Horrendous, But Not Done
Step back from breaking things and the future of the 2021 Red Sox is still bright
While the goal is always to win every game, coming into the series with the New York Yankees this past Friday, there was one requirement and it was far more easily attainable: win one game. One. Just win one of three and go into the final six games of the season with Baltimore and DC with a one game lead for home field in the Wild Card in your pocket. That’s all it took. One win. Anything else would be fantastic, but just don’t get swept.
Because there’s always a lego in exactly the spot where you step on your way to turning on the light, because there’s always a nail sticking straight up in that piece of wood you just ran over, because life and the Boston Red Sox too often demand difficulty, stress, and upset even when it could so easily be avoided, the Red Sox did the one thing they couldn’t do. They got swept.
They got swept at home by their most hated rival, and of course, it was all painful and awful and oh so easily avoided. Have you ever seen the clip from Austin Powers where the guy is about to get run over by a steamroller? The camera flashes to his face, screaming, bracing for impact, his fate and future at an end. Then they flash to the in-coming steamroller, then back to the anguished guy’s face. Then they show a far away shot and you see that the steamroller is moving very slowly and the guy is far away from it, and the whole accident can be easily avoided by the man just stepping out of the way or the steamroller putting on the break and gently coming to a stop. But the man didn’t move and the steamroller never stopped and five minutes later, after more camera flashing back and forth, the man got run over. That is exactly what it was like to watch the eighth innings of the games on Saturday and Sunday.
But of course, losing to the Yankees is always rough. It’s always painful. There’s never been a time when I haven’t cared, when it’s been fine to lose to the Yankees. On September 2, 2018 the Red Sox began a three game series at home against the Yankees. They lost two of three. It was excruciating, frustrating, annoying, and made me want to pull my eyebrows out, brow by brow. At the time, the Red Sox were already AL East champs, they were 107-53, and they were nine games up on the Yankees when the series started. It didn’t matter, but against New York, it always matters.
Maybe normally I’d go through the series with a scalpel, and dissect the whole damn thing, but this isn’t a normal time. The season is virtually complete. So all the details of the series, the missed opportunities, the blown leads, the errors, mistakes, head-scratching decisions, all of it can go right in the garbage. It happened, it’s over. So I’m sorry, but below you won’t find detailed complaints about Joe West’s incompetence (as if we needed that lesson reinforced), or Boston’s inability to hit with runners in scoring position, or whatever. Can the Red Sox learn anything from this? I doubt it. The season is almost over. There’s nothing to learn from leaving guys on base other than hit better. There’s nothing to learn from giving up bombs to Giancarlo Stanton other than pitch better. Play better baseball. Starting Tuesday. The damage is done and, I’m sorry but I don’t feel like reliving it.
Somehow, Good News
Any good news comes courtesy of everything that happened before the New York series, and if we’re honest, it is actually pretty good news. Namely, the Red Sox are still holding on to a Wild Card spot. They’re only a game back of the Yankees for home field advantage, an entirely doable number with six games left for both teams. But, the remaining schedules are far from equally weighted, because while the Red Sox play six games against last place teams, the Yankees play their six against the heal-nipping Blue Jays and the newly re-crowned AL East champion Rays. The Yankees tougher schedule should - SHOULD - be something the Red Sox can take advantage of.
The Blue Jays schedule isn’t as easy as the Red Sox’ nor as difficult as New York’s. They play three at home against the Yankees starting tomorrow, Tuesday (the same day the Red Sox start their three-game series in Baltimore), then they finish up their season with three games against those same Orioles in Toronto.
Another Small Bit of Good News
One more small bit of good news for the Red Sox. If the Red Sox finish the season tied for the second Wild Card spot, Boston will play an extra pre-Wild Card Game game, game number 163, with the winner advancing to the Wild Card game. That game would be played at the ballpark of the team with the better record head-to-head. Similarly, if the two teams that finish in Wild Card position finish with the same record, the Wild Card game will be played at the home ballpark of the team with the better head-to-head record this season.
So here’s that small bit of good news: even after getting swept, the Red Sox won the season series against the Yankees 10 games to nine. Here’s a bonus bit of good news: The Red Sox also won the season series against the Blue Jays by the same 10 games to nine tally. If the Red Sox are involved, every tie-breaking game will be played at Fenway Park and, if the two Wild Card winners finish with the same record and one of those two is the Red Sox, the Wild Card game will be played at Fenway Park.
Somehow, despite their best efforts this past weekend, the Red Sox are still in a great position to not only make the Wild Card game, but to have that game played at Fenway Park. (I wrote last week about why playing the game at Fenway would be so important to this team, so feel free to read up on that here.)
Where We Are
So, friends, that’s it. The weekend was awful, but 156 games through the 2021 season, with just six to go, the Red Sox are solidly if barely in playoff position. They Chris Sale and Nate Eovaldi on the mound in the first two games of the upcoming series with the last place Orioles, who stand at 106 losses on the season and have been out-scored by 278 runs. Boston will be playing a team with one of the worst pitching staffs in the last decade, one that just gave up 24 runs to this same Red Sox team in a three-game series a week ago. These are entirely winnable games. These are entirely winnable series. We’ll see if the Red Sox can win them.
If they play well enough, the Red Sox could be gifted another shot to knock the Yankees out of the playoffs. After this past weekend, there’s nothing to want more than that.
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It was an "expectation leveller"
Anybody who had wild hopes for 2021 just got them "steamrolled" dead set flat
The Sox have 6 games left
A 7th is not guaranteed
But, IF, we get a 7th game then my hopes or expectations will end, when that game ends
Lose it & 2021 was a Success
Win it & 2021 was a WILD SUCCESS
There is No Beyond That Wild Card Game for me - our Bullpen would mean a 3-4-5-6 Run Lead wouldn't be safe & our season would end in it's own good time
But for now, it's on to Baltimore & let's win there