Connector Staff
The 2015 Boston Red Sox are not going to make the playoffs. They have not yet been mathematically eliminated, but with there being less than a month’s worth of games remaining and the team being seven games back from the second Wild Card spot, it would take nothing short of a miracle for the Sox to be playing October baseball.
But from the way they have been playing recently, with contributions from every player, position and pitcher, you would not be able to tell.
On Aug. 14, manager John Farrell announced that he would be leaving the team to treat his stage I lymphoma and bench coach Torey Lovullo would be stepping in as interim manager. Since then, the Sox have played to a 16-9 record. That is not a mark that jumps off the page as spectacular, but a winning percentage of .640 far surpasses, and even almost makes up for, the losses that were piling up previously.
Perhaps the boys possess a flair that was not seen prior to Farrell’s departure – they seem to be playing for their leader and friend. Or perhaps they are just playing the winning baseball many expected from them before the season had begun.
It feels like a different season now, as anybody who continues to watch the games can attest to. The kids are not just alright, they are smashing. Jackie Bradley, Jr., once an enigmatic player known for his magnificent glove and minor league hitting success, had struggled in his first few big league seasons. However, offseason adjustments and a lot of hard work have resulted in his recent run of explosiveness.
Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts have continued to hit at the pace they have demonstrated all season, and Blake Swihart and Rusney Castillo are swinging the bat similarly well. Travis Shaw’s Fenway annihilation continually leaves fans in awe. David Ortiz is hitting like his timeless self, finally joining the 500 home run club. Even Joe Kelly and Rick Porcello, both having vastly underperformed lofty expectations, have turned around to show better control, poise and overall winning demeanors.
This team is currently at the bottom of the A.L. East, vying for fourth place alongside the Baltimore Orioles. It would take a lot more wins to get to even third place, never mind the postseason. But what the Red Sox are showing right now is that this will be a very good team, not only in 2016, but for years beyond.
General manager Ben Cherington, who was replaced by incomer Dave Dombrowksi, set up a lot of the pieces of this team; it will be Dombrowski’s job in the offseason to bolster it, both by prudent acquisitions like free agents, frontline pitching and via addition by subtraction – whatever it takes to keep the Betts, Bradley, Castillo outfield, to restructure the bullpen, and to solidify the rotation.
Winning is not impossible; it has been happening. This is an oft-stated cliché for young teams, but you can watch the Sox any game and know that the future is now, and a bright one at that.
