One More Win
159 games down. Three more to go.
I’m still quite annoyed by how that game played out and simultaneously I don’t really care about it.
Yes, it would’ve been fantastic for the Red Sox to secure a playoff berth for the first time since 2021 with a sweep over a team that has routinely had their number. Yes it would’ve been nice to win a series finale in a series they won. Yes it would’ve been nice to get the first hit of the game any time before giving up a grand slam and a two run homer in the sixth inning.
But none of that really matters.
The Red Sox magic number to return to the playoffs is one. Win one game at Fenway this weekend against a floundering Detroit Tigers team and you’re in.
For what it’s worth, I think they’ll manage it.
In complete honesty, after dropping two of three in Boston to the Athletics last week I did think the Sox were more likely than not to miss the playoffs. They had nine games left and needed seven wins. Even if they swept the Rays, I couldn’t see them getting four wins against the Jays in Toronto and the Tigers.
Also there was no chance they would sweep the Rays. That’s just not what this team does. They haven’t swept a series since August 28, when they won four straight against the Orioles.
That is their only sweep since August 3, when they swept the Astros in Boston, and how big does that look retrospectively.
Since the Astros sweep, the Red Sox have had eight opportunities to sweep a series (including last night) and have only gotten the job done once.
In that time Boston’s played one series against the Marlins, two against the Orioles, one against the Pirates, two against the Athletics and one against the Rays. Five awful teams and not a dustpan in sight.
To their credit. the Red Sox ran their trademark play in Tampa and Toronto.
Over the last month and a half Sox series go one of two ways. They win the first two games and lose the finale or the reverse. So much so, when they won the middle game of the last series against the A’s, having lost the first, I was utterly dumbfounded.
But as if to calm my fears they promptly lost the finale. This team either wins the first game of the series and therefore the series, or loses it and salvages the third game.
So I was very nervous for game one against the Blue Jays. The Sox went into the game needed five wins in six games and had lost an incredibly stupid game against Tampa last time out.
Bases loaded in the second with Blue Jays and George Springer at the plate almost sent me to hospital. But I will take both the bad foul ball call and the bad strike three call. Nathanial Lowe made up for his tepid game at the plate against the Rays with the first two RBIs and Carlos Narvaez bludgeoned a ball in the sixth inning to put the Sox up 4-1. That win took the magic number down to four.
By the time the two teams took the field for game two it was down to three because the Astros had lost to the Athletics.
The Red Sox decided to take full advantage of that, giving Garrett Crochet a three run lead before he threw his first pitch. He only need one.
Eight innings later Crochet had given up three hits, struck out six batters and not allowed a run. Another dominate night from the Red Sox ace who has been nothing short of world class during his first season in Boston. He will take the mound in game one of the playoffs and I anticipate he will be exceptional.
Before Crochet’s night came to an end the offense gave him more run support. Masataka Yoshida hit a solo home run in the fourth, and I would like to ask the Red Sox to tell Yoshida every team he plays is the Blue Jays. For whatever reason, when he sees that little bird he cannot miss.
Then in the eighth, a three run home run made the score 7-0. Put two ducks on the pond in front of Narvaez late in a game and they’re coming home.
Payton Tolle and his ferocious fastballs let the Jays break the shutout in the ninth but the job was done and the magic number was down to two.
Then it was one. Thank you A’s.
The Athletics could’ve sent Boston to the playoffs if they swept Houston in their afternoon game, but how can you expect someone to do something you yourselves cannot or will not do.
So the Red Sox knew their first sweep in a month would send them back to the playoffs.
They proceeded to get no hit through six innings.
Brayan Bello, who has been bad in September, got himself into trouble a few times, including loading the bases in the third. He did manage to get himself out of it so his offense’s inability to get to first, though immensely frustrating, wasn’t the end of the world.
That is, until the sixth inning.
Bello once again loaded the bases and this time there would be no reprieve. The starter was pulled and Justin Wilson gave up the backbreaking grand slam. Wilson also didn’t survive the inning. He was pulled after giving up a double following the homer.
Zack Kelly came in and Mr. Springer (who is always good for a homerun against the Sox) deposited a pitch over the wall to give Toronto a 6-0 lead.
That wasn’t what annoyed me. Yes, it was very depressing to see another series end with a loss but realistically, I knew that was going to happen. I know this team.
What infuriated me was the Red Sox IMMEDIATELY scored a single, solitary run.
Do that at literally any point before the seventh inning and they probably win the game. This, of course, is speculation, but before that sixth inning explosion, the Blue Jays were a disappointed, frustrated and at time despondent team.
I doubt trailing at home, on the verge of being swept by a division rival and a team they might have to play a week from now would’ve made them feel any better.
Only slightly less annoying was the Red Sox loading the bases in the ninth, only to not score a run. Although to be fair, that has been their calling card of late.
I suppose I have to respect staying true to one’s roots.
The Red Sox now know they will be on the road for the Wild Card series, should they make it. All they need is one. more. win.
Speaking of wins, I’ve given some thought as to whether or not they can win a wild card series and my answer is yes. It’s a best of three, so they only need to win two games.
If it’s one thing these Boston Red Sox know how to do is win the first two games of a three game series.
Or lose them, but I’m choosing to ignore that.
Go Sox