Red Sox-Astros 2018 ALCS: Ranking of scenarios

BOSTON – You may have heard that Alex Cora was the bench coach for A.J. Hinch at one point. Cora signed Thursday at Fenway Park, two days before the start of what should be a fantastic series of American League championships between Astros and Red Sox.

"A.J. Hinch, he was great with me last year." I appreciate the guy, "said Cora. "We stayed in touch, we talked about our families and the important things in life, on Saturday he has a job to do, a job to do, and it should be fun." In the end Honestly, AJ does not start ball, I'm not throwing the ball, it's about talent on the pitch, they're going to decide what's going on, obviously we have to do our job to put them in position to succeed, but in the end, my last match took place in 2011. And that of AJ some time ago.This is not for us, it's not Alex Cora-AJ Hinch.This is for the players. "

If the cup of tea outweighs the replacement of FanGraphs, six of the top 30 players in the majors in 2018 are part of this series: Mookie Betts (1), Alex Bregman (4), JD Martinez (10), Xander Bogaerts (22), Jose Altuve (23), Andrew Benintendi (30).

Take a look at the separate list of throwers (minimum 130 rounds), and there are five more by fWAR, including four Astros: Justin Verlander (3), Chris Sale (4), Gerrit Cole (6), Dallas Keuchel (22) and Charlie Morton (30).

"There is talent there," said Cora. "If you're a baseball fan, that's it, wow, I mean, Altuve and Mookie and Carlos and Xander, it should be fun, because you do not see it very often, you know, not just two. good teams but you start to look at the talent on the field you have a center field player who is 240 [pounds] and is 6-4 and he leads for the Houston Astros. And then our guy is 5-7, -8, whatever it is [in Betts]. He is probably the most valuable player in the league, and then you have Altuve, who is what he says he is, and he can hit, and Sale and Verlander, Price, Cole. There are a lot of big names out there. As I said, as a baseball fan, it's, I know that probably the fans are as if everything was fine, he's seven to be able to see all that talent happen and happen. "

So how do you classify these Astros-Red Sox cross stories?

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "1. J.D. Martinez against the Astros. It is the one that has enough general interest to be watched every night, but it is also rich enough in history to make an interesting cut. Martinez, famous, was cut by the Astros in 2014. Could he have afforded more bats during spring training after rebuilding his momentum? Who should have ordered that we grant him this playing time, the former manager Bo Porter or the current boss Jeff Luhnow? Adron Chambers had more bats than Martinez that spring. Who is it? Good question. What a sweet reward it would be for Martinez, already on a potential nine-digit contract, to go to the World Series at the expense of the team that let him go – and here, bet that he was administering a serum of truth, he says the same thing. Dave Dombrowski may not have personally designed Martinez's signature as a minor player with Detroit after the Astros let him go, but nonetheless, Dombrowski's operation was a huge winner at the time, in the end, and could be here again. "data-reactid =" 28 ">1. J.D. Martinez against the Astros. It is the one that has enough general interest to be watched every night, but it is also rich enough in history to make an interesting cut. Martinez, famous, was cut by the Astros in 2014. Could he have afforded more bats during spring training after rebuilding his momentum? Who should have ordered that we grant him this playing time, the former manager Bo Porter or the current boss Jeff Luhnow? Adron Chambers had more bats than Martinez that spring. Who is it? Good question. What a sweet reward it would be for Martinez, already on a potential nine-digit contract, to go to the World Series at the expense of the team that let him go – and here, bet that he was administering a serum of truth, he says the same thing. Dave Dombrowski may not have personally designed Martinez's signature as a minor player with Detroit after the Astros let him go, but nonetheless, Dombrowski's operation was a huge winner at the time, in the end, and could be here again.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "2. Chris Sale vs. Justin Verlander. Former AL comrades and Cy Young's nominees for 2018 are on the verge of getting closer, not that Verlander is missing one. "Data-reactid =" 29 ">2. Chris Sale vs. Justin Verlander. AL's alumni and Cy Young's youth in 2018 are about to get close-ups, even if one is missing.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "3. J.D. Martinez vs. Jose Altuve. Suppose you have a single bat to win a game. Martinez is arguably the best pure baseball hitter at the moment, unless you want to give him the award, for example, his former minor league teammate in his first year in professional ball, 2009, Jose Altuve. Or maybe Martinez's current teammate, Mookie Betts? Present your arguments, go ahead. "Data-reactid =" 30 ">3. J.D. Martinez vs. Jose Altuve. Suppose you have a single bat to win a game. Martinez is arguably the best pure baseball hitter at the moment, unless you want to give him the award, for example, his former minor league teammate in his first year in professional ball, 2009, Jose Altuve. Or maybe Martinez's current teammate, Mookie Betts? Make your case, go ahead.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "4. George Springer vs. Mookie Betts. Who would you prefer to have in the right field for the next 5 to 10 years? Why? Which one is most likely to be in Boston in 10 years, the Springer, a Connecticut native, or Betts? "Data-reactid =" 31 ">4. George Springer vs. Mookie Betts. Who would you prefer to have in the right field for the next 5 to 10 years? Why? Which one is most likely to be in Boston in 10 years, the Connecticut native Springer, or Betts?

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "5. Jeff Luhnow against Dave Dombrowski. Ground control against Carmine's replacement, Beacon. New and old, written in big. The discussion on this issue, which is actually a collection of questions, could take a long time for those willing to do so. "Data-reactid =" 32 ">5. Jeff Luhnow against Dave Dombrowski. Ground control against Carmine's replacement, Beacon. New and old, written in big. The discussion on this issue, which is actually a set of questions, could take a long time, for willing participants.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "6. AJ Hinch vs. Alex Cora. Head-to-head. But let's remember that they have only been together for a year. They're not friends for life (even though they'll probably be friends now.) They're both close to Joe Espada, the Astros coach who replaced Cora in Houston, and Espada could have gone . at one or the other team. Consider this as the fight for Espada's love, then. "Data-reactid =" 33 ">6. AJ Hinch vs. Alex Cora. Head-to-head. But let's remember that they have only been together for a year. They're not friends for life (even though they'll probably be friends now.) They're both close to Joe Espada, the Astros coach who replaced Cora in Houston, and Espada could have gone . at one or the other team. Consider this as a fight for Espada's love.

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