Boston Red Sox Thread

[Simple Torture]

When I got home from trick-or-treating with the kids last night, I collapsed on the couch exhausted at around 8:15 and suddenly had the thought: "My god...there could've been a Game 7 tonight." I think it's because I had tried to match my work schedule up with the World Series schedule that it didn't feel like baseball season was over until today, even though it had been kaput since Sunday night. I was exchanging PMs with another RM baseballer and started to think a bit more deeply about the bittersweet ending to the season considering where my sports fandom stands right now. Sure, it's way more sweet than bitter: the Sox were dominant all year, certainly the best team wire-to-wire, but there were 450 moments in the postseason that felt like things could fall apart (1/2 of them involving Kimbrel), and while some of those moments may have felt magnified for us who still have pre-2004 PTSD, the World Series was anything but a sure thing. I remember catching up with some friends outside of Fenway before Pearl Jam, talking baseball, and someone saying, "The Sox can't win the World Series--their two best pitchers are starters" (Sale and Price, he meant). In this very thread I expressed the same kind of worry about the bullpen as recently as August. We were basically all right about Kimbrel, but the way other arms stepped up--Eovaldi and Kelly of course, but also Porcello for some bullpen innings and Braizer in some big spots--helped them get over a hump in a big way.

I feel like I'm rambling off course now. Where I'm going, or where I wanted to go, is just to express kind of sappily, in an almost Field-of-Dreams-type way, how connected I feel to baseball now, especially with other sports falling off my radar. While I find it harder and harder to make time to be a fan of other teams, to try and figure out what their schedules are and how I can fit in a game, baseball is always just there. That might sound dismissive at first, but it's really not. Baseball runs on a schedule that mimics life in many ways: it's basically on every day, beginning in the springtime as things start to heat up and then dragging through the summer months as things really slow down. You never have to worry about when your team is on--is it Friday, Saturday, or Sunday? Then the answer is yes. Any other day of the week? 75% chance the answer is yes. Especially over the course of the past three years, my wife and I have gotten into a good groove where we start to get the kids to bed around 6:30, they start to relax a bit after that, and--if we're lucky--we only miss the first inning or so as everyone gets to sleep. Then we can just open the windows and watch the rest of the game. We've definitely watched 100+ games each of the past 3 seasons, which--as our family has grown--has coincided with some important parts of our team either growing into their roles (like Betts as the team's best hitter, Xander as a stalwart--even if he's not a superstar--Bradley as a glove wizard, Benintendi and Devers as the "kids") or coming onto the team and producing bigly (Sale, Kimbrel--in his best moments--Price, Martinez, Porcello). It's pure coincidence that this has all happened at the same time, but it helps the feeling that the game is imitating our lives, and that helps build a connection.

With baseball going down for a long winter's nap, I really don't know what I'm going to do with this energy I used to follow stats, tweet, ponder lineups and trades, and everything else. I'm hoping to read and write more. And while this post didn't come together as I thought it would in my head--it is, in a weird way, not sappy enough, I think, considering all the warm and fuzzy feelings I have when it comes to this team and this sport. When I was in college and following the Sox, it was about beating the Yankees, about sticking it to them, about being the best, about overcoming the underdog and loser label; now, I feel like it's about feeling joy, and recognizing how the rare moments of such happiness reflect how rare it can be in "real" life, but how you've got to hang onto them for all they are worth. And if there's something I want to say in closing that can sum it all up, I want to express one more time so it's unequivocal: Manny Machado can eat shit.

[washing machine]

I hear ya 100%

After last season, I went on a heavy diet of Ken Burns Baseball episodes and random archived games (not just Astros) on YouTube.

The idea that baseball rises and falls with the warm weather seasons is so beautiful. Binging old media about the sport scratched an itch for a moment, but there’s just no substitution for that special something in the air on Opening Day.

(This exchange should be in the MLB thread, by the way.)

[Simple Torture]

Ooo Baseball is on Amazon Prime. I think you just made my week.

[washing machine]

Ooo Baseball is on Amazon Prime. I think you just made my week.

Oh shit! You just made mine. The episodes I watched last year seemed to have disappeared on YouTube.

[Norah]

Baseball is the best, for all those reasons and more.

Also, the Ken Burns documentary is shown on MLB Network non stop during the offseason.

[numbers]

This weekend on MLB network they are showing all 11 wins from the postseason and a bunch of other Red Sox related programming, including the 2004, 2007 and 2013 World Series films.

[numbers]

I think it’s funny that the playoff game I went to is the one stinker of the postseason.

[Coach]

I think it’s funny that the playoff game I went to is the one stinker of the postseason.

That does suck, but at least we added the title in the end. Thanks for taking one for the team, Numbers.

[numbers]

I think it’s funny that the playoff game I went to is the one stinker of the postseason.

That does suck, but at least we added the title in the end. Thanks for taking one for the team, Numbers.

I actually had a lot of fun, the game sucked but being in there for a playoff game against the Yankees was really cool.

[Simple Torture]

Start spreading the (fake) news:

[Coach]

The most important championship among the four major pro sports teams in town is the Super Bowl. Until Brady / Belichick call it quits, I don't see it swaying back to the Sox.

I think Boston is still a great baseball town, though.

[Norah]

Got myself tickets to the home opener.

[Simple Torture]

I can hear Mo Vaughn crying from here:

[Coach]

[Simple Torture]

Mookie gets $20 in arbitration, most ever for a player in the 2nd year of arbitration eligibility.

[spike]

Twenty lousy bucks?

[Simple Torture]

[Norah]

it's all happening

[Coach]

Nice!

[Norah]

wat