Boston Red Sox: Are They World Series Ready?
By Josh Schwam
Could the Boston Red Sox go from the basement to the World Series? They have done it before.
In 2015, the Boston Red Sox were 78-84 and at the cellar of the American League East. In the offseason, Boston made major pitching acquisitions in David Price and Craig Kimbrel. They also made what turned to be an extremely underrated acquisition when they signed Sandy Leon to $534,000 for one season.
Going into the 2016 season, despite their major signings and acquisitions, nobody gave the Red Sox any sort of chance to win the East. All of the talk was about the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays to win the American league East. Yes, the Blue Jays and Orioles are tied for the lead in the American League East, but Boston is only two games back and have won their last six series leading into their current weekend set versus the Los Angeles Dodgers. They won the first game of the series on Friday 9-0.
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Having caught fire recently and with all the acquisitions they made, is it crazy to call the Red Sox capable of representing the American League in the World Series? Even though Boston had the Pablo Sandoval debacle, they are over that now. Travis Shaw is hitting .264 with 14 home runs and 58 RBI; not bad for someone who was expected to sit on the bench all year.
With or without Sandoval, the Red Sox are an elite team. While their starting pitching has been horrible with a 4.26 ERA (good for ninth in the AL), they lead the AL in runs by a long shot, and they are first by an incredible amount in total bases accumulated.
This is arguably the best offense in baseball. They do not rely heavily on the home run. They also have players like Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr who can use their speed to manufacture runs, and they have power hitters like David Ortiz, Xander Bogaerts and Hanley Ramerez. Offensively, this team is the complete package; they have everything any team could want.
The Red Sox are an offensive team; that is no secret. That side of the ball is more than good enough to win a championship, but is the pitching good enough?
Even though they have decent pitchers on paper, Boston’s pitching has been abysmal. As stated, their ERA is terrible. An interesting stat to throw out there is Boston has the most complete games of anyone in the American League with seven, but that does not make up for their poor pitching as whole. The only Red Sox pitcher who has been decent the entire season is Steven Wright, and he accounts for four of those seven complete games.
Are they capable and talented enough to representing the AL in the World Series? Absolutely. Are they likely to be that team going for the gold? Yes. There is no team that has a better offense than them, and their pitching at this point can be considered good enough. The only reason to give the Red Sox the edge over the Texas Rangers, who have an on-par if not better offense is Texas does not have a pitcher who could work comfortably on three-days rest. Steven Wright, being a knuckleballer, could easily be that guy.
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Having a struggling yet experienced pitching staff, and the best offense in the American League, expect the Red Sox to be playing for the World Series. You know, they have gone from worst-to-first before, right?