Red Sox face reminders of what they’ve done – and what must be done – everywhere this postseason
COMMENTARY
Even for the small pocket of persistent optimists among us, it’s long been apparent – since, well, probably the All-Star break, and certainly since an it’s-all-over-but-the-scapegoating seven-game losing streak immediately following the midsummer hiatus – that the Red Sox would not participate in this postseason.
Theoretically, that should have allowed us enough time to prepare to experience the coolest time of the sports year – the dramas and delights of October baseball, at their annual best, trump all – as interested observers rather than fans with a full and consuming emotional investment.
Man, I miss that. I miss giving an honest damn. It’s been two full seasons now since the Red Sox played a meaningful game in October, and it’s funny in that sad kind of way how back-to-back lousy seasons can make an extraordinary and fulfilling one like 2013 feel much further in the past than it actually is.
I miss this, too, miss being a part of what’s going on in Toronto and Kansas City and Houston and Chicago, and I imagine so do you. What we’re left with this October, really, is inning after inning of compelling baseball that matters much more elsewhere than here, and a heaping helping of envy.
We’ve had all this time since the Red Sox season was unofficially declared hopeless in the summer months to brace for this, and, if you must have a rooting interest, even one freshly conjured and temporary, to find a team to pull for through the postseason.
But if you procrastinated on identifying that team upon whose bandwagon you would board, the first few days and nights of the playoffs probably offered an interesting realization:
There are an unusual amount of Red Sox-relevant what-might-have-beens and what-could-bes participating in these playoffs, reminders of memorable postseasons past and harbingers of moves that may be necessary to assure that Fenway is not vacant next October.
The Blue Jays, taking on the Rangers in one American League Division Series, boast the offense the Red Sox were supposed to have this season, and the ace, David Price, who most suppose new general manager Dave Dombrowski will try to acquire in the offseason.
The Rangers feature Red Sox connections that jostle various emotions and bring to mind multiple meanings. Adrian Beltre, who left Game 1 on Thursday with an injury, spent one wonderful year (2010) in Boston. It was a period of time long enough that I can say this with confidence: other than Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, and David Ortiz, there isn’t a player I’ve enjoyed watching more for the Red Sox than Adrian Beltre.
The Rangers’ ties to the Red Sox include reminders of opportunities lost (hey, wasn’t Cole Hamels supposed to end up here?); opportunities that may soon be presented (Dombrowski traded Prince Fielder and his enormous contract to Texas while with Detroit; can he move Hanley Ramirez in a similarly savvy swap this winter?); and opportunities that were seized (Mike Napoli, the bearded everyman icon of the ’13 champs, has a big homer in him yet this postseason, just you wait and see).
There aren’t many ties to the admirably precocious Astros (Jed Lowrie — no), though Carlos Correa and Xander Bogaerts are going to be battling for a lot of awards over the next decade. As for the Royals ties … well, they did leave Jonny Gomes off their division series roster, which surely has the journeyman outfielder jabbering to anyone within earshot about how winning follows him. (Note: The Braves were 19 games under .500 in games Gomes played this season before they sent him to the Royals. Winning only follows him to select locales, it seems. And even occasionally precedes him.)
In the National League, the marquee Dodgers-Mets matchup doesn’t have many links to the Red Sox, unless you’re a daydreamer who thinks Matt Harvey’s apparent narcissism and the Mets’ pitching riches may lead to a trade match with Boston. (I don’t, and don’t even suggest trading Mookie Betts or Xander Bogaerts for a pitcher with a scar on his elbow.)
The Dodgers? They’ve gotten their money’s worth from Adrian Gonzalez, the prize of the seismic August 2012 trade with the Sox. And to think, they only owe Carl Crawford $43.4 million dollars over the next two seasons. That’s a bargain compared to what the Yankees owe Chris Young’s playoff-game backup, Jacoby Ellsbury, who has a .710 OPS since leaving Boston and is due roughly $127 million over the next six seasons. That’s one move that Ben Cherington, whose legacy still has chapters remaining to be written, got right.
The obvious rooting interest for Red Sox fans is our longtime brothers-in-disappointment, the Cubs. Jon Lester is there. So is Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer. And if you’re one of those folks who believes Joe Kelly will someday supply results representative of his filthy stuff, then Jake Arrieta is probably your oft-referenced Exhibit A these days when making the case for what can happen when a talented pitcher puts it all together.
Though Cubs fans seem to have handled their frustrations with more cheer than we did pre-2004, I don’t know that I can entirely pull for them for this reason: It would confirm Joe Maddon as a certified baseball genius. You can practically reach out and wipe the smugness off his stylish glasses now. Imagine if he actually wins something for a franchise that never wins anything. The Cubs winning would be cool, and it would make Epstein a Hall of Fame lock and Lester a three-time champ. I’m not sure I could handle that Maddon coronation, though. I need more time to think on this one, but for the moment we can pull for them against those self-righteous hackers in St. Louis.
From a Boston perspective, the pitching matchup of Game 1 of that series is what really gets you — Lester versus John Lackey. The Red Sox Nos. 1 and 2 starters entering the 2014 season, they were moved at midseason in what played out to be a pair of horrible trades. A year and a half later, the Red Sox enter the offseason with the chief priority of finding at least one pitcher, and maybe two, to front their rotation – just as Lester and Lackey are doing Friday.
In terms of our Red Sox-connected perceptions this postseason, the Lester-Lackey duel covers both the past and the future at once. It’s not just a reminder of what the Red Sox had not so long ago – Lester could have been the MVP of the ’13 World Series, and Lackey was aces in the clincher – but what they still need.
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