News and commentary: progress in work
For Boston Red Sox fans, the decision by homegrown star Xander Bogaerts, 30, to exit the American League East and sign a free-agent contract with the San Diego Padres is tremendously disappointing even with the realization that professional athletes are grossly, if not disgustingly, overpaid.
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The so-called baseball experts in the media were generally dismissive of the Boston Red Sox in 2021.
Will history repeat itself?
There is a lot of bandwidth taken up with discussions about the byzantine financial nature of the Major League Baseball labor dispute which has, at this writing, put Spring Training on hold, let alone the start of the 2022 regular season.
Even in May, emotions were running high.
In general, apart from limiting sales of booze, at some point MLB teams — as well as teams in other professional and college sports — may have to consider a dress code of sorts: That is, banning fans from wearing team jerseys into a stadium for security reasons, even if both mean a loss in revenue.
With Major League Baseball heading into the playoffs in this COVID-shortened season, whether it’s 60 games or the usual 162, there is one constant: MLB is a horrible television product.
Boston Red Sox won the 2018 MLB World Series
The Boston Red Sox are four wins away from answering that question in the affirmative, at least partially, after winning the American League pennant last night against the favored Houston Astros. The Sox, who continue to enjoy home field advantage, are now 5-0 on the road in the playoffs, as they wait to see whether their Fall Classic opponent will be the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Milwaukee Brewers.
The sports media industry appeared to be as ill-informed as the “Trump can’t win” political pundits by making the Sox the underdogs against both the New York Yankees and the Astros.
In the division series, Boston defeated the Yankees three games to one, scoring 27 runs to the Bronx Bombers’ 14. In the AL champion series, after dropping the first game at home, the Sox eliminated the defending champions four games to one, with a run differential of 29 to 14.
Starting and relief pitching obviously plays a vital, and typically decisive, role in the post season.
Surprisingly, Sox pitching held up too, which included starters Chris Sale, Rick Porcello, Nathan Eovaldi, David Price (who finally got a post-season win Thursday night), and Eduardo Rodriguez entering in a relief role on their off days.
As WEEI host Glenn Ordway noted, first-year manager Alex Cora is “scotch-taping” the bullpen together, which performed better than the Astros’ counterparts, even with closer Craig Kimbrel’s near meltdown on Wednesday night. Unlike his predecessor, Cora prioritizes developing and maintaining strong rapport with the clubhouse.
Expect more mixing and matching of starters and relievers in the upcoming World Series which starts on Tuesday night.
On Opening Day 2018, the Red Sox collectively suffered a meltdown against the Tampa Bay Rays in the 9th inning at Tropicana Field, but they turned it around the next day and never looked back, on the way to an incredible 108 wins.
It’s refreshing that a team that sustained regular-season excellence is heading to the title round. That is not always the case in pro (or college) sports with a watered-down significance of the regular season. MLB is unique in that even given the marathon, pre-playoffs 162-game season, every game is important. The seeming randomness of baseball is another unique, compelling feature.
Center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. was named MVP of the ALCS. He had just three hits, but two were home runs (one a grand slam), accounting for nine RBI.
When they give up the DH in the National League stadium pursuant to MLB rules for at least two games, the Red Sox braintrust will be forced to make a decision as to whether to break up their spectacular outfield consisting of JBJ, presumed AL MVP Mookie Betts, and Andrew Benintendi in order to get J.D. Martinez into the game. Betts was an infielder before he broke into the big leagues.
.@RedSox radio broadcaster Joe Castiglione got so excited during the final play, he literally fell out of his seat.
Can you believe it? 😂 😂 😂 pic.twitter.com/HdMe6upUpF
With 108 victories, the Boston Red Sox achieved the best record in Major League Baseball and have secured home field advantage for their entire playoff run as long as it lasts.
Baseball is so random, but as it stands now, the team’s pitching is a question mark, particularly the bullpen outside of typically lights-out closer Craig Kimbrel. The effectiveness of ace Chris Sale coming of the disabled list has also raised doubts. And David Price’s post-season record is far from reassuring. In general, starters have been on and off.
The Red Sox finish the regular season at 108-54, the most wins in franchise history. Alex Cora has recorded the second-most wins all-time for a first-year manager and Boston never lost more than three in a row. We'll see how this all translates to the postseason beginning Friday.
About a month ago, Ramirez was designated for assignment, which means the team has to eat his entire $15 million guaranteed salary, in the midst of a slump for the stated reason to give the team more lineup flexibility and versatility. Ramirez was one of a few batters that was effective against left-handed pitching, however.
Ramirez recorded a .341 batting average in April but dropped to .163 in May as the hitter in the three hole.
The subtext of the decision was the team supposedly sought to avoid the 2019 contract vesting option which would have been automatic for Hanley after 497 plate appearances this season.
#HanleyRamirez, former @RedSox infielder, has some.. well, issues. Being eyed in connection with an ongoing federal and state investigation. Stay tuned.
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