All or... Something?

[notin]

Good point. Those were the days, when teams weren't afraid to call up their best prospects lest they start the clock on years of control.

 

The also-ran decades were more interesting and easier to watch when the Sox were out of it because young guys with star potential always offered hope.

But all the 4A players called up in 2019 just rendered the product hopeless. The only hope I had was to never see Chris Owings in a Sox uni again.

 

Actually in those days, a players service clock did not start if he was called up in September. Now, a September call-up does get service time...

[mvp 78]

the difference when Theo and Ben were running the team: at least in september during our last place seasons we go to see highly regarded prospects get brought up and see what our future will look like. with DD running things we got to see gorkys and jhoulys....

 

Like Pedro Ciriaco!!!

[notin]

Like Pedro Ciriaco!!!

 

I remember when the BABIP-fueled Ciriaco was the Shortstop Of The Future. Turns out in this case, the future meant "the next 6 days."...

[mvp 78]

I remember when the BABIP-fueled Ciriaco was the Shortstop Of The Future. Turns out in this case, the future meant "the next 6 days."...

 

One of the few fun things from that season.

[jad]

I follow sports to be entertained, not to feel better about myself. I loved the Sox in the 50s and 60s, and I didn't suddenly become a better person or a bad-ass once they finally won a WS. The whole idea of 'championship-or-bust' seems juvenile to me. If you run a marathon, you and the 17,999 others who didn't win aren't 'losers'. Nor is your life better if you break 80 (or 90!) on a golf course. The great thing about MLB is that you can turn the radio on nearly every night and there it is. If things don't go your way, big deal. You can listen tomorrow and hope for the best.

[TylerD]

With the amount of talent we have and money I considered this season an epic and utter failure. To answer the question though, no if you fall short of winning it all doesn't mean it's a fail season. Look at the Astros. 2 World Series in 3 years and they fell just short this season however that isn't a fail. Still had an incredible season and came up short to a very good Nationals team.

 

If the Sox lost to the Astros last year I also wouldn't have considered that a fail. Actually there were many of us on here that thought the Astros could beat us. Had we won a World Series last year and then won the division this year but lost to the Astros I still consider that a fantastic year actually. But missing the playoffs the way we did with essentially the same talent from the year before that went down as one of the best teams in the history of the sport is an utter failure.

 

I think it's insane that some think we need to fire a manager the second we don't win a World Series. Yes there is big expectations in Boston, and we are not the Jays so we don't expect mediocre play HOWEVER that doesn't mean you fire a manger the first year we don't make the World Series. Some want Cora gone..... So to sum up, this year was an epic fail but if we won the division and lost in the playoffs I don't consider it a fail of a season. Baseball is the toughest sport to repeat for a reason. If someone is expecting us to win the World Series every year they need to get give their head a shake.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

I follow sports to be entertained, not to feel better about myself. I loved the Sox in the 50s and 60s, and I didn't suddenly become a better person or a bad-ass once they finally won a WS. The whole idea of 'championship-or-bust' seems juvenile to me. If you run a marathon, you and the 17,999 others who didn't win aren't 'losers'. Nor is your life better if you break 80 (or 90!) on a golf course. The great thing about MLB is that you can turn the radio on nearly every night and there it is. If things don't go your way, big deal. You can listen tomorrow and hope for the best.

 

 

In the '04 offseason, the Boston brass toured New England with the World Series trophy. One scheduled stop was at a town green, where I was in a group of about a hundred people. No one gloated or carried on -- it was more to marvel at something we'd never seen up close before. At the back of the crowd a grown man showed up wearing a full, pinstriped Yankees uniform, cap to stirrups, #2. I don't think he was joking because he never smiled; it wasn't Halloween, but he was creepy. I wondered what possessed him to feel we needed such a reminder.

[jad]

In the '04 offseason, the Boston brass toured New England with the World Series trophy. One scheduled stop was at a town green, where I was in a group of about a hundred people. No one gloated or carried on -- it was more to marvel at something we'd never seen up close before. At the back of the crowd a grown man showed up wearing a full, pinstriped Yankees uniform, cap to stirrups, #2. I don't think he was joking because he never smiled; it wasn't Halloween, but he was creepy. I wondered what possessed him to feel we needed such a reminder.

 

Maybe he was reliving his glory days as an extra in The Warriors.

[Slasher9]

living in enemy territory my whole life it sure was nice to finally have the stupid "1918" chants end.....

[TylerD]

living in enemy territory my whole life it sure was nice to finally have the stupid "1918" chants end.....

 

Ya, I could see that. And we have 4 World Series now in 15 years. Man oh man how things have changed for the good

[notin]

Maybe he was reliving his glory days as an extra in The Warriors.

 

 

Come out and play!!

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

At the turn of the century I was at a funeral and actually heard a man say in the eulogy that he was happy for his late mom, a Yankee fan, because she would never have to live long enough to see the Red Sox win the World Series.

 

Before the ’19 playoffs, an oldtimer in a NY cap stopped at my family's booth in a diner -- he saw my son's Sox shirt -- and started giving my 8-year-old the business. Glad that man's world was back on its axis… but gotta wonder if he viewed the entire season as a failure after Altuve’s HR.

[Larry Cook]

It is very depressing to go to an Atlanta - yankees game in Atlanta and see more yankee gear than Atlanta gear,

 

However, it is really cool to go to an Atlanta - Red Sox game and see 70 percent of the crowd is Red Sox fans. Feel like a home game just without the loud mouths in the upper deck!