Key2Delock

Over/Under on number of games left in which the Red Sox starter will pitch more than four innings? In only four of the ten games this month has a Red Sox starter lasted more than four innings (Rodriguez twice and Eovaldi twice, including one when Eovaldi went only four-and-a-third). With 16 games left, unless they’re being shut down, Rodriguez and Eovaldi each could get three more starts. Should we expect most of the remaining Red Sox games to be "bullpen games"?

Understood, and I'll accept the blame for exaggerated concerns. Call it a slight fear of the unknown and a desire to have the Red Sox keep Mookie Betts around for as long as possible, unless some team makes the Red Sox an offer that they can't refuse. From an historical perspective (which is where I started with my previous comment), I'd hoped that Fred Lynn would be with the Red Sox throughout his career, but he lasted only six full seasons at Fenway, and I don't think that he ever was as good a player after he left. I don't know what might've been had he lasted longer with the Red Sox. Next season would be Mookie Betts' sixth full season with the Red Sox. If I use Fred Lynn's example, then maybe I'd say that it wouldn't be so bad to lose Mookie Betts after this season or after his sixth full season in 2020, and that trading him before the 2020 season would make sense. As for the Red Sox ownership, having been a long-time Arsenal fan who's now suffering through Liverpool's ascendancy in the EPL and their UEFA Champions League championship in 2019 under Fenway Sports Group's ownership while Arsenal is in decline without any "hardware" in recent seasons, I can attest to the benefits of having the Fenway Sports Group's ownership of the Red Sox. (Could Virgil van Dijk become a reliable closer for the Red Sox like he closes down scoring opportunities for the Liverpool Reds' opponents?)

IF the Red Sox trade Mookie Betts, J. D. Martinez, David Price and Nathan Eovaldi for five or six (or more) long-term prospects and some payroll relief, then as a Red Sox fan for over 60 years, I worry that history might be repeating itself 100 years later with a long playoff drought after winning four World Series championships from the ‘04 through the ‘18 seasons. After those four, recent Red Sox World Series championships, I could die now, knowing that I still got to enjoy those moments. (As a long-time New York/San Francisco Giants fan, I also got the added bonus of witnessing another three World Series championships from 2010 through 2014, so seven World Series championships during the past 16 seasons is, as Larry David would say, !) I'd just worry about the next ten years, considering that the Red Sox currently have what some believe is the worst farm system in the Major Leagues. It doesn’t take much to be reminded of what happened to the Red Sox after they won the 1918 World Series and had to get rid of their star player. It took them 28 years before they reached the World Series again and 86 years before they won another World Series. From 1919 through 1933, they finished last in the eight-team American League in nine seasons and higher than sixth in only two seasons when they finished fifth. They won fewer than 80 games every year between 1919 and 1936. As for trading Mookie Betts before the 2020 season, today I'd have to say, No, No, Nanette! (Yes, I know that it was My Lady Friends, the play on which the Broadway musical No, No Nanette was based, and NOT No, No Nanette that led to the sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees.)

Going 30-5 (a .857 winning percentage) between now and the end of the season to finish 97-65 would represent a comeback almost as great as the 2004 American League Championship Series comeback, especially because 16 of the first 20 games scheduled for September are against teams that currently are playing at .500 or above. Neither Oakland nor Tampa Bay has anything as close to such a difficult September schedule. So, let’s hope that while the Red Sox are going 30-5, the Yankees finish 14-21, the Astros finish 15-20 and the Red Sox tie the Yankees for the best record in the American League on the final day of the regular season, necessitating a one-game playoff to determine the division champion, and Chris Owings hits a late-inning homer at Yankee Stadium to clinch the championship for the Red Sox, as Bucky Dent watches in tears. Maybe it's time to replace Sweet Caroline with .

The Red Sox are chasing Tampa Bay and Oakland for the second wild spot. They're currently six-and-a-half games back of Tampa Bay and five games back of Oakland. Even if the Red Sox somehow manage to catch those teams between now and the end of August, based on the teams' respective schedules, finishing ahead of either of those teams will be a substantial challenge. In September, Oakland has five games scheduled against teams that currently have winning records. Tampa Bay has nine, including four against the Red Sox. The Red Sox have 16 games scheduled against teams that currently have winning records, including the four against Tampa Bay, and those 16 games will be played during the first 20 games of the month.

Miracles have happened. The Red Sox have been on both the right end and wrong end of those miracles during their history, but making the playoffs this season won’t be easy, especially if Sale and Price are unable to return and the pitching rotation between now and the end of the season will be Rodriguez, Porcello and three mix-and-match-bullpen outings. Despite the recent, hottest-in-the-Majors, five-game winning streak, the Red Sox, one of only seven American League teams with a winning record, currently are six-and-a-half games out of playoff contention, chasing Tampa Bay and Oakland for the second wid-card spot. (There are ten National League teams closer to playoff contention than the Red Sox, and Cincinnati and San Diego are seven games out.) In September, Oakland has five games scheduled against teams that currently have winning records. Tampa Bay has nine, including four against the Red Sox. The Red Sox have 16 games scheduled against teams that currently have winning records, including the four against Tampa Bay, and those 16 games will be played during the first 20 games of the month.

As Jim Mora once said, “ ?” Miracles have happened. The Red Sox have been on both the right end and wrong end of those miracles during their history, but making the playoffs this season won’t be easy, especially if Sale and Price are unable to return and the pitching rotation between now and the end of the season will be Rodriguez, Porcello and three mix-and-match-bullpen outings. Despite the recent, hottest-in-the-Majors, five-game winning streak, the Red Sox, one of only seven American League teams with a winning record, currently are six-and-a-half games out of playoff contention, chasing Tampa Bay and Oakland for the second wild-card spot. (There are ten National League teams closer to playoff contention than the Red Sox, and Cincinnati and San Diego are seven games out.) In September, Oakland has five games scheduled against teams that currently have winning records. Tampa Bay has nine, including four against the Red Sox. The Red Sox have 16 games scheduled against teams that currently have winning records, including the four against Tampa Bay, and those 16 games will be played during the first 20 games of the month.

Now that they've gone 3-12 in their last 15 games to drop eight games out of playoff contention and 17-1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees, edging closer to a .500 record for the season, I'll keep reminding myself that I should be grateful that I've been alive to have seen the 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018 World Series, after waiting all those years from 1957 to 2004 to see a Red Sox World Series championship.

Perspective: As of now, there are 12 teams in the National League that are closer to making the playoffs this season than the Red Sox are, and five of those teams have worse records than the Red Sox.

Remember when there were five Red Sox World Series championship teams between 1903 and 1918? Remember when it took from 1919 until 1938 for the Red Sox to finish as high as second in the eight-team American League standings, while they were finishing last in the league in nine of those seasons and never higher than fourth? LINK The Red Sox didn’t get to the World Series again until 1946 when they lost in seven games to the Cardinals, and then when Red Sox fans’ hopes were dashed again in 1967, 1975 and 1986, it seemed like The Curse of the Bambino might last for 100 years or more. Leaving Shea Stadium after the seventh game of the 1986 World Series, I never expected to be alive to see what happened in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018. As unlikely as it appears now, maybe, by some miraculous turnaround, the Red Sox can squeeze into the 2019 playoffs. Yet when I read that the Red Sox are considered to have the worst farm system in the Major Leagues, I wonder whether it might take 10 to 20 years for the Red Sox to rebuild their farm system. THAT’s what concerns me more than the struggles of this season’s Red Sox pitching staff.

The Red Sox lead the Major Leagues in runs scored; only four of the divisional cellar dwellers (Orioles, Tigers, Mariners, Pirates) and the Rockies have allowed more runs. Is it too late for the Red Sox to rent another pitching coach for the rest of the season, or are these pitchers just drained from the 2018 World Series championship run?

If you haven't read "The First Fall Classic: The Red Sox, the Giants, and the Cast of Players, Pugs, and Politicos Who Reinvented the World Series in 1912" by New York sportswriter Mike Vaccaro, this might be a good year to read it. LINK

After their eighth straight loss, the Red Sox now are closer to Toronto in fourth place (by 14 games) than to the Yankees in first place (by 14.5 games) in the American League East. They’re six-and-a-half games out of the second wild card spot and fading fast from playoff contention. At 58-55, they’d be closer to a playoff spot if they were in the National League, but they’re not. There are six teams in the American League now within three games of a playoff spot. There are ten teams in the National League now within three games of a playoff spot. The Red Sox have 17 of the 22 games left this month and ten of their 26 currently-scheduled September games against teams now playing below .500, but even going 27-21 in those game by winning all of their games against the sub-.500 teams, the Red Sox still might miss the playoffs with a record of 85-76. (Not sure who they'd have to play in a make-up game to fulfill a 162-game schedule.) After becoming a Red Sox fan in the 1950's, after 1986, I never expected to see a Red Sox World Series champion during my lifetime, but then 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018 happened. That makes it somewhat easier for me to endure this disappointing season, but I fear for the future, even though my rooting interest will remain. Having the worst farm system in the Major Leagues and a burdensome payroll, I just hope for the sake of future Red Sox fans who were born after 2018 that this year is not the start of another perverse, 86-year curse.