I know you're being sarcastic, but would remind you that the games played by the top seven Sox position players in 2018 make it clear that missing a bunch of games, whether because of Cora or injury, did not prevent that team from being the best Sox team ever and one of the best MLB teams ever.
I have also acknowledged that the Braves preference for playing their top 3 or 4 players as often as possible has worked for them.
The problems with this year's Sox were mostly pitching, which was definitely affected by multiple injuries (Sale, Houck, Whitlock, Crawford, Paxton, etc) and by the brutal 48 games in August-September with just 3 days off. The injuries to Story and Duvall also affected the righty bats in the Sox lineup. Of the top seven Sox hitters--based on total bases by each hitter--5 were lefties and 2 (Turner and Duvall) were righties. Story, who signed for 6 years and $140M 2 years ago, was 15th in total bases.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
Yes, I did know that. It's one of the reasons why I keep harping on righty bats. The 2013 solved that problem by having several switch hitters. The 2007 Sox had Mike Lowell, Youk, Manny, and Pedey. 2004, Manny, Millar Bellhorn, Tek, and Mueller. Tek and Mueller were switch hitters.
Orioles trailing tonight 6-0, and the AL East facing a collective 0-7 in the postseason.
I don’t buy that this means the AL East was overrated. Those 7 games are not a better sample than the 810 games the division played in the regular season.
But it did highlight the collective nap the division took at the trade deadline. As much as I’ve been down on Bloom for giving up in early August, the entire AL East that day added the following: Luis Urias, Aaron Civale, Jordan Hicks, Paul DeJeong, Jack Flaherty, and Keynan Middleton.
I guess by getting Civale, Tampa was the “all in” team.
Granted, most organizations are down on the Toronto and NY farm systems. But Tampa and Baltimore are universally in the top ten. Baltimore is number one and only came out of the deadline with their 7th best starting pitcher.
Seriously, what the $&?@;/!?
Last edited by notin; 10-10-2023 at 10:54 PM.
I only bring it up when I see yet another complaint--sometimes by you--about how Crazy Cora rested someone. You have said it often enough for others to assume it must be true: resting players is stupid and the reason why the Sox have had lousy seasons in 2022 and 2023.
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
I was just about to post that the AL East was over-rated, so thanks for those insights.
Let's not forget that the 101 win Orioles and the 99 win Rays still only won 6 out of every 10 freaking games. The Rays were squashed by the Astros, who won 5 1/2 out of every 6 games this season. Same goes for the Rangers, who are about to take 3 of 3 from the Orioles.
Guess which current AL East Manager has the best record (17-8) in the postseason (and by a big margin)?
Last edited by Maxbialystock; 10-10-2023 at 09:13 PM.
An Orioles loss tonight would make it eleven straight post season losses for the A.L. East. One thing about the A.L. East : They don't have one ( sometimes two ) God awful teams like most other divisions do. They are competitive, top to bottom. But they are clearly not the strongest division at or near the top.
Old school is good school.