How Good Can This Sox Team Be?

[Dojji]

This sox team came along at the right time in the landscape of the AL to challenge the Mariner's 116 win mark. The AL has 6 teams well above .500, two teams at .500 and then a bunch of s*** after that. Look at the projections for the AL

The cream

Sox- 114-48

Yanks- 101-61

Guardians 90-72

Astros 103-59

A's 95-67

Mariners 92-70

 

The meh

LAA 80-82

Rays- 82-80

 

The bad

Twins 77-85

Jays 74-88

 

The awful

Tigers 67-95

Rangers 70-92

 

The abysmal

KC 49-113

O's 49-113

 

Last year, we had no 100 game losers in the AL. There were only 2 90 loss teams in baseball but 10 teams finishing under .500. Of those 10, 7 had 75-81 wins

In 2016, there was one 100 loss team and 2 90 loss teams and only 5 teams under .500

In 2015, we didn't have a 100 loss team and only had one 90 loss team. 6 teams were under .500 with 4 of them having 75-80 wins

In 2014, we didn't have a single 100 loss team, but had 4 90 loss teams.

 

You see the trend. We have 2 epically bad teams in KC and BAL. We have 2 awful teams in the Tigers and the Rangers. The Jays and Twins project to be well below .500 but around the range of mediocrity. The Rays and Angels are the definition of mediocrity. The rest are the cream. The sox loaded up at the same time as a few teams crashed, opening up the ability to sweep the bad teams almost every series. The Jays, Rays and Twins have since gutted their teams which could see them fall from grace in dramatic fashion into the 90 loss realm. That would secure a mind boggling 7 teams at the 90 loss plateau. That's crazy. This sox team is a great team in an era of as big a disparity of haves and have nots as I have ever seen. I think the sox could challenge the record for wins in this setting. The question is, should they? The Mariners went for 116 and got it, and got a swift boot out in the playoffs. I anticipate that would be quite the failure on the sox end. If the sox keep ripping the s*** out of the bad teams and hold their own down the stretch vs ATL, PHI, HOU, CLE, and NYY, then they should comfortably win the division. Rather than chase meaningless regular season titles, my expectation is you'll see the PawSox make a few starts down the stretch and see the sox fall into the 105-110 win range

 

Poor Orioles. At least the Royals got to two World Series and won 1 before they had to tear their roster down.

[moonslav59]

The A's would have the best record in the NL right now!

 

Even the M's would be the second best team by inches.

[vegasbob]

The A's are more likely to be the 2nd WC team and more likely to beat the first, the NYY'ers. Go get 'em Billy Beane

[Sox75]

St this point, I DON'T want the Sox focused on records, & I don't see Cora falling into that trap. He will risk NOTHING in getting to the WS, then let the resting dogs of summer loose.

Then, & only then, will he go for it all.

[Sox75]

Either way, this is truly the most historic Red Sox year .... perhaps in history. The MOST quiet historic run I can ever remember. ....

[jacksonianmarch]

You left off the Shite Sox, who, I believe, would fall somewhere between the awful and the abysmal.

 

Jeez, the White Sox are on pace for 103 losses as well

[Bellhorn04]

St this point, I DON'T want the Sox focused on records, & I don't see Cora falling into that trap. He will risk NOTHING in getting to the WS, then let the resting dogs of summer loose.

Then, & only then, will he go for it all.

 

No one should care about regular season records. Let the Mariners keep it. What do people remember about that Mariners season? Great record, no cigar.

[Slasher9]

St this point, I DON'T want the Sox focused on records, & I don't see Cora falling into that trap. He will risk NOTHING in getting to the WS, then let the resting dogs of summer loose.

Then, & only then, will he go for it all.

 

hopefully Sale is not trying to 300 k's again........

#savesalebullets

[Slasher9]

I've actually been following the saga of the Sox vs. the Orioles in the "Are the Sox as good as the Orioles are bad" race (i.e. flip the Orioles record).

 

Today's standings:

Sox: 80-34

Orioles: 34-79

 

So the Orioles are only a half-game in back of the Sox in being as bad as the Sox are good. It's been close all year!

 

ha. thats awesome.

EFF Showalter.

[Kimmi]

St this point, I DON'T want the Sox focused on records, & I don't see Cora falling into that trap. He will risk NOTHING in getting to the WS, then let the resting dogs of summer loose.

Then, & only then, will he go for it all.

 

Agreed. Cora knows better than to shoot for any records at the risk of jeopardizing our WS chances.

[Kimmi]

ha. thats awesome.

EFF Showalter.

 

The only time I like the Os is when they're beating up on the Yankees.

[Maxbialystock]

jacksonianmarch can be a pain, but I basically agree with his characterization of the AL this year. Plus I too am worried about the postseason because recently we have seen great regular season teams not excel in the postseason.

 

We have good hitting, but in the postseason good pitching tends to predominate. That's why we keep arguing among ourselves about who do we think will start in the postseason and is bullpen going to be strong enough.

 

I looked at the ALDS, ALCS, and WS schedules that came out today and believe I am correct that even in the ALDS the Sox will need four starters unless they sweep the first three. Right now I honestly see five pretty decent starters: Sale, Porcello, Price, Eovaldi, and Rodriguez. And September should be enough time and starts to sort out who can be depended upon.

[jacksonianmarch]

jacksonianmarch can be a pain, but I basically agree with his characterization of the AL this year. Plus I too am worried about the postseason because recently we have seen great regular season teams not excel in the postseason.

 

We have good hitting, but in the postseason good pitching tends to predominate. That's why we keep arguing among ourselves about who do we think will start in the postseason and is bullpen going to be strong enough.

 

I looked at the ALDS, ALCS, and WS schedules that came out today and believe I am correct that even in the ALDS the Sox will need four starters unless they sweep the first three. Right now I honestly see five pretty decent starters: Sale, Porcello, Price, Eovaldi, and Rodriguez. And September should be enough time and starts to sort out who can be depended upon.

 

If the sox play the Yanks in the first round, then I think you'll see a rotation of Sale, Porcello, Eovaldi and E-Rod assuming E-Rod is healthy. If he isn't, then Price sneaks in there. Either Price or E-Rod will be the bridge reliever. The sox will need to use Eovaldi due to the Yankees RH power. Same goes if the sox face the Astros as they're mostly righty power bats as well. If the sox face the M's, it wont matter since the M's hitting isn't special so they can go hottest hand or best pitcher. If the sox face the A's, they will probably go RH heavy as most of their bashers are RH as well

[greenwell]

jacksonianmarch can be a pain, but I basically agree with his characterization of the AL this year. Plus I too am worried about the postseason because recently we have seen great regular season teams not excel in the postseason.

 

We have good hitting, but in the postseason good pitching tends to predominate. That's why we keep arguing among ourselves about who do we think will start in the postseason and is bullpen going to be strong enough.

 

I looked at the ALDS, ALCS, and WS schedules that came out today and believe I am correct that even in the ALDS the Sox will need four starters unless they sweep the first three. Right now I honestly see five pretty decent starters: Sale, Porcello, Price, Eovaldi, and Rodriguez. And September should be enough time and starts to sort out who can be depended upon.

 

It's hard not to agree that the sox have been poor in the last two postseasons, but this year they should have home field advantage. I don't think that's unimportant.

[greenwell]

If the sox play the Yanks in the first round, then I think you'll see a rotation of Sale, Porcello, Eovaldi and E-Rod assuming E-Rod is healthy. If he isn't, then Price sneaks in there. Either Price or E-Rod will be the bridge reliever. The sox will need to use Eovaldi due to the Yankees RH power. Same goes if the sox face the Astros as they're mostly righty power bats as well. If the sox face the M's, it wont matter since the M's hitting isn't special so they can go hottest hand or best pitcher. If the sox face the A's, they will probably go RH heavy as most of their bashers are RH as well

 

I agree on Price. I would not want him to face the Yankees. However, I think a lot is still up in the air and depends on how Eovaldi, ERod, Price and maybe even BJ look the rest of the year.

[Kimmi]

It's hard not to agree that the sox have been poor in the last two postseasons, but this year they should have home field advantage. I don't think that's unimportant.

 

All other things being equal, we obviously would want home field advantage over not having it.

 

That said, it would be more important for our players to be healthy and well rested than to go all out fighting for HFA, if it came down to it.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

hopefully Sale is not trying to 300 k's again........

#savesalebullets

 

Trying to do change Sale's approach from a strike out pitcher to a contact pitcher would be disastrous.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

All other things being equal, we obviously would want home field advantage over not having it.

 

That said, it would be more important for our players to be healthy and well rested than to go all out fighting for HFA, if it came down to it.

 

Right now the SOX are playing .737 at home and a measly .672 on the road. But, seriously, HFA is a big plus.

[Kimmi]

Right now the SOX are playing .737 at home and a measly .672 on the road. But, seriously, HFA is a big plus.

 

I disagree. It's a plus, for sure, but not a big enough plus to overcome the benefits of having healthy and rested players.

[jacksonianmarch]

You’ve got an 8 game lead on Houston in the L column for home field. Barring an extraordinary collapse, you can clinch the 1 seed and then rest your guys for a whole week.

 

I do wonder if the Sox plan to skip Sale a couple more times down the stretch or pull him after 5 a few times.

[moonslav59]

Our last game of the season is September 30th.

 

The AL wildcard game is October 3rd. The first game of the ALDS with the play-in winner is October are 5th.

 

We could start Sale Sept 30 (not that we should) and he'd still be fresh for game 1, as long as we aren't in the WC game.

[moonslav59]

Our likely playoff schedule:

 

4 days off

Game 1

Game 2

Off

Game 3

Game 4

Off

Game 5

 

If we're down 2-1, we will likely go with the game 1 starter (Sale) on 3 days rest. If we're up 2-1, we'll likely go with our 4th starter.

 

To me, that will likely be Eovaldi or ERod (not Price).

[Bellhorn04]

You can call me the voice of paranoia, but we still have plenty of work to do to clinch the division.

[moonslav59]

We are bound to have a rough patch or two left in us. Let's hope we keep them short and before October.

[notin]

You can call me the voice of paranoia, but we still have plenty of work to do to clinch the division.

 

That's not the voice of paranoia. That's the voice of 2011..

[S5Dewey]

We are bound to have a rough patch or two left in us. Let's hope we keep them short and before October.

 

I don't think I've seen a Red Sox team play this well day-in, day-out since that run in 2004. My concern is that it's hard to maintain that level of play for an extended period of time.

 

I believe that when they're playing well this team has the capability to win the WSC but they have to be playing well during the playoffs to pull it off. I can see a couple of peaks and valleys over the next month and a half, I'm just now hoping they're peaking again during October.

 

IMO that'll be the biggest challenge Cora faces now - getting this team ready to play at the right time. I'm confident they have the talent. It's just a matter of pulling it all together at the right time.

[Bellhorn04]

That's not the voice of paranoia. That's the voice of 2011..

 

And 1978 of course. I looked it up. 8.5 game lead on August 20.

[Slasher9]

And 1978 of course. I looked it up. 8.5 game lead on August 20.

 

thats some bad juju right there. damn you HFX.

[sk7326]

I don't think I've seen a Red Sox team play this well day-in, day-out since that run in 2004. My concern is that it's hard to maintain that level of play for an extended period of time.

 

I believe that when they're playing well this team has the capability to win the WSC but they have to be playing well during the playoffs to pull it off. I can see a couple of peaks and valleys over the next month and a half, I'm just now hoping they're peaking again during October.

 

IMO that'll be the biggest challenge Cora faces now - getting this team ready to play at the right time. I'm confident they have the talent. It's just a matter of pulling it all together at the right time.

 

This team has been brilliant - especially pounding bad teams, which is how you pile up wins during the season. There is ALWAYS concern in October - the playoffs are fluky. The Red Sox season could be scuttled by an opposing pitching staff getting hot. Cora has to manage health and figure out a strategy for negotiating the playoff games - where the hook is quicker.

[kenmeister]

I've actually been following the saga of the Sox vs. the Orioles in the "Are the Sox as good as the Orioles are bad" race (i.e. flip the Orioles record).

 

Today's standings:

Sox: 80-34

Orioles: 34-79

 

So the Orioles are only a half-game in back of the Sox in being as bad as the Sox are good. It's been close all year!

 

Today's update!

 

Sox: 81-35

Orioles: 35-80

 

The Sox remain slightly better than the Orioles are bad