Here's what's at stake as The Rivalry returns

There are no must-win series, even near the end of July. There are too many games to play over the last two months of the season, too much that can happen in a week, too much that can happen to change the narrative the rest of the way.

You only have to go back to the last time we had a full season in baseball, two years ago. The Nationals -- who started that season 19-30 -- sat 6 1/2 games behind the Braves and were just six games over .500 at 52-46 on July 22. You know what happened after that. The Nationals ended up winning it all.

The Yankees are six games over .500 as they head into Fenway Park for the four-game series that begins on Thursday night. They are eight games behind the Red Sox in the American League East, but just six in the loss column. They are five in the loss column behind the Rays. And the Yanks have just won four in a row against the Red Sox and the Phillies despite the players -- including Aaron Judge and Gio Urshela -- they lost to the injured list because of COVID protocols last week.

But now the Yankees have these four with the Red Sox and three more after that against the Rays next week. The Yankees don’t have to walk away with a winning record against the two teams in front of them. But it sure wouldn’t hurt.

• 'Very, very important' week ahead for Yanks

We like to think that every series between the Red Sox and the Yankees is a big one. They’re not. This one is. For both teams. The Yankees finally got two games off the Red Sox last weekend at Yankee Stadium after starting the season 0-7 against them. The Red Sox? At that point they had lost six of eight after playing like one of the best teams in baseball after an 0-3 start. Then they turned around against a Blue Jays team that had clobbered them a few times this season and hit 11 home runs in two games in Buffalo and won both.

The home team is looking to get more than a split at old Fenway this weekend -- to play the way they did against the Yankees in those first seven games against them, knock them back. And the Yankees have to be looking to get more than a split themselves by building off what happened in the Bronx last weekend.

Are these must-win games for either team? Of course not. In the end, both the Sox and Yankees may end up making it to the postseason. But even after the nine games the two teams have played so far, things will get dialed up at Fenway starting on Thursday night, without question. These aren’t what the sides will be like when the Yankees get whole, and when the Red Sox are likely to get Chris Sale back. But a series like this, with the Trade Deadline looming, where they are in the standings with the Rays between them, will do for now.

The Yankee who has been playing games like this and series like this against the Red Sox the longest is Brett Gardner, who hit a home run against the Phillies on Tuesday night and scored an important run last night in a game the Yankees ended up winning, 6-5, in the 10th. The winning run, by the way, was knocked in by Ryan LaMarre, who played a few games for the Red Sox five years ago.

"It's no secret who our biggest rivals are and where we're at in the standings," Gardner said. "We have a very important week of baseball coming up this next road trip. I feel like we've obviously played better against them here recently right after the break. We're looking forward to that matchup this weekend. It's always a fun place to play."

It was a month ago when the Yankees last visited Fenway, got swept and watched Gerrit Cole, their ace, get knocked out of the game after giving up three home runs on a Sunday afternoon. Cole came back last Saturday night in the rain and struck out 11, and the Yankees finally beat the Red Sox this season.

“You respond as best you can when you get punched in the face,” Cole said after his last visit to Jersey Street. “At some point, you know you’re going to take hits. You’ve got to keep your cool and respond, and understand some of them are going to land. We’ve been taking some blows. I think we’ve got to start dishing some back.”

The Yankees did that last weekend. This weekend it’s Fenway. Somebody is going to land some blows, as early as Thursday night. Then three more games after that. Then we'll see what things look like in the AL East by Sunday night. This is one of those baseball weekends when all the hype about The Rivalry still feels real.