip: Boston.

Monday, October 2, 1978

Start Time: 2:30 p.m. Local

Attendance: 32,925

Venue: Fenway Park

Game Duration: 2:52

Day Game, on grass

Yankees 5, Red Sox 4

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
	New York Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1	0	5	8	0
	Boston Red Sox	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	4	11	0
WP: Ron Guidry (25-3) • LP: Mike Torrez (16-13) • SV: Rich Gossage (27)

HR: Bucky Dent (5, off Mike Torrez, 7th inn, 2 on, 2 outs to LF); Reggie Jackson (27, off Bob Stanley, 8th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to CF).

HR: Carl Yastrzemski (17, off Ron Guidry, 2nd inn, 0 on, 0 outs to RF).

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2003: ALCS best of 7, game 7:

Thursday, October 16, 2003

Attendance: 56,279

Venue: Yankee Stadium II

Game Duration: 3:56

Night Game, on grass

Yankees 6, Red Sox 5 in 11 innings

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
	Boston Red Sox	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	5	11	0
	New York Yankees	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	3	0	0	1	6	11	1
WP: Mariano Rivera (1-0) • LP: Tim Wakefield (2-2)
Winning Run scored with 0 outs

HR: Trot Nixon (4, off Roger Clemens, 2nd inn, 1 on, 1 out to CF-RF); Kevin Millar (1, off Roger Clemens, 4th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to LF); David Ortiz (2, off David Wells, 8th inn, 0 on, 1 out to RF).

HR: Jason Giambi 2 (3, 2 off Pedro Martinez, 5th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to CF-RF; 7th inn, 0 on, 2 outs to CF); Aaron Boone (1, off Tim Wakefield, 11th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to LF).

Aaron Boone hit the pennant winning walk off home run in his only plate appearance of the game.

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2004: ALCS best of 7, game 7:

Note: Yanks were going for the sweep leading 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th in game 4 but Mariano Rivera blew the save; Red Sox won in 12 innings 6-4 on David Ortiz walk off home run. In game 5 Yanks led 4-2 in the 8th; Red Sox tied in bottom of 8th and won in 14 innings 5-4. Game 6 was the Curt Schilling bloody sock game; Red Sox scored 4 in the 4th and won 4-2.

Game 7 was anticlimactic:

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Start Time: 8:30 p.m. Local

Attendance: 56,129

Venue: Yankee Stadium II

Game Duration: 3:31

Night Game, on grass

Red Sox 10, Yankees 3

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
	Boston Red Sox	2	4	0	2	0	0	0	1	1	10	13	0
	New York Yankees	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	5	1
WP: Derek Lowe (2-0) • LP: Kevin Brown (1-1)

HR: David Ortiz (4, off Kevin Brown, 1st inn, 1 on, 2 outs to RF); Johnny Damon 2 (2, 2 off Javier Vazquez, 2nd inn, 3 on, 1 out to RF; 4th inn, 1 on, 0 outs to RF); Mark Bellhorn (2, off Tom Gordon, 8th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to RF Line).

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2021: ???