A year ago at this time, the Red Sox were ending the season, already out of playoff contention but, leaving some wondering if maybe the team had what it took for a comeback next season. Well, here we are. September 29th, 2016. The Red Sox wake up with a guaranteed spot in October and their second AL East title under John Farrell, as weird as that sounds.
Many had wrote the Red Sox off at the end of July, saying they'd just be a Wild Card team at best, but now, coming off an unbelievable 11-game winning streak, the Sox have now clinched the AL East once again. The Red Sox could also clinch the best record in the American League overall, but it will take some work to get there. They sit just 1.5 games behind the Rangers (94-65) for the top spot in the league. Looking ahead to October, Game 1 of the ALDS should (not saying it will because you never know with Farrell) go to 22 game winner, Rick Porcello. Assuming game 1 is at Fenway, then it will no doubt go to Porcello, as he's only been defeated once all year in the confines of his home ballpark. If it's on the road, it's a tossup between Porcello and Price, as Price has really turned his season around and really is starting to pitch like the 217 million dollar investment the Red Sox envisioned when they signed him last November. Realistically speaking, it's not the lineup that should be Boston's concern, it's the pitching. If Clay Buchholz can pitch like he has been the past 3 starts, that will give Boston a much better chance to reach the Fall Classic. However, if E-Rod and Buchholz implode and give up 4 or 5 runs early, that will be hard to come back from, and could cost them the series. As we've seen in the past, it's often great pitching that wins championships but, this year may be a little bit different for the Red Sox, and here's why. The two teams Boston has to worry about are the Indians and Rangers. Looking at each team's rotation, they aren't that great. Carlos Carrasco is already doubtful for the playoffs in Cleveland, and Yu Darvish has struggled for Texas lately, going 3-2 in his last 7 starts with a troubling 4.46 ERA, along with 21 ER on 37 hits. Those numbers aren't against Boston, who has the top offense in the MLB. If the Rangers' top starter struggles, it could set the tone for the rest of the series. As for the Indians, the team boston is most likely to play in the LDS, they have been on a skid recently as well. Going 5-5 in their last 10 games and falling behind the Red Sox by 1.5 games for the second seed in the AL. If the series starts in Boston, the Indians could be in trouble, as they are not a good road team (38-39) and the Red Sox dominate at home (46-32). But, no matter who the Red Sox face in the postseason, they'll always put up a fight to the end. You 'Betts Believe' that.
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2 months ago, the Boston Red Sox were sitting at third place in the AL East and clinging to the final AL Wild Card spot, with the hopes the Tigers, Mariners, and Astros wouldn't catch fire and derail their season. Now? Well, the Sox are now looking like the team nobody wants to see come October.
The magic number for the Sox to win the AL East is now down to six. They have 10 games remaining on the regular season schedule, and a 99.4% chance of making the playoffs. Now that Hanley Ramirez single-handedly put the theoretical final 'nail in the coffin' on the Yankees season with 4 homeruns in 4 games, the Sox now just have to worry about the Blue Jays and Orioles. If 'worrying' is 5 games up on both teams, Boston will take that all day long. Everything is clicking for Boston at the right time, the lineup is back to what we saw in May, and the pitching, led by 21 game winner Rick Porcello (not a typo), and 16 game winner, David Price, are silencing some of the best bats in the game. And at the center of it all, is the team's heart and soul, David Ortiz. A man who has a .316 AVG, 36 HR, and 121 RBI. Oh yeah, and he also leads the league in doubles (47), SLG % (.634), and OPS (1.037). As you may have heard, he'll be retiring after the season. The Sox are now tied for the second seed in the playoffs with the Cleveland Indians (88-63) and just 2.5 games behind the Rangers for the top spot in the AL. Boston also owns the longest active winning streak in all of baseball, standing at seven games. Even Clay Buchholz gave the Red Sox a lift last night against Baltimore, pitching 7 innings of 1 run ball. Not bad for a guy everyone was screaming to cut a few months ago, right? Everything seems to be coming together for this team, and it couldn't have happened at a better time. The bullpen has been stellar in September, good enough for tops in the majors with a 0.94 ERA. No, that is not a typo either. If the pen can sustain that type of domination into October, that could be the 'X' factor for Boston when it comes down to winning the close games, something they have struggled with all year long. Wherever Boston ends up in the final standings, they will no doubt be extremely tough to beat, for any team. Let's just hope the train keeps rolling. There are a lot of questions heading towards the end of September in Major League Baseball. One of the biggest questions is, who will win the AL East? There are four teams within 4 games of each other for the top spot in the division, the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles and Yankees. The most surprising of those four is the Yankees by far. The Bronx Bombers were a team who were sellers at the break and people around the MLB took that as a 'white flag'. However, the Yankees are one of, if not the hottest team in baseball, winner of 5 straight and 7 of their last 10. The Yankees are gaining ground fast however, the team that is still on top is the Boston Red Sox. So, now for the big question. Do the Sox indeed have enough left to fend off the other three clubs and make 'Worst to first part two' a reality?
Boston has 23 games left on the regular season schedule, and all of them are against division foes. Each series will be crucial for all of the teams in contention, and the Red Sox will kick things off this weekend in Toronto with a man in search of his MLB best, 20th win, Rick Porcello. Nobody on planet earth would have guessed Porcello would be a 20 game winner but, the Red Sox are more than happy to have him. Even if Boston were to lose 2 of 3 to Toronto, they'd wake up Monday morning in a great spot, just 1 game back. Boston is currently 6-7 against Toronto this season. As for Baltimore, all the Sox need to do is take advantage of their poor pitching staff. Baltimore's starters are not playoff ready. Not even close. Every game the Orioles have lost over the last month, with the exception of one, their pitching staff has yielded 5 runs of more. In four of those games, they surrendered 10 runs or more. That doesn't sound like a playoff ready team to me. If Boston can get their sluggers as many plate appearances as possible in that series (Ortiz, Betts, Ramirez), it will be an easy win. And we all know how Mookie loves to torch the O's. Boston is 6-6 against Baltimore in 2016. Well, this brings me to the Yankees. The hottest team in baseball as of the past two weeks. Boston and New York have split the season series right down the middle, each with eight wins a piece. New York also just happens to have one of the best, and most unexpected, rookie stars in baseball, catcher Gary Sanchez. Boston will have to be extremely cautious when pitching to Sanchez, as he became the quickest player to reach 11 homeruns in MLB history. He reached that mark just 23 games into his MLB career. New York is a far better team on in the confines of Yankee Stadium than anywhere else, (40-28, 33-37) so Boston will need to take advantage of their series at Fenway with New York, which is 4 game series Sept. 15-18. Boston just needs to keep playing consistent baseball, executing good at-bats, scoring runs, making the right plays in the field, and getting great starting pitching like they have been. If they do all those things, the rest will take care of itself, and Boston will once again find themselves back in the postseason and contending for a World Series. Boston played a couple of very disappointing games over the long weekend. After rocking the A's in the first two games in Oakland for a combined 27 runs, the Sox put up a lonesome 1 run on Sunday and Monday combined. The Sox spoiled the best outing of Eduardo Rodriguez's career after he lost a no hitter in the eighth, dropping the game 1-0 on a walk-off double.
On Monday, the Sox bats just could just not get going, as Padres starter Edwin Jackson fanned 11 Sox hitters. Another frustrating game for Drew Pomeranz, who just can't get any run support. Facing his former club, Pomeranz turned in a quality outing, lasting 5.2 innings, giving up 6 hits and 2 earned runs. The Sox looked like they would blow the game open in the eighth after a leadoff pinch-hit homerun from Chris Young. Who turned 33 yesterday as well. However, the Sox could not push across the tying run after a crazy play that involved another pinch hitter, Sandy Leon. Leon swung and missed at a ball that got by the catcher. Leon ran to first and was safe on the play, and Aaron Hill crossed the plate for the tying run. But, upon second look, the umpire ruled the ball hit Leon, which means it is a dead ball and the run can not score. Xander Bogaerts struck out to end the inning and strand the tying run at third base. In the ninth, the Padres made quick work out of Boston, Betts flied out to right, Hanley beat out an infield single, Bradley Jr. struck out, and David Ortiz who pinch-hit for Yoan Moncada, flied out to center to end the game. Game 2 of the series is tonight 10:10 ET. Buchholz (5-10) v.s Clemens (2-4). |