Red Sox Magic Number - 88

With the Red Sox victory and the Yankee loss last night - the Red Sox new magic number is now 88.

In my mind I associate the number 88 mostly with Eric Lindros who chose the number 88 to foster comparisons to Wayne Gretzky who wore number 99. For our purposes of discussing the Red Sox magic number - a Eric Lindros comparison [with Lindros equating the New York Yankees] is perfect.

Lindros was dubbed "the next one" and had to weather constant comparisons to Wayne Gretzky - the Great One. Likewise these current Yankees have had to weather constant comparisons to Joe Torre's championship teams - like the team who won it all in 99. Yankee fans keep waiting for "the next one" but this Eric Lindros of a team won't be bringing home any championships any time soon.

Eric Lindros was a highly talented player but also a player who proved to be fragile. He was talented enough to put his teams in contention but there was always something lacking. As highly paid as he was - he never was able to win a championship.

Just like this current New York Yankees team.