ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. --- Winning creates a rivalry, the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays claim, rather than years of testy relations between the teams.

That was the message coming out of the AL championship series Thursday, with both sides trying to play down a history of brawling that's adding spice to the buildup.

"Bad blood?" smiling Boston slugger David Ortiz said. "There's no bad blood. This is not the WWF. It's a baseball game, bro.

"I mean, come on. I walk out there and they're hugging me, and I hug them back. It's a game. Sometimes you have things happening. It stays on the field. It's not like you're going to walk to the parking lot and wait for somebody," he said.

The wait for the start of the ALCS is almost over. Game 1 is tonight.

"I know a lot is being made of past pugilistic events. But that has nothing to do with today. Nothing," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Those were when the Devil Rays were really struggling, and the games had an entirely different tone to them. We're a different team. "

They're AL East champions, to be more precise. And, looking to end wild-card Boston's quest for a third World Series title in five years.

Now, that's something that can turn Rays-Red Sox into a genuine rivalry, Maddon said.

"We had the one incident this year. That to me also is ancient history," Maddon said, referring to a bench-clearing brawl June 5 at Fenway Park that led to eight suspensions.

The tension between the teams lingers in 2000, when Pedro Martinez plunked Gerald Williams in the first inning of a game in which the Boston ace yielded only one hit.

Williams rushed the mound and was ejected. And, there's been trouble ever since.

Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford was one of the players suspended in June when Boston's Coco Crisp charged the mound after being hit with a pitch by James Shields.

Boston manager Terry Francona agreed that with what's at stake in the ALCS, past skirmishes are the furthest thing from the minds of the players.

Shields will start Game 1 for Tampa Bay, facing 18-game winner Daisuke Matsuzaka.

"You want to stick around for the whole series," said Tampa Bay's Jonny Gomes, who like Shields, was suspended for his role in the June fight.

The Rays won the season series 10-8.