Boston Red Sox pitcher Hunter Dobbins will face the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Sunday for the first time in his MLB career, and he certainly is not shying away from the experience.
Dobbins offered some bulletin board material to the Yankees prior to the start. He said his father was a diehard Red Sox fan who passed on a hatred of the Yankees from a young age.
“This is one that I’ve had circled for a long time,” Dobbins said, via Gabrielle Starr of the Boston Herald. “My dad was a diehard Red Sox fan. And I’ve said it before, that if the Yankees were the last team to give me a contract, I’d retire.
“I think whoever I was playing with or whoever I would have been drafted by, I’d still hate the Yankees, so Sunday should be a fun one. I’m hoping I hit a career-high in velo or something. … I’m ready for it. Sunday can’t come fast enough.”
The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry is not what it once was in the eyes of many fans and even some players. Dobbins clearly wants to bring it back. It even sounds like he is motivated more by a hatred of the Yankees than he is by any affection for the Red Sox.
Dobbins made his MLB debut earlier this year and has been solid for Boston. He enters Sunday’s outing with a 4.06 ERA in nine appearances. If he can put up a strong outing against New York, he might ride that high for weeks.
