Boston Red Sox have the (left) arms to make a difference in October
By Jason Burke
The Boston Red Sox have some solid left-handers that could be the difference between making it to the American League Championship Series and beyond, or another early exit from the postseason.
The Boston Red Sox are locked into a playoff spot, and currently have a 95.6% chance of winning the AL East with the New York Yankees sitting three games back with five to play including Wednesday’s contest. The Bombers have two remaining with the Tampa Bay Rays and then three with the Toronto Blue Jays, while the Sox have one left with Toronto and four against the Houston Astros.
As things currently sit, the Red Sox would be matched up with the Astros in the American League Division Series while the Wild Card winner would face the Cleveland Indians. The Astros are one game behind Cleveland for the best record in the A.L., so a good weekend from Boston would mean the two clubs would have another series next weekend, sealing the East for Boston and making it so that Houston couldn’t catch the Tribe.
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In looking at the standings page on MLB.com, there is a tab where you can see each team’s record against left-handed pitchers, so I looked at the playoff contenders in both the American and National Leagues, and over in the N.L., the teams that are playoff bound are fairly balanced against both righties and lefties, but over in the A.L. there are a couple of clubs with losing records against southpaws.
The Indians are 35-24, while the Astros are 20-23 when facing a left-handed starter. These are the two teams that would end up facing Boston in the ALDS. Which one do you think they’d rather face?
The Red Sox have one of the best pitchers in the game that also happens to be a lefty in Chris Sale. Behind him they have Drew Pomeranz, who may not be a name brand option, but he does hold a 3.38 ERA this season with a 3.86 FIP. Add in Eduardo Rodriguez and David Price and that’s four pitchers that can eat up a ton of innings in a short series, especially with at least one of those pitchers coming out of the bullpen.
That upcoming weekend series against Houston presents a little bit of a problem, however. While the Sox need to win a couple of games to control their own destiny and make sure that they face the Astros instead of the Indians, they also don’t want to give them Astros any advantage by seeing their left-handers in the days leading up to their potential playoff matchup. Sometimes seeing a pitcher a second time in a short timeframe can provide a huge advantage for the guys with the bats.
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While the Yankees are favored to win their potential Wild Card game, the winner of a Cleveland/New York series could present plenty of issues for Boston. The Yankees are responsible for three of Sale’s eight losses this season and they are the only team that has beaten him multiple times this season. Cleveland is also very familiar with Sale and he has allowed seven runs (13 earned) in each of his two starts over eight total innings.
With all of this in mind, it will be interesting to see how the Red Sox approach this weekend against the Astros with a date for next weekend the most likely scenario.