Not So Fast, Sox Fans!
Friday, April 01, 2011
Somebody please stop the madness!
Jon Lester hasn’t even thrown out the first pitch of the 2011 Red Sox season and it seems as if the whole world is already getting him and his teammates sized for their championship rings. Am I missing something?
Yes, I understand that the Red Sox “won” the offseason with the acquisitions of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford. Yes, I know that they have a very good team which should be in the hunt for a postseason berth come October. But I have never seen anything like this before.
To say that optimism reigns supreme in Red Sox Nation might be the understatement of the century!
Red Sox fans are talking about this team winning more than 100 games in 2011. The so-called “experts” are almost unanimously picking Boston to win the A.L. East. Even the Boston Herald is proclaiming that this could be the Red Sox “Best Team Ever.” And they haven’t even played a single game!
For years Red Sox fans looked forward to opening day with great hope that this would be the year after many seasons of anguish. To put it in terms most of us can understand, the Red Sox were like Charlie Brown hoping to kick that football only to have Lucy pull it away from him at the last second. That’s what it was like to be a Red Sox fan.
But that all changed in 2004 and again in 2007 when Boston won World Championships in each of those years.
Now Sox fans enter the 2011 season thinking that anything but a World Series title would be a colossal failure. My, how the times have changed!
As Red Sox fans, we all have reason to be optimistic about this year’s team because it is a very talented ballclub. But to anoint it the team to beat before the season starts seems a bit silly, doesn’t it?
Let’s start with the fact that the New York Yankees reside in the same American League Eastern Division as the Red Sox. That’s the same New York Yankees who have won 10 of the last 13 division titles.
You might also want to know that the Tampa Bay Rays won 2 of the other 3 division titles during that stretch. And, the last time I checked, they still play in the A.L. East as well. Granted the Rays lost a lot of talent this past offseason, but they are still the defending champs.
The Yankees were a playoff team last year as well winning the American League Wild Card. But you know who didn’t make it to the playoffs? That’s right – your Boston Red Sox!
Again, no one will argue the talent on this year’s team and say that it should not be considered one of the favorites in both the American League and in Major League Baseball. But aren’t some of us going a little too far?
You could argue that the Yankees line-up is every bit as good as Boston’s and there’s no disputing the fact that their bullpen is superior to the Red Sox.
Where Boston does rate the edge is in starting pitching depth. The Yankees have Sabathia, Burnett and Hughes which is a good top 3. After that is where they have lots of questions.
Still, it’s not as if the Red Sox have answers at every spot in their rotation. Lester is a stud and Clay Buchholz is solid. But do we really know what to expect from Josh Beckett this year? What about John Lackey? And don’t even get me started with Diasuke Matsuzaka.
If I had to put a number on the Red Sox win total this year, I would probably go between 94-96. But I would also put the Yankees win total in that same area as well.
I just feel like there is a bit too much optimism regarding this Red Sox team and that we are somehow being set up for a great disappointment. I hope that I’m wrong, but the realist in me won’t let buy into the 100+ win discussion and the “best Sox team ever” discussion.
I guess you could say that I’m from Missouri – the Show Me State. I need to see it to believe it!
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