Key2Delock

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

Interesting stat about the “Immaculate Inning” in MLB history. Among the five times the Red Sox have been victims of an “Immaculate Inning”, three of those have been by (1) Jim Bunning on August 2, 1959 in the ninth inning against Sammy White, Jim Mahoney and Ike Delock; (2) Nolan Ryan on July 9, 1972 in the second inning against Carlton Fisk, Bob Burda and Juan Beniquez; and (3) Roger Clemens on September 18, 1997 in the first inning against Nomar Garciaparra, John Valentin and Mo Vaughn. If you have to be victimized by an “Immaculate Inning”, suffering it against two Hall of Famers and one who had a Hall of Famer career isn’t too bad. The other two who victimized the Red Sox with an "Immaculate Inning" were the Yankees' Michael King on June 4, 2021 in the fourth inning against Hunter Renfroe, Marwin Gonzalez and Christian Vázquez and the Guardians' Justin Masterson on June 2, 2014 in the fourth inning against Jonny Gomes, Grady Sizemore and Stephen Drew.

Always blame myself for the 1974 collapse. After living within walking distance from Fenway Park for seven years when we could get into the bleachers for free after the sixth inning, my apartment lease was up at the end of August and I was expecting to start work in NYC a couple of months later. I moved out of Massachusetts when the Red Sox were in first. Also blame myself for 1986 because I was sitting in Shea Stadium during the seventh game of the World Series, hoping that I’d witness the end of the Curse of the Bambino. I didn’t attend another Red Sox game until July 29, 2012 when I sat through a two-hour rain delay for a late Saturday afternoon game at Yankee Stadium, but stayed until the end to see the Red Sox blow a five-run lead and win it in the ninth, 8-6 on a triple by Pedro Ciriaco.

Before the season, most predictions I saw had the Red Sox finishing fourth in the AL East this year. After leading the AL East for much of the season, the script could be flipped this weekend unless the Red Sox take advantage of their favorable schedule. The Red Sox have to hope that (1) they avoid a repeat of the first three games of the season when they were swept at home by Baltimore and (2) the Yankees (at Chicago) and Toronto (at Seattle) make up no ground on the Red Sox. If the worst happens and the Yankees and Blue Jays both sweep their weekend games and the Red Sox drop three to the Orioles, then the AL East standings on Monday will show NY at 65-52, TOR at 65-52 and BOS at 66-54.

The upcoming schedule gives the Red Sox a chance to avoid losing more ground in the playoff chase. They’re about to play 12 of their next 15 games against the Orioles, Rangers, Twins and Guardians (and three in the Bronx, including a doubleheader) before a four-game series on the road against the Rays. The Rays have 10 of their next 15 games against the Twins and Orioles with three at home against the White Sox and two on the road against the Phillies. The Yankees have some tougher games coming up with three on the road against the White Sox (including tonight’s Field of Dreams Game), two at Atlanta and four at Oakland.

Ten of the Red Sox’ next 13 games include four at Toronto, three at home with Tampa Bay and three on the road against the Yankees. The other three are at Fenway against Baltimore. Even if they go 4-9 in those games, they’ll be 68-55 and still in contention for one of the wild card spots. Not-Much-Fun Facts: In the past 10 games, while the Red Sox have been playing .300 ball, the Yankees and Blue Jays each have won 7 of 10 and picked up four games on the Red Sox. The Yankees are now 4-1/2 games behind the Red Sox (only three in the loss column). Toronto also is three back of the Red Sox in the loss column, but has played five fewer games. When will the reinforcements from Liverpool FC arrive?

Kyle Schwarber has played ONE game at first base during his seven seasons in Major League Baseball and that was in 2017. He’s an outfielder and DH, just like J. D. Martinez. Unless they trade for a first basemen between now and the end of this month, for the rest of this season, it’ll likely be Bobby Dalbec or Marwin Gonzalez and little offensive production at first for the Red Sox. Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk is 6'4''. Maybe he could play first.

Stranger things have happened. If (1) the Red Sox don’t rally to win tonight and (though this seems unlikely) they get swept by the Phillies, (2) the Yankees win 2 of 3 against the White Sox, and (3) Toronto takes 2 of 3 from Tampa, next Monday morning, the Yankees will be 27-20, Toronto will be 26-19, Tampa will be 27-21 and the Red Sox will be 26-22 in fourth place in the AL East. EDIT: It's always good to work the "reverse jinx" and see that 9th-inning rally and a comeback win!

Never expected the Sox to ever be in first in the division at any time this season, so this stretch of the season has been interesting, but is there a good chance of their being in 4th place in the AL East after this coming weekend?

On September 1, the Red Sox were 12-24 (a .333 winning percentage). After starting September with two wins in eight games, the Red Sox have “rallied” to finish the month with nine wins in their most-recent 16 games and a chance to catch the Orioles for fourth place and end the season with having won 40% of their games, if they beat the Braves and Baltimore loses to Toronto on Sunday. While that will be the franchise’s worst winning percentage since 1965, considering that they’ve been using a pitching staff that’s missing four of its five starters from 2019 and had the worst ERA in the major leagues before tonight, and that they lost one of MLB’s best players in a trade to the Dodgers, this strange, abbreviated season could’ve been worse.

Would tanking for a better draft position in 2020 be of any benefit? Because the Red Sox finished with MLB's best record in 2018 and they were over the salary cap for the year, they were penalized in the 2019 Draft, so that their first pick didn't occur until the 43rd overall pick. With 16 games left to play and on a five-game losing streak to drop them to 76-70 for the season, the Red Sox now are as close to fourth place in the division as they are to first place (19 games). Unless they go on a long winning streak and one of the teams ahead of them in the American League fades, it’s looking unlikely that they could finish with a better record than any of the six teams in the American League now ahead of them. They’re three-and-a-half games ahead of Texas for the seventh best record in the American League and they’ve got three games at Texas before returning home to close the season with three against Baltimore. Twelve teams in MLB currently have better records than the Red Sox. The Mets (75-70), Phillies (75-70) and Rangers (73-74) are within striking distance of finishing with a better record than the Red Sox.