FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Aaron Boone joined a select club last season, becoming one of six rookie managers to guide a team to 100 or more wins. He had the misfortune of doing so in the same year that another newcomer, Alex Cora, steered the Red Sox to a franchise-record 108 victories.

Boston and New York had never before both finished their seasons with 100 or more wins, but since the Yankees spent so much of the second half chasing their archrivals, that fact went unappreciated. Boone hopes that his club has closed their eight-game gap on the defending World Series champions, but it will take months to determine if that is actually the case.

"I have no idea. That's the beauty of all this," Boone said before the Yankees' 8-5 Grapefruit League loss on Saturday. "There's so many things that go into having teams that win 100 games; it doesn't happen that much. We know they're a great team, and that's probably one of the teams we've got to go through to get to where we want to go."

While Yankees general manager Brian Cashman had a busy winter, filling out the rotation with James Paxton, J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia , grabbing relievers Zack Britton and Adam Ottavino and securing position players Brett Gardner, DJ LeMahieu and Troy Tulowitzki, the Red Sox were content to largely stand pat. Their most prominent move was to re-sign right-hander Nathan Eovaldi .

"They do their things and they're successful, and we do it our way and we're successful," said Cora, who joined Ralph Houk (1961 Yankees), Dusty Baker (‘93 Giants), Sparky Anderson (‘70 Reds) and Mickey Cochrane (‘34 Tigers) on the list of the winningest rookie skippers. "In this game, there's no right or wrong. At the end, the players decide what happens on the field."

The memory of the four-game American League Division Series remains bitter in the Yankees' world. New York split the first two games at Fenway Park, then dropped the next two in the Bronx, including a 16-1 embarrassment in Game 3 that Boone said was "a gut punch."

"I'm still not over it," Aaron Hicks said. "I'm not over it until we win. That's pretty much what it comes down to. ... I believe we've got a great team that has the potential to win a World Series. I'm very confident in saying that."

"The Red Sox had a great year last year. They did everything," said Gleyber Torres, who went deep in the first inning of Saturday’s game. "But this year I think we'll take all the losses we got and I think we'll prepare a little bit better. We've come in more hungry. Everybody is on the same page. Everybody wants to do something and we focus for that."

With one season as rivals under their belts, Boone and Cora have maintained an amicable relationship. The pair forged a friendship while with the 2005 Indians, one which was expanded upon as ESPN co-workers. And now?

"I hate his guts," Boone said with a laugh. "No, I don't know. It's probably grown in some ways. You are sitting in a similar chair, [you] certainly understand all that comes with being a manager and certainly being a manager for these two franchises. He's always somebody I respect a ton."

"We're still cool," Cora added. "He did an outstanding job in New York. For what everybody says and all that, he won 100 games. You tell me before our season last year, would you take 100 wins? I would say, 'Where do I sign?' With the injuries and everything they went through, he did great. In that market, he was outstanding."

Though the park dimensions and colors of Fenway South are identical to its New England predecessor, there was little to be gleaned from Saturday's exhibition. A better date to circle is April 16, when these heavyweights will play the first of their 19 knockdown, drag-out battles -- ones that, for the first time, will include two June contests across the pond in London.

"Last year is past. This year is a new year," Torres said. "We'll prepare for that and see what happens during the season."