Red Sox Magic Number

[moonslav59]

49 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Breslows 2026 grade is so far so good....But if we go out in first round same way as last year in the same noodlebat fashion, then all the people who said Breslow didnt do enough to build the offense look right.  
 

The playoffs are a crapshoot, but if we lose, Brez gets dinged hard for not fixing the O.

It's a 3 game series.

The Contreras and Durbin adds were better than any of us expected. (Monasterio, Seigler, Jones & White, too)

I admire the attempt with Mead. The AR get was overboard but he still did something we bashed Bloom for not even trying to do.

The starts lost by pitchers on the IL would be a top 15 rotation in MLB, right now, and yet here we are with our 3 SP'ers line up against any team and thinking we have a shot.

We just recently got Anthony and Story back- two guys expected to be our #1 or #2 offensive weapon (Roman) and our #4 or #5 guy (Trevor.) We lost Mead in less than a game.

I'm not holding Brez's feet to the fire over this or a season like we had- early exit or not.

 

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

Breslows 2026 grade is so far so good....But if we go out in first round same way as last year in the same noodlebat fashion, then all the people who said Breslow didnt do enough to build the offense look right.  
 

FWIW, we should've beaten them last year.  We outplayed them in game 2, but lost.  That's the nature of one-run games.

[drewski6]

25 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

The playoffs are a crapshoot, but if we lose, Brez gets dinged hard for not fixing the O.

It's a 3 game series.

The Contreras and Durbin adds were better than any of us expected. (Monasterio, Seigler, Jones & White, too)

I admire the attempt with Mead. The AR get was overboard but he still did something we bashed Bloom for not even trying to do.

The starts lost by pitchers on the IL would be a top 15 rotation in MLB, right now, and yet here we are with our 3 SP'ers line up against any team and thinking we have a shot.

We just recently got Anthony and Story back- two guys expected to be our #1 or #2 offensive weapon (Roman) and our #4 or #5 guy (Trevor.) We lost Mead in less than a game.

I'm not holding Brez's feet to the fire over this or a season like we had- early exit or not.

 

Theres always some crap shoot element to short samples, but I dont think its a crapshoot that the noodlebats that were the 2025 Red Sox playoff hitters (which was the 2025 Red Sox hitters , minus story who was our best hitter in the playoffs) performed like a bunch of noodlebats.  You had like Yoshida hitting cleanup with like Nate eaton and nate lowe and sogard who wasnt 2026 sogard....The team (minus Story) didnt hit and everyone saw it coming. Not a crapshoot

And if we noodlebat again, it will just be more evidence that Breslow didnt do enough to fix the offense in the offseason.

Because in 2026, most neutral sources were like that offense looks very meh, so if you lose in a series 2-0, 3-1....You can try to run around screaming bad luck or crapshoot, but I just read: yummy yummy breslows boots.  Dont worry Ill shield you from that doggone accountability.

But I think we are going to beat the yankees in a 3 game series.  And I believe that Trevor Story will go 5-17 with 3 homeruns and 9 RBIs.  And people will complain about his Ks and want to run him out of town for Arias.

Rumors of Storys demise have been greatly exaggerated.

[drewski6]

If the 2025 Red Sox were a band, they would be called: Captain Story and the noodlebats.

[moonslav59]

12 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

If the 2025 Red Sox were a band, they would be called: Captain Story and the noodlebats.

Blame Brez for the 3rd leading run-scoring team in the AL going cold in one series?

They had some key injuries and somewhat unexpected drop offs. Sure, Story went 5-13 and Bregman only 3 for 10. Yoshida+Eaton+Sogard went 8 for 18, and the rest sucked.

.859 Anthony Did not play

.838 Refsnyder went o for 5

.826 Romy went 1 for 9

.790 Nate Lowe went 1 for 7

.786 Abreu went 0 for 5

.774 Duran went 1 for 11

.726 Narvaez went o for 8

.708 Rafaela went o for 10

No doubt, trading Devers and doing nothing to fix it hurt our chances in 2025, but Brez made the effort since then and has seen very nice results, despite the Mead injury and AR meh debut.

 

[a700hitter]

Are the Red Sox going to play the Yankees in the first round?

[mvp 78]

13 hours ago, drewski6 said:

If the 2025 Red Sox were a band, they would be called: Captain Story and the noodlebats.

Tell me about the September 2026 Sox. 

[mvp 78]

9 hours ago, a700hitter said:

Are the Red Sox going to play the Yankees in the first round?

ChiSox are 3 GB with 5 to play. They could still fall to the 6th seed if they lose out. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

33 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

ChiSox are 3 GB with 5 to play. They could still fall to the 6th seed if they lose out. 

You think the front office doesn't know the White Sox play KC two more and then finish by hosting the Rockies the last three?

The Pale Hose could win out, while the other Chicago club does a Bed-bug Eddy number on the Scarlet Letters. 

Can hear the groupies from Almost Famous: "It's all happening..."

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

You think the front office doesn't know the White Sox play KC two more and then finish by hosting the Rockies the last three?

The Pale Hose could win out, while the other Chicago club does a Bed-bug Eddy number on the Scarlet Letters. 

Can hear the groupies from Almost Famous: "It's all happening..."

HOU would be a great matchup for the Sox. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

HOU would be a great matchup for the Sox. 

I'd take that. Houston pitchers lead the league in BBs.

After watching last night, I wouldn't want to play Cleveland. Killer bullpen and a staff that leads the AL in Ks is lethal to the Sultans of Swing and Miss.

[drewski6]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Tell me about the September 2026 Sox. 

Im open to suggestions and workshopping the 2026 Red Sox band name.  Id like to submit: For Whom the  Bell Tolles? Metallica cover band.  Tolle looks like hes our age and therefore feels like a guy who could be in a Metallica cover band.

[drewski6]

14 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Blame Brez for the 3rd leading run-scoring team in the AL going cold in one series?

They had some key injuries and somewhat unexpected drop offs. Sure, Story went 5-13 and Bregman only 3 for 10. Yoshida+Eaton+Sogard went 8 for 18, and the rest sucked.

.859 Anthony Did not play

.838 Refsnyder went o for 5

.826 Romy went 1 for 9

.790 Nate Lowe went 1 for 7

.786 Abreu went 0 for 5

.774 Duran went 1 for 11

.726 Narvaez went o for 8

.708 Rafaela went o for 10

No doubt, trading Devers and doing nothing to fix it hurt our chances in 2025, but Brez made the effort since then and has seen very nice results, despite the Mead injury and AR meh debut.

 

I am not the guy who decided the postseason matters more.  A GM who builds teams that year 1: miss playoffs, year 2: miss playoffs, year 3: lose in first round, year 4: lose in first round AND for the same reason we lost year 3 (after the "and makes it worse).

And Im still not taking all of Breslows credit away from the 2026 turnaround.  I am not saying he should be fired if the above comes to pass and we noodlebat our way out of the playoffs first round.  Im also not saying its for certain going to happen.

All I am saying is if the above comes to pass, please forgive me for rolling my eyes when you and Joe high five over how great Breslow is, and getting annoyed when he starts his usual: RS fans are the most spoiled and anyone who isnt over the moon (no pun intended) thrilled with 0 playoff series wins in 4 years is a Fred.

Just like when I rolled my eyes when you 2 high fived over all the stars we didnt get.  

[drewski6]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

ChiSox are 3 GB with 5 to play. They could still fall to the 6th seed if they lose out. 

What if the cubs series is rained out?

[illinoisredsox]

31 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

HOU would be a great matchup for the Sox. 

Except the March-May Sox went 1-5 against the Stros, including 0-3 in Houston.

[drewski6]

38 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

You think the front office doesn't know the White Sox play KC two more and then finish by hosting the Rockies the last three?

The Pale Hose could win out, while the other Chicago club does a Bed-bug Eddy number on the Scarlet Letters. 

Can hear the groupies from Almost Famous: "It's all happening..."

Im not sure exactly what you are implying here, but it sounds fun- maybe a little conspiratorial (but not like twitter-ugly conspiratorial), and for these reasons: Im in.

[drewski6]

Just now, illinoisredsox said:

Except the March-May Sox went 1-5 against the Stros, including 0-3 in Houston.

Well Ive heard of the Bay Sox (Orioles AA team) but never the May Sox.

[drewski6]

30 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I'd take that. Houston pitchers lead the league in BBs.

After watching last night, I wouldn't want to play Cleveland. Killer bullpen and a staff that leads the AL in Ks is lethal to the Sultans of Swing and Miss.

Its funny. Its not true, but its funny.  The red sox strike out 21.4%, which is ninth best in MLB.

[illinoisredsox]

18 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

What if the cubs series is rained out?

The issue with the weekend rainout is that the 3 games could affect the 3rd AL wildcard not only Bos-CWS but also CWS-Tex/Hou.  An even bigger affect is the NL WC standings, where the Cubs, Phillies and Padres are all pretty much assured of qualifying but have identical records as of right now.

Which is a long way of saying those games will have to be played somehow.

[drewski6]

13 minutes ago, illinoisredsox said:

The issue with the weekend rainout is that the 3 games could affect the 3rd AL wildcard not only Bos-CWS but also CWS-Tex/Hou.  An even bigger affect is the NL WC standings, where the Cubs, Phillies and Padres are all pretty much assured of qualifying but have identical records as of right now.

Which is a long way of saying those games will have to be played somehow.

Okay but i have tickets on sunday and want to buy a tolle jersey from the pro shop.

[drewski6]

which i acknowledge is a personal problem

[NHNative]

You guys are entertaining. I love it.

Its baseball, man.

[vegasbob]

23 minutes ago, illinoisredsox said:

The issue with the weekend rainout is that the 3 games could affect the 3rd AL wildcard not only Bos-CWS but also CWS-Tex/Hou.  An even bigger affect is the NL WC standings, where the Cubs, Phillies and Padres are all pretty much assured of qualifying but have identical records as of right now.

Which is a long way of saying those games will have to be played somehow.

Worst case scenario is a DH'er Monday. Possible DH Friday,  MLB will want the games played. I guess Sox could forfeit to save pitching

[drewski6]

59 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

Worst case scenario is a DH'er Monday. Possible DH Friday,  MLB will want the games played. I guess Sox could forfeit to save pitching

theres been like 2 forfeits in the last 70 years and i dont think either were purely team choice. I think they were like fan riots.  Logically , I could see forfeiting games, but im a little skeptical becuase I imagine the scenario where it makes logical sense to forfeit a couple games happens every year, and for some reasons teams just never do it.

[mvp 78]

2 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Im open to suggestions and workshopping the 2026 Red Sox band name.  Id like to submit: For Whom the  Bell Tolles? Metallica cover band.  Tolle looks like hes our age and therefore feels like a guy who could be in a Metallica cover band.

To me, using Tolle as a replacement for Toll doesn't make sense because it doesn't rhyme. 

I'd go with: Tolly! Tolli! Tollé! 

The accent doesn't make sense, but it didn't make sense with that R&B group either because they didn't pronounce it correctly. 

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, illinoisredsox said:

The issue with the weekend rainout is that the 3 games could affect the 3rd AL wildcard not only Bos-CWS but also CWS-Tex/Hou.  An even bigger affect is the NL WC standings, where the Cubs, Phillies and Padres are all pretty much assured of qualifying but have identical records as of right now.

Which is a long way of saying those games will have to be played somehow.

What might also be interesting is if both teams have nothing to play for.  If Sunday's game is a legit rainout, they can cancel the game on Saturday and fly to NY one day earlier, with one day of additional rest.

[mvp 78]

Let's get some good retractable roof talk going! 

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

2 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Im open to suggestions and workshopping the 2026 Red Sox band name.  Id like to submit: For Whom the  Bell Tolles? Metallica cover band.  Tolle looks like hes our age and therefore feels like a guy who could be in a Metallica cover band.

The Beatables.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

3 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Its funny. Its not true, but its funny.  The red sox strike out 21.4%, which is ninth best in MLB.

But you saw moon's stats yesterday where the Sox are the worst whiffers in September? 

I know we're missing two All-Star hitters, but it can't be a coincidence that this month also welcomed back two (I won't say stars) stalwarts considered our best hitters a year ago... who, granted, have contributed some big hits, but also early autumnal breezes.

[drewski6]

4 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Let's get some good retractable roof talk going! 

Can we talk about marinara after?