The Red Sox Have Won Back-To-Back AL East Division Titles For The First Time In Team History
And just like that your #RedSox are AL East Champs! #CLINCHED #WinADVANCERepeat pic.twitter.com/yvHRiKEeDh
— Red Sox (@RedSox) September 30, 2017
In a 162-game season, it took 161 of those contests to determine who would be crowned as the champions of the American League East. That team is the Boston Red Sox.
That’s technically speaking, of course. For as inconsistent as the Red Sox have been all year long, they’ll have spent 105 days atop the division at the conclusion of the regular season tomorrow. It was always their division to lose, given what the expectations were coming into the year, and for as much time as they’ve spent in first place.
A tip of the cap is certainly well deserved to the New York Yankees, who were expected to be good enough to contend for a Wild Card spot, but I don’t think anybody predicted that they’d take it down to the wire in terms of challenging for the division. Throw Joe Girardi’s name high up on the list of American League Manager of the Year candidates next to Terry Francona, Paul Molitor, and AJ Hinch. He deserves strong consideration for what that team has accomplished this year.
I’m just happy that the Red Sox didn’t back in. I’m also happy that the Yankees won today, so that the final innings of today’s game actually meant something. Whether you love him or you hate him, John Farrell is the only manager in Red Sox history to be at the helm of three division winners. It’s the first time in team history that they’ve won consecutive titles in the 48 years that the American League East has been a division, too.
All those teams with Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, Dwight Evans, Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Varitek, Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz never won back-to-back division titles. I’d argue that that’s more indicative of the other teams that were in the AL East battling the Red Sox at the time, but what this 2017 team has accomplished is very impressive nonetheless.
Winning the division is great, but the timing in which they clinched was crucial. Had the Red Sox not won today, they would’ve had to throw Chris Sale out there on Sunday and that would’ve been less than ideal. Sale has been a hot topic towards the end of the year here, as his good start, bad start performances have been under a microscope after all the innings and pitches that he’s logged over the past six months. With the Red Sox wrapping things up on Saturday, they can now give Sale some much-needed rest as they sit back and await the start of the American League Division Series on Thursday against the Astros in Houston.
As we’ve discussed here before, the Red Sox are not the best team in the American League. They’re not the second best team, either. They’re taking on the second best team in the American League in the postseason in five days. But it’s not always the best team who wins in October, and that’s even more true in these five-game series in the first round. It can be over in the blink of an eye, especially when an opponent is taken lightly.
The other thing that the Red Sox have going for them is that they have experience, however much of that they might have gotten in their three and out exit a year ago. They have it. Hopefully the Red Sox learned from their mistakes in Cleveland last fall and come prepared to take on a 100-win team that could potentially be an even taller task than the team that sent them packing in the ALDS a year ago without a single postseason win.
But for all the question marks that they may have entering that series, they still check a lot of boxes. Ace pitcher, elite closer, a decent enough offense, and a great bullpen. Those who are giving the Red Sox no shot to make some noise in October need to dig a little bit deeper. Are they the underdogs? Absolutely. As well they should be. However, the term “underdog” doesn’t translate to “no fucking chance in hell” so I would hope that it’s not being interpreted that way.
The Red Sox are a good team. We’ve been spoiled with playoff teams in the past that were World Series or bust teams, and this 2017 club is certainly not one of them thanks to the multiple teams that have very realistic chances of going all the way. But let’s not sit here and pretend that there haven’t been teams with low expectations who have gone on to win a championship before.
Boston was constructed to win a title. Most of the other teams that they’ll be competing against for that same title were perhaps constructed a little bit better, but don’t think for a single second that the players in that clubhouse are unaware of the fact that a lot of folks don’t like their chances this October. Sometimes, with a team as talented as they are, that’s all it takes is a little spark to light a massive fire.