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BOSTON – For a team that finished with the best baseball record – setting a franchise record of victories en route – the Red Sox are asking a lot of questions about their paddock.
Two teams, 208 wins in the regular season. It was a record year for rivalry. Now, it's a series of five best. This is how we got here.
For some, just get here. For others, it is World Series or bust. We rank the teams in sets after their need to win this year.
Red Sox pitchers Chris Sale and David Price will start respectively for Games 1 and 2 of ALDS, while Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez will be absent.
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Even though they won their third consecutive league title in the East American League, with two Cy Young Award nominees and two MVP nominees, all did not go well for Boston. this year. The relief of the Red Sox was the problem – especially in September, after posting an average of 4.84 equation points, the worst of the AL.
Boston manager Alex Cora said on Wednesday that he remained confident in his record, saying that the end-of-season problems were not a local phenomenon.
"If you look around you in the league in September, there have been very good expenses that have deteriorated," he said Wednesday before the Red Sox learn that they will face their New York Yankees rivals in the AL Division series. "They were hit, they gave way."
"It's the nature of 162 games," explained Cora. "We're going to see the same guys, and it seemed like some of them ran into the wall."
And part of that was because they kept winning.
After winning 17 of their first 19 games, the Red Sox led the division for almost every week and have never lost more than three games in a row, beating the 106-year franchise record with 108 wins.
The offense was powerful, led by favorite favorite MVP AL Mookie Betts, who is the first AL player since Mickey Mantle to lead the majors in medium and extra-basic batting. J.D. Martinez scored 43 homers and led the majors with 130 RBIs and 358 goals in total.
The starting pitcher was also solid, led by Chris Sale, who was probably heading to AL Cy Young before an injury limited him to 14 innings in August and September. David Price has not lost a match for two months. Rick Porcello, winner of the AL Cy Young 2016, is set to start the third game of the AL Division series, and Nathan Eovaldi is expected to start the game against the Yankees, who defeated the Oakland Athletics 7-2 in the wild game on Wednesday. To advance.
But it would not be Boston if people did not complain about the Red Sox.
Craig Kimbrel, who saved 42 of 47 chances, and right-hander Ryan Brasier seem to be well placed in their roles. Cora hopes Steven Knuckleballer will be helpful in the long run relief. Matt Barnes seemed to go well until he gave up three points in his penultimate game of the year. Starter Eduardo Rodriguez is another option.
Joe Kelly, Heath Hembree, Brandon Workman and Bobby Poyner, two-handed.
"Let's hope we have the lead and we can give the ball to the next guy and the next guy, then we'll give it to Kimbrel and we'll get out of there," Cora said.
That does not inspire the confidence of Boston fans. When Baseball Reference reported in late September that the Red Sox records were leading all major tournaments against substitutes, fans reacted with a mixture of shock and anger reminiscent of before 2004. They have since fallen to second place, behind the Houston Astros.
But Barnes said the team was satisfied with the options.
"Everyone is going to have trouble all year long, so we all have them together at the same time," Barnes said. "You have guys with incredible stuff, guys who have playoff experience, and then, of course, we're anchored by one of the best baseball players in baseball. the world is very confident. "
Cora would not say Wednesday what would be the final choices for the market. The Red Sox will open the best run of five Friday night at Fenway Park against the Yankees, with the second game Saturday before the series moves to New York.
And if the Red Sox have a third straight outing in the playoffs, Cora knows what's coming. He said that he had watched the game of wild cards in the National League on Tuesday night and that he had already outscored his opponents. He had already anticipated how he would guess Cubs manager Joe Maddon was using his pen.
"It was just fun to watch," said Cora, who fell asleep and missed the last three outs. "Obviously, in some situations, I realize, you're going to be there on Friday, people are going to dissect every move you make."
"It was a good mood, it was a good start for the playoffs."
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