Friendly rivalry: Farrell, Francona share bond

CLEVELAND — Of course it has to be Cleveland where Indians manager Terry Francona and Red Sox skipper John Farrell will oppose each other in the postseason for the first time.

The seeds for one of the most genuine friendships in baseball were planted in the summer of 1988 when Farrell (a career-high 14 wins that season) and Francona (.311 batting average in 212 at-bats) spent their only season as teammates with the Indians.

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Twenty-eight years later, their bond is only deeper even as they face off in a Division Series between the Red Sox and the Indians.

Prior to Thursday’s Game 1 (8 p.m. ET, TBS), when Francona is announced during pregame intros, he will reach over to the third-base side of home plate and greet his good friend.

Whichever manager wins this series isn’t going to feel good about the pain the other one will endure.

“And it’s tough when you’re going to compete against one of your best friends. That’s actually kind of hard, but I am so proud of him and happy for him, what he’s accomplished,” said Francona, who managed the Red Sox from 2004-11. “I kind of consider it an honor to actually compete against him.”

They made it to the postseason for three of the four years (2007-10) they were together in Boston — Francona as manager and Farrell as the pitching coach. As a tandem, they basked in World Series championship glory — eliminating the Indians along the way — in 2007. When Francona won the AL Manager of the Year Award in ’13, Farrell finished second. That same year, Farrell’s Red Sox won the World Series.

But their relationship has long transcended the game they love. When Farrell underwent his first chemotherapy treatment last August for Burkitt lymphoma, the Indians happened to be in Boston. …

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