The last time the Yankees beat the Red Sox in a playoff-series clincher, the Curse of the Bambino was still very much a thing.

And it was Aaron Boone — the third baseman — who made sure that hex stayed secure by taking Boston’s knuckleballer Tim Wakefield deep for the ALCS Game 7 walk-off homer that propelled the Yankees to the 2003 World Series.

But 22 years is a long time ago, even for an ancient rivalry that stretches more than a century, and the dynamic between these storied franchises had a very different vibe heading into Thursday night’s winner-take-all Game 3 of the Wild Card Series.

Since Boone’s dramatic blast, it’s been the Yankees trying to buck their head-to-head history against the Red Sox, a total reversal of the Bambino’s decades-long stranglehold on his original club.

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