Courtesy of Zimbio.com

By Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Correspondent

Now that we are in the middle of September, we have reached the home stretch for the baseball playoffs.

The Red Sox are a relatively high seven games behind the first place New York Yankees—arguably the hottest team in baseball—in the American League East.

However, they do hold a tight four-game lead over the Texas Rangers for the Wild Card, and it looks like this will only be a two-team race as Seattle and Tampa Bay have fallen more than ten games back.

The first thing to look at for both teams is their upcoming schedules.

The Red Sox play 10 of their next 20 games at home, while the Rangers play only 9 on their own field. Still, not much of an advantage there on either side. Where Boston gets a slight edge is with who they play against.

Both teams will face the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; however Boston only plays them for three games, whereas Texas will have to face them seven more times. The Rangers have sported a 9-3 record against their division rivals so far this season, but the games will certainly be difficult. The Rangers also have a few last games against Seattle, who are performing pretty well this season and could be a bit of a hurdle.

Meanwhile, from September 18-24, the Red Sox will play seven games against the American League’s two worst teams—three against the Baltimore Orioles and four against the Kansas City Royals. This could certainly help open up some space between Boston and Texas. Not all is lost for Texas though; they do get to play Oakland seven more times. But, the Sox also get to face the Blue Jays again, who they swept over a four-game series on their last meeting.

There is only one series that could really stand in Boston’s way, considering they already have the wild card lead, and that’s New York. If Texas can keep pace with the Red Sox, possibly pick up even a game while the Sox play the Angels, then they could put themselves in a good position for when the Red Sox square-off against the Yankees.

The Sox have looked awful against their hated rivals from New York, losing six of seven games against the Yankees in the second half of the season. Another poor series could see them potentially even fall behind in the Wild Card race.

It’s also unfortunate for the Rangers but lucky for the Sox that they won’t get to go head-to-head with Boston again, as they won the season series seven games to two.

While the Red Sox seem to have the slight edge in scheduling, they also appear to have the edge on talent on the roster.

Both teams have explosive offenses, although the Sox have scored 54 more runs than Texas. In my opinion Sox’ pitchers are also much better than their counterparts in Texas, both in the starting rotation and the bullpen, however on paper, the two are neck in neck, Texas having the slight edge. Texas has a combined 4.28 ERA, and Boston has a 4.30, and Texas has a mere 5 more saves.

But, the problem has been that Boston’s pitchers have been incredibly inconsistent, and have put together some absolutely awful outings.

Reliable ace Josh Beckett has gotten shelled numerous times lately and doesn’t look as confident as he has in some big postseason games he’s pitched for Boston. Although his five innings against the Rays before the game was called for rain, leading to a 9-1 result, is comforting. Dice-K has been injured and had a poor year, but hopefully coming back to produce something at the end of the season. Tim Wakefield got off to a strong start to the season, but injuries have slowed him down considerably. The John Smoltz and Brad Penny experiments failed— although they both have pitched well with their new clubs—and how much can you depend on Paul Byrd this late in his career? The only consistent starter has been Jon Lester, and that just isn’t enough to be successful at the end of the season and, provided they make it, the postseason.

One thing that is a major x-factor for Boston is their experience. They have plenty of seasoned veterans that have been through the pressure cooker of a pennant race and have been successful in all stages of the playoffs, World Series included.

Then again, all that experience and success didn’t help them enough against the young Tampa Bay Rays last year.

So while the Red Sox have a slight edge in scheduling and have a much more talented, well rounded, and experienced lineup than Texas, there is no room for error. The pitchers need to straighten out their efforts and the team needs to take advantage of playing more games at home than Texas, beat the teams they are supposed to beat (Baltimore and Kansas City), and need to play the Yankees like they did in the beginning of the season when they went 8-0, collecting three brooms along the way.

If they take care of business, there is no reason the Red Sox won’t make another postseason appearance, where from there on anything can happen.

 Loading ...

Popularity: 2% [?]