The Red Sox Are in the Postseason For the Second Straight Year
For the second consecutive year the Boston Red Sox are going to be contending for a World Series title in the postseason. Currently sitting at 91-65 and 4 games ahead of the Yankees for the AL East lead, the Sox have the third best record in the American League, sitting behind first-place Cleveland (98-58) and second-place Houston (96-60). Let’s take a look back and see how this team go to where they are now.
To start the season the Red Sox were the obvious favorite to win the AL East. Toronto and Baltimore seemed to be contenders but quickly proved that they were actually pretenders. The Yankees actually took that role as a contending team and surprised everyone. They gave the Sox hell in the first half of the season leading the AL East all the way up until about June when the Sox overtook that first-place spot and never looked back.
August then arrived and that’s when the Sox got red hot.They opened up August with a three-game series vs Cleveland, they swept. They had a three-game series vs Chicago, they swept. They had a two-game series vs Tampa Bay, they swept. Then came the Yankees. They lost game 1, but they destroyed them in game 2 and a Red Sox legend, Rafael Devers was born in game 3.
Now here we are, September 27th, and our magic number is 3 with 4 games left to play. The season is not over but it was a good season. I wouldn’t say great because I think we can all agree that we expected more of this team. We expected them to win the division by now, we also expected more from certain player, and I will get into that in a little bit. So to end this article here are my 2017 Red Sox team awards!
MVP:
Chris Sale, Starting Pitcher
This is probably the most obvious award on this team. Sale has been everything the Sox asked for and more. As of 9/27 Sale has a 17-8 record, a 2.90 ERA, a 0.97 WHIP and 308 strikeouts. He leads the MLB in strikeouts, and innings pitched (214.1). Sale may lose the Cy Young to the Indians Corey Kluber but he sure as hell performed this season and was the Red Sox best player.
CY Young:
Chris Sale, Starting Pitcher
Read above
Rookie of the Year:
Andrew Benintendi, Outfielder
Only three players were eligible for this award (Benintendi, Rafael Devers, and Deven Marrero) and Benintendi id the obvious choice. Benintendi has 20 home runs, 89 RBIs, 19 stolen bases, .275 average, .790 OPS, .357 OBP, and a .433 slugging percentage. Benny Biceps has been the most impactful rookie on this team, scratch that. He’s been one of the most impactful PLAYERS on this team. He’s come up big in clutch situations and at such a young age hopefully he can be that big in the rest of his career.
Reliever of the Year:
Craig Kimbrel, Closing Pitcher
This is another “duhhh” award. Kimbrel has been shut down all year. Kimbrel has a 5-0 record, 1.34 ERA, 122 strikeouts, a 0.66 WHIP, and 35 saves in 39 save opportunities. This line is such a huge improvement from last years. Last year Kimbrel was 2-6 with a 3.40 ERA and only 83 strikeouts. Honestly Kimbrel could be in the discussion for this years MVP of the team but Sale was too good.
Most Improved Player:
Joe Kelly, Relief Pitcher
This was a tough choice between Drew Pomeranz, and Kelly. Kelly stood out to me cause he filled that 8th inning role for a while. Last year Kelly was 4-0 with a 5.18 ERA, 48 strikeouts, and a 1.70 WHIP. This year Kelly is 4-1, with a 2.84 ERA, 50 strikeouts and a 1.19 WHIP. Kelly also increased the velocity on his fastball. Kelly has hit up to 103 mph this year.
Most Disappointing Player:
Hanley Ramirez, Designated Hitter/First Baseman
This really was tough, and that’s bad I’m saying that. I can’t give it to just Hanley, Mookie, and Rick Porcello have been just as disappointing this year. First, Hanley. Hanley has had some power days where he MASHES BASEBALLS TO THE MOON. When this man is mad, he is mad and he destroys baseballs. But that happens like once every three months.Hanley this year has a .239 average, 22 home runs, 60 RBIs all in 482 at-bats. Second is Mookie. We all thought this man was going to win MVP this year and turns out we were NOWHERE CLOSE. Yes Mookie leads the team in home runs, runs scored, RBIs and stolen bases but all those categories are pretty bad for this team offensively. Last year Mookie was hitting .318, with 31 home runs, and 113 RBIs. This year he’s hitting .265, with 23 home runs, and 101 RBIs. Finally (maybe we’ll see) is Rick Porcello. Yes he won the CY Young last year and did we really expect him to win it again? No. But did we expect him to be leading the MLB in runs allowed, and loses? Did we expect him to be leading the AL in hits allowed as well? No we most certainly did not. 17 loses, 17 loses. SEVENTEEN FREAKING LOSES. That is a lot. 10-17, with a 4.55 ERA. That is awful for a defending AL CY Young winner. I’m just gonna say screw it and throw this name in there for the hell of it too, Xander Bogaerts has been dog crap this year. Actually scratch that he hasn’t been dog crap, he’s been 2016 Xander Bogaerts’ crap. This year he’s hitting .269, with 9 home runs, and 57 RBIs. Last year he hit .294, with 21 home runs and 89 RBIs. I think those stat lines speak for themselves.
