Last Friday night was the day all Boston Red Sox fans were waiting for: Alex Rodriguez’s last game as a New York Yankee. We never thought the day would come (well, after he announced he was retiring at the end of the 2017 season we had a rough idea) but never this soon.

For those of you who didn’t know, the Yankees basically realized that A-Rod is essentially useless and forced him into retirement by releasing him. He’s still getting all $27 million that the team owes him and is allowed to be a special advisor to the team’s younger players.

Of course if some team calls him and says, “Hey, we’re desperate, come be our DH” he can go and sign with that team if he so chooses. I think the Yankees pitied him and were like, “Yeah so we’re releasing you, but so we don’t look like the bad guys, we’re going to give you the chance to be an ‘advisor’ but please don’t actually accept the job.”

It’s funny to think that the Red Sox where this close to signing him in 2003 from the Texas Rangers. Thankfully the deal fell through or else we would have had to deal with:

• His open denial of steroid use in 2007 during an interview with Katie Couric
• Fighting with the MLB Players Association in 2009 when information about a drug test he failed in 2003 was released without his knowledge
• His press conference in the beginning of spring training that was considered the joke of 2009
• Pawning his denial off to his lawyer in 2012, who issued a statement that MLB had no evidence A-Rod used steroids
• Also in 2013, badmouthing of then-commissioner Bud Selig, claiming that Selig was out to destroy him
• Opening his mouth in the summer of 2013 about his involvement in the Biogensis scandal that ultimately led to his 162 game suspension – cut down from the original number of 211
• In 2014, before his season long suspension, he yet again refuted he ever used performance enhancing drugs

And we all can’t forget this moment:

Or this:

Our long-waited nightmare is over. The Yankees officially released A-Rod on Saturday, August 13. Red Sox Nation can breathe a sigh of relief.