How deep could these Sox REALLY go?

[mvp 78]

34 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Honestly, if the games were at Fenway , I would consider the series a coin flip.  But in Yankee stadium, my fear is the combo of Ben Rices lefty swing + short porch in right might be enough to get them 2-3 runs/game and it could be enough.

Im not towel waving by any means.  Im not saying we are for certain toast.  I think we are like maybe 40% vs their 60% underdogs.  Winnable.  Im just not buying a lot of the excuses.  Like take our June - Aug stats only, now add Roman and assume he would be hitting at superstr level, carry the 2, normalize for wind currents, park factor and schedule....and then you will see the SEVENTH best offense.

And Im like guys, if want to get to the ALCS, we should be aiming for a top 5 offense, year to year.  Not if you squint, adjust, take this month, throw out this month, eat a sandwich, run it through the algo, boop bop beep

I'm not saying they are toast. I just would feel a little more confident if the offense hadn't flatlined in September. 

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Anything can happen in any 3 game series. Baseball is not totally random, but it's closer than most other sports. It's one reason there is a 162 game season.

It's easy to feel like "the way we are playing now we don't have a chance," but the way we are playing now hardly ever continues for very long. That's baseball.

We swept the LAD 3-3 in LA.

We got swept by MN 3-3 at home.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

43 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I'm not saying they are toast. I just would feel a little more confident if the offense hadn't flatlined in September. 

It's moronic that an entire batting order plateaued, when a plateau is actually an elevated position. But that's semantics.

We might feel a little better if any one Red Sox batter was standing on that plateau this month. But they're all under the anvils Wile E Coyote dropped on himself.

Maybe someone will get hot in eight at bats today... Cora's not here, so he can't rest a guy who goes 4-for-4.

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

It's moronic that an entire batting order plateaued, when a plateau is actually an elevated position. But that's semantics.

Cratered would be a better term.

Basin seems lame.

[mvp 78]

 

[notin]

4 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Holding out hope for another historic run from this group seems like an unsafe bet. 

A historic run is ALWAYS an unsafe bet from any team.  Thsts why runs like that are historic.

And the Sox, like everyone else from this point, don’t need a historic run; they just need to be one game better in each series…

[notin]

56 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

 

The Guardians finish up with the hapless Royals and the White Sox have the even more hapless Rockies.   Possible, but unlikely, and honestly, not necessarily a bad thing.  I’d rather go to Houston/Texas just for some variety here…

 

[notin]

18 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

 

I think it will come down to the bats and avoiding bonehead plays.

So… bench Duran?

[mvp 78]

22 minutes ago, notin said:

they just need to be one game better in each series…

The math works out I guess! 

[mvp 78]

10 minutes ago, notin said:

So… bench Duran?

I wouldn't start him against a FB heavy guy like Schlittler. I'd have to think about the other games. 

 

[mvp 78]

15 minutes ago, notin said:

The Guardians finish up with the hapless Royals and the White Sox have the even more hapless Rockies.   Possible, but unlikely, and honestly, not necessarily a bad thing.  I’d rather go to Houston/Texas just for some variety here…

 

Go to ALW team, score some runs and get the offense going. I'm not hating it. 

[vegasbob]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

 

The on field results seem to indicate an unintentional trend towards losing out

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, notin said:

So… bench Duran?

My thoughts on him are well documented, but Rafaela's health matters. White is done. Jones is a strict platoon bat.

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, notin said:

A historic run is ALWAYS an unsafe bet from any team.  Thsts why runs like that are historic.

And the Sox, like everyone else from this point, don’t need a historic run; they just need to be one game better in each series…

I think we can go 13-9 and win a ring. That's not 32-5.

This was an historic streak, and we've been near .500 afterwards, but consider these numbers...

2004: went 41-41 from May 1st to AUG 1st. They went 28-7 afterwards. They followed that up going 7-8 before ending the season going 7-2. The rest was history.

2007: We started the season 36-15, then 13-16 before finishing up at 47-36 (10-10 last 20.)

2013: We finished the year 5-6.

2018: We started the season 21-7 and 39-17. That was an amazing season. Even taking away that 39-17 start, the team still went 69-37. Nobody cared they ended the season 1-3 and 3-5.

[notin]

4 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

 

Officially dead now.  The 5 seed and NY it is…

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Officially dead now.  The 5 seed and NY it is…

Going through NYC to get a ring will make it even sweeter.

[mvp 78]

 

[mvp 78]

 

[mvp 78]

 

[mvp 78]

 

[mvp 78]

🤷‍♂️

 

[mvp 78]

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

🤷‍♂️

 

As will the WS.

[vegasbob]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

 

If Crochet shows some negative attitude if he gets left off the very short WC series roster , then I would be inclined to send him a personalized FU for taking an entire season to get his arm back in condition, . OTOH he did secure the Sox an Opening day win so there's that, just not much else

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Astros set an all-time record as the MLB team with the least amount of wins in a full season to qualify for the postseason: 81.

So the majors rewarded them as the AL's NUMBER 3 SEED, ranked higher than the other three AL clubs playing Tuesday with more Ws.

[vegasbob]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

 

A desperate attempt to steal a game and /or insure that it goes 3.  Sox may not score 3 runs in the 2 games.

[notin]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

🤷‍♂️

 

The Astros. at 81-81, are already making a mockery of the MLB playoff setup by hosting a series at home, somehow found a way to make the situation look even more inept.

MLB should just let the Diamondbacks into the AL postseason in place of anyone in the worthless AL West. Let them be Honorary AL West division champs…

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, vegasbob said:

A desperate attempt to steal a game

How is an attempt to steal a game, as opposed to starting Gray?

[MADSTORK]

2 1  bad guys

see you next spring…

[scs1918]

When are the playoff rosters due?

Not that Breslow or Tracy cared but I wanted to go with the veteran spinner for Game 1 and come back with our future ace in gm 2 to close out the series:)