'98 Yanks have message for Red Sox: You must win it all

As the Red Sox cruise along toward their own record-setting year, the Yankees had a perfect trolling opportunity dropped into their laps for Saturday’s celebration of the 1998 champs, who crowned a 114-win regular season with the franchise’s 24th world title.

Only Jorge Posada went as far as to say he is rooting against the Red Sox, but the others were happy to deliver some friendly advice to their Boston pals.

With the Red Sox (88-36) on pace for 115 wins — one shy of the Mariners’ 2001 record — the Yankees had a simple message: You better finish the job.

“I tell you what, when you get to the postseason, there’s a whole lotta pressure,” said Joe Torre, then a third-year manager working on his second ring. “Seattle won 116 games, but you have to remind people they did. They won their division, but they didn’t beat us.”

Torre’s squad ruined everything for the Mariners in ’01 by knocking them out in the ALCS in five games. And this year’s Yankees could have another opportunity to play spoiler against the Red Sox come October.

Back in ’98, however, those Yankees never faced much of a challenge. They swept the Rangers in the first round of the playoffs but lost Game 2 of the ALCS at home to the Indians and had to rally from a 2-1 deficit to get to the World Series, where they took four straight from the Padres. Despite racking up wins at a ridiculous clip during the regular season, the Yankees knew they needed the title to validate their efforts.

“The 114 wins, that wasn’t the big thing for us,” Mariano Rivera said. “It was the next 11 wins. Seattle won 116 games, but they didn’t win a championship, so their season was erased.”

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Posada felt the same way.

“I don’t look at the 114 wins,” Posada said. “I look at the 125-50. Because at the end of the day, if you don’t win it all, you don’t remember.”

The Red Sox also appear unstoppable this season, but they hit a worrisome speed bump Saturday when Chris Sale was put on the DL for the second time in a month because of shoulder inflammation.

Posada credited the Yankees’ ability to stay healthy as a big reason for their dominance in ’98 — the side of their ring is carved with “Best Ever” — and doubt never crept into the clubhouse.

“I just know we were an extremely confident group,” Andy Pettitte said. “The players around you were hungry and wanted to play. We never got complacent with the success that we had.”

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.