The next stop for the Red Sox could be last place, and that is unacceptable. Originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
Forget the wild-card standings. The Red Sox are now in a race for last place.
Say hello to the clock in last place.
After two months of false hope, we'll once again spend the end of September picking apples, drinking pumpkin seed, and testing the heat in anticipation of a long winter. The Red Sox are Closer to the AL East basement than the third wild cardand it would be catastrophic if it weren't so familiar.
Tuesday night in Tampa brought the latest low point, an 8-3 loss to the Rays that dropped the Red Sox below .500 for the first time since early June. It’s hard to overstate the depth of their collapse from a vibe standpoint. The good times never seemed so long gone. So long gone, so long gone, so far gone.
Just two months ago, the Red Sox had seemingly left those days behind. They entered the All-Star break a season-high 11 games over .500, and we weren’t debating whether they could catch the small-market Royals in the wild-card race — which was a foregone conclusion — but whether they could lock horns with the Yankees and Orioles in the division.
“Let's be greedy” Coach Alex Cora told his teamAnd if you think that comment hasn't aged well, then I have some headlines for you:
I wrote all of that myself, and I guess you could say I was left wanting more. The Red Sox were young and exciting! They ruled the bases! Their young starters were in top form! Welcome to the new era!
Since my declarations of magic, however, the Red Sox have gone 14-24. Their young players, predictably, hit a wall. The lone superstar, Rafael Devers, is gone, a shoulder problem that doesn't bode well for the remaining decade of his contract. The bullpen imploded like the Kingdome and will require a complete rebuild this winter.
The Red Sox now have just one game ahead of the Rays and three ahead of the Jays in the race for the AL East championship, with five games remaining against Tampa and three more to play in Toronto. I guess you could say they control their own destiny. Unless it controls them.
What is clear is that we must say “never again” to the organization's efforts to lower our expectations by making us believe that seeing young people play well is a success.
Enough with the praise for emerging prospects or the hype of the Double-A roster. The Red Sox owe their fans more than a slavish devotion to the farm system standings and the perennial promise of an incredible future that lies at the end of this alley, if only we are willing to wait a little longer and maybe stay away from that pickup truck.
Spoiler alert: Godot never comes.
The Red Sox need real reinforcements, which cost a lot of money, and if they don't come this winter, don't believe anything you see in June or July of next year. In fact, I guarantee you that if you try to win with homegrown talent again, it won't work. They'll run out of gas, just like this year, and end up playing meaningless baseball in September for the fifth straight season.
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