Wild Card Lead Gone, Are the Sox Playoff Bound?

It's been a fun game tonight. Probably because they are winning, which is basically something we haven't seen for the entire month of September.

 

1+ game to go, and the outcome still in doubt for the Sox.

Slump Stretches to Horrific Proportions

As noted in the last post, when a team slumps, it can get ugly. The Red Sox just ran out of players, primarily pitchers, who could give them innings. A baseball team, even a good, deep one, is a house of cards. A few bad starts leads to overusing the bullpen, leads to inflated scores, leads to hitters pressing at the plate and in the field, leads to hitting slumps and problems in the field. Personally, I don't think anything worse can happen to a ball player than him going up to the plate thinking "If I just hit it out, we can win the game". That's a recipe for an out, or a double play, or a big fat K. The worse this slump got, the harder it got to watch the Sox. Even with all the struggles, they are still first in most of the offensive categories, and make no mistake, they have enough talent offensively to make a run if they get to the playoffs, but the pitching is going to need to seriously get hot in a damn hurry. It can happen, sometimes it just takes one game to turn it around (like game 5 in 2004 in the ALCS against NY, and the JD Drew Grand Slam in '07). All of a sudden the confidence returns, the club relaxes, and the talent shines through. We're a LONG way from that though.

 

Lets Focus on Baseball Please

The Wild Card Race is Closer than the Stitches on a Baseball

Before I get to baseball, one closing note about management activity. There's been a lot of talk about Epstein & Francona, but I have no idea why. They aren't playing. Francona was good enough to guide much less talented teams to two World Series, and if he's managing differently now than then, I can't tell. Blaming Epstein for anything is ridiculous. The Sox were a wealth of riches going into the season, and that's due solely to his efforts. They were young, talented, and had players who like to compete.And some of the guys they've both stuck with are having seasons to remember long after this year is done (Ellsbury, Paplebon, Pedroia)  I hope the Sox make it into the playoffs, just so I don't have to listed to a whole off season of "Will Tito get canned for the Epic Collapse?" and "Is Epstein going to the Cubs?" These things will come to pass, or not, as the case may be, but it has nothing to do with the 25 guys who are trying to dig out of the epic funk they are in.

 

Can The Red Sox Get In to the Playoffs?

Well, they can, mathematically. Game has wound up tonight for both the Sox and Rays, and the Rays have won, so tomorrow will be the same story - tied for the wild card. So Sox win (and with Lester against the O's, you have to like their chances), and Rays lose (need luck for that) and they are in. With both the Yankees and the O's playing for basically nothing (especially the Yankees, who likely will just trot out the starters...), both team have a chance to win. If both win, then we'll have a one game playoff. Everyone will be "available" but what a mess for both teams - Lester and Price both pitch tomorrow, so they will be the least available, and Shields and Beckett are both on two days rest - hard to think they'll make a big difference. So the Sox will be looking at something like Wakefield and Aceves (more on him in a minute) for a chance to go to the big dance, and Tampa Bay will be relying probably on a host of pitchers to get them though the one game playoff.

 

I hate to say it, but I like Tampa's chances. It's not just the Sox have played AWFUL ball for a month straight. They are coming out of their funk, not as fast as I'd like, but they are playing better. It's that against quality pitching, they've struggled. Everyone struggles against good pitching, but they have not won many games against the Rays because they have the best staff in the AL east, and probably the AL. It's basically the worst matchup we could get, even if we don't get their best shot. It'll be a wild one, that's for sure. I know I'll be watching. Can't really talk about things more in advance than that at this juncture, lest the baseball gods get angry at me.

 

 

 

Do Good Things Today!

Matt Heisler