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Fenway Sports Group, the Red Sox owners, might’ve found their next international superstar. Like Kenley Jansen, he has played for the Dutch national team in international competitions. He’s age 23 and he’s 6-4, so he might be the power player FSG has been looking for. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence that Cody Gakpo ever has played baseball and he wouldn’t be available until after Liverpool FC’s season ends at the end of May. https://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-transfers/story/4838646/liverpool-beat-man-united-to-agreement-for-cody-gakpo-with-psv

54 runs allowed (and counting) in three straight games.

The only MLB teams further away from playoff spots than the 11-20 Red Sox (12 games behind) are the 9-23 Tigers (14.5 games behind) and 8-24 Reds (13.5 games behind). Only the Royals (.345), Nationals (.333), Tigers (.281), and Reds (.250) have worse winning percentages than the Red Sox (.355). If MLB were like the English Premier League where Liverpool F. C., also owned by Fenway Sports Group, has come close to winning the championship with two matches left in the season (but probably will finish second in the league), then the Red Sox would be close to what’s called the “Relegation Zone” where three teams at the bottom of the EPL's 20-team top division are dropped to a lower division in the following season.

Tough way to bookend the season. The Red Sox started the season with three straight losses to the Orioles while getting 15 hits and scoring five runs in 27 innings and ended the season with three straight losses to the Astros while getting ten hits and scoring three runs in the final 27 innings. Is there something about having orange in the opposing team's color scheme that made the Red Sox suffer this fate? Still, they went further than anyone realistically could've expected when the season started and it took a sweep of the Nationals on the final weekend of the regular season to avoid a playoff game against the Blue Jays just to get into the playoffs.

Eight hits for the Red Sox over the past 23 innings. Garcia has thrown only 62 pitches through five innings, so it seems likely that he'll continue to try to keep his no-hitter going.

More like the Little Red Wagon. https://www.amazon.com/Radio-Flyer-Little-Red-Wagon/dp/B00L5LDWP8/ref=asc_df_B00L5LDWP8/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198062507912&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2089983286825948612&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9004289&hvtargid=pla-347324368782&psc=1

Old enough to remember when the Red Sox had outscored the Astros 25-13 after three games in the ALCS. It's now 31-26 Astros. And I'm still grateful for 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018.

Crazier things have happened, but this team seems deflated and dispirited and doesn't seem like it's got the ability to do what the 2004 team did to get to the World Series. Even as late as mid-September, I never expected that they'd be in the playoffs, much less win a wild card game, but they hung on. Still consider it incredible that the Red Sox beat the two AL East teams that were expected to be in the ALCS just to get this far. At least they made what was expected to be a disappointing year surprisingly interesting.

Wonder whether Red Sox batters need to consider moving up a little in the batter's box and maybe choking up a bit to have a chance to hit the pitch on the barrel of the bat before the ball dips.

Most pre-season predictions had the Red Sox finishing fourth in the AL East, the Giants finishing fourth in the NL West and the Yankees facing the Dodgers in the World Series. As a Red Sox and Giants fan since the mid-1950s, it’s depressing to think about last night’s Red Sox loss and the terrible checked-swing strikeout call on Wilmer Flores to end the NLDS, but considering that the Red Sox have gotten this far in the season and were close to taking a 3-1 lead in the ALCS and that the Giants finished with the best record in MLB during the regular season and came close to winning the NLDS, that's much more than I expected this season. I’m just grateful that I was alive to see the 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2018 World Series. Be thankful for the little things.

Best case for Boston today would be wins by the Red Sox, Toronto and Oakland leading to NYY 90-68 BOS 89-69 TOR 88-70 SEA 88-71 Worst case for Boston today would be wins by New York, Seattle and Baltimore leading to NYY 91-67 SEA 89-70 BOS 88-70 TOR 87-71

If the season were to end with Seattle going 5-1, Toronto going 4-2, the Red Sox going 3-3 and the Yankees going 2-4 so that all four teams finish 91-71, then the MLB tie-breaker rules would go into effect for the rare occurrence when four teams would tie for the two wild-card spots.

Most pre-season predictions had the Red Sox finishing fourth in the American League East. After 146 games, there are the Red Sox in fourth place in the American League East. "Lately it occurs to me what a it's been."

Schedule Watching The Red Sox have 30 games left to play with 13 of the next 16 games against the Rays (7), White Sox (3) and Mariners (3), ten of which are on the road. Eleven of the final 14 games are against the struggling Orioles (6), Mets (2) and Nationals (3), closing with six games on the road at Baltimore and Washington. There are six games at home with Cleveland (3) and the Yankees (3). The Red Sox have been fortunate to benefit from a weaker schedule in the second half of August while Oakland and Toronto (the other challengers for the second wild card spot) haven’t made up much ground on them. Toronto started August going 6-1 and have gone 8-12 since then. They have 16 games in September against the A’s, Yankees and Rays and 12 against the Orioles and Twins and finish in October with three at home against the Orioles. Seattle has gone 14-12 in August. They finish with 16 games against the Astros, Red Sox and A’s and 15 against the Diamondbacks, Royals and Angels.

Ten RBIs than Bogaerts. s/ Stannis Baratheon