We were sucked in, we thought this would be it, and then we were left empty. We being those who were pulled in back and forth by the Boston Red Sox. The highest of highs followed by the absolute lowest of lows.
Friday’s 5-0 loss to the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the ALCS earns Dusty Baker‘s unit their third trip to the Fall Classic in five years. Alex Cora‘s team, on the other hand, will fly home, knowing that their manager suffered his first-ever postseason series loss.
Houston now awaits the winner of the NLCS between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves. The Red Sox instead await the looming decisions by Chaim Bloom on how he looks to reconstruct this roster.
The Boston Red Sox offense failed to produce at the worst possible time, resulting in no trip to the World Series.
While Houston deserves its props for winning the series; this series should focus more on the Red Sox and the journey they took the baseball world on. To be honest, we probably should have seen this end result coming after Eduardo Rogriguez taunted Carlos Correa in retaliation in Game 3.
Making matters worse, Beantown’s boys failed offensively after that, scoring just one run the rest of the way after racking up 21 runs in their two victories. So much for the grocery cart trips in the dugouts right?
Also, there was the expectation that Boston’s late-season skid might have been a cause to pause when the playoffs began. September wasn’t too kind, highlighted by a New York Yankees sweep, and wearing those yellow jerseys a bit more than usual may have run its course. Also, can anyone explain how they lost two out of three games to of all teams, the Baltimore Orioles?
Still, throughout this postseason, Cora’s crew overachieved, none more evident than beating the Yankees in the Wild Card, making sure work of the Tampa Bay Rays in Round 2, and then taking two wins from Houston.
The 2021 Boston Red Sox will be remembered for all the good and the bad they brought in a season no one saw coming.
Now what? There won’t be a fifth trip to the fall classic for the Red Sox in the 21st century, and there won’t be a Game 7 where anything can happen. So what now? At this moment, there’s not a clear answer. Just like this team itself this year.
If things were going well, it felt like a relaxing day on the beach. When the team faced any sort of difficulty or adversity, it was terrible enough that Red Sox fans were experiencing feelings similar to what most of them endured when Plaxico Burress ended a dream of perfection for the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
Despite Nathan Eovaldi‘s best efforts, again, Boston’s bats shattered at the worst possible time. Additionally, Astros rookie Pitcher Luis Garcia picked the best time to have a great outing, pitching a no-hitter against the Sox for five complete innings.
But like any underdog story, there is always hope, and in the seventh inning, Boston had a man on first and third. There was a chance after all, and maybe, just maybe, the tide was turning.
Nope. Bang. Bang. Double Play. Game? Effectively over, given how the offense was shaping itself. And finally, the dagger was punched when Kyle Tucker, a young rising star in baseball, shot off a three-run homer off Adam Ottavino the next inning to send the Astros back to the Fall Classic.
It’s done now. There’s no rewinding 2021. Instead, it’s fast forward to 2022, with high expectations, hopefully producing a different and more pleasant result than this year’s finish.