The New York Yankees are coming off a disappointing season and an even more disappointing postseason. They lost both the division and the ALCS to the Tampa Bay Rays. The only bright spot in the postseason was that the Yankees blew away the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS by sweeping them. The ALCS ended going all five games with Mike Brosseau getting the deciding run off of New York Yankee closer Aroldis Chapman, who had nearly hit Brosseau in the head in an earlier game.
The two teams, Yankees and Rays, have become rivals in recent years; the two teams really don’t like each other after numerous run ins and bench-clearing incidents in past years, highlighted this year with the Chapman Brosseau incident.