Tori Sheffer

Airing out the dirty laundry with a pair of mismatched Sox.

It’s no secret that the Red Sox’s blazing hot June has since snuffed out resulting in a very mild July, a worse August, and a not-so-great start to September having been swept by the Mets, losing two of three to the Detroit Tigers, and to top it off losing ground in the Wildcard race and allowing both previously mentioned Detroit and Seattle to catch up to them in the standings. While it’s been a rough road for the Sox, they needed a good series against the last-place Chicago White Sox to even remain relevant in the playoff contention talks. Most of Red Sox nation was hoping for a series sweep, and while they couldn’t deliver the brooms, they did manage to get some great wins in which fans got to see the team reunite to take two of three from the Chicago Sox. It’s been a nailbiter of a season for the Red Sox, especially with the pressure of the Netflix crew around (despite them going ghost the past month or so), but the Sox have tried to overcome the hate, drown out the noise, and show other fans across the MLB that they are as much of a contender as the other wildcard hopefuls; their closest parallel, at least in terms of offensive production and lineup structure being the Seattle Mariners. 

Game one, while still a win, was somewhat of a letdown for Red Sox fans and players alike as it wasn’t as dominating of a game as everyone had hoped for. There’s nothing quite like coming off of a bad series and then having an explosive offensive game, but that did not happen for the Red Sox this go-round. The White Sox took an early lead in the second when Lenyn Sosa came up in the second hitting a double, then, after two outs, Jacob Amaya came up to the dish and knocked him in with an RBI single. Luckily for the home Sox, it didn’t take too long to tie the game up once again 1-1 when, in the bottom of the fourth, Triston Casas hit a nice single to left field, knocking in Rookie of the Year candidate Wilyer Abreu while moving Designated Hitter Masataka Yoshida over to second. Then, the game’s atmosphere got increasingly quiet again. After two and a half scoreless innings, the bottom of the seventh rolled around, and rookie Ceddanne Rafaela took matters into his own hands. After Enmanuel Valdez walked to begin the inning, Ceddanne stepped into the box and absolutely mashed an 84 mph slider off of Matt Foster just on the inside of the zone, getting the Red Sox two more runs. The score then was 1-3, in favor of the home team (thank goodness), and all that anyone could do was hope that the bullpen didn’t implode as it has done countlessly, especially in close-scoring games; and hold on they did. Brennan Bernardino came in for the 8th striking out one while allowing no damage to the score. After a scoreless bottom 8, Josh Winckowski came in for the Red Sox to hopefully close it out, and after two groundouts and a lineout, Winck recorded his first save of the season.  

The bats certainly came alive for game two, which was much anticipated as it was the long-awaited return of Red Sox star shortstop, Trevor Story, who had not seen the Major League stage since his injury on April 5th, marking a one hundred thirty-three game drought in which all he wanted to do was play. Most people, the team included assumed that after a wicked dislocation and surgery, he wouldn’t see the lights of Fenway until the 2025 season, but with some true determination, Story made a triumphant return. He didn’t go home batting zero either, he went 1-4 including an RBI single in the bottom frame of the third. The true hero of the game was none other than Canada’s pride and joy, Tyler O’Neill, however. After a two-run blast in the bottom of the Red Sox’s four-run first inning, TO returned to the plate in the bottom of the fifth where he hit yet another home run over the monster in left center. The home Sox totaled seven runs during the second game with another beautiful start from a first-year member of the team, Cooper Criswell, and Boston fans got to see pitching prospect Chase Shugart pitch for the Major League club for the first time. His first inning went well, four batters and only one hit, but his second inning wasn’t as strong as he let up a three-run home run to former pride of Boston, Andrew Benintendi. The Red Sox held onto their two-run lead however, and managed to secure the win, complete with Kenley Jansen getting yet another save and surpassing Craig Kimbrel on the all-time saves list. 

Game three was where the wheels fell off for the Sox. After seeing Richard Fitts make his MLB debut and go five scoreless innings with an early offensive lead from the home team, Red Sox fans thought it would be an easy sweep of the 33-111 Chicago White Sox and their starter Chris Flexen who had lost his last twenty-one starts; however, in the top of the sixth, Fitts saw his first jam in the bigs and manager Alex Cora called upon struggling righty, Greg Weissert. In typical Weissert fashion, he quickly blew the lead and Chicago scored two, but luckily for him, Wilyer Abreu’s big bat came up to the dish in the bottom half of the inning in which he homered to right center tying the game 2-2. Miraculously, Weissert pulled himself together to have a three up, three down inning in the seventh, and Rule 5 gem, Justin Slaten, came out for the eighth in which he too had three men up and three men down. Then came the boom, the top of the ninth. Zack Kelly comes in, hoping he could recreate some of the success he’s had in his past few key moment situations from before the all-star break, but again, in typical (recent) Zack Kelly fashion the game quickly became 6-2 before you could even blink. So, the Red Sox had to suffer through yet another extremely painful loss which they should’ve won at a crucial time if they still want to even think of seeing playoff contention. 

With some key series coming up against some of baseball’s best teams, including the Minnesota Twins who are currently in the third and final wildcard spot that the Sox have been vying for all season; they’re going to need to dial in, make sure the bats stay alive, and play smart defensive baseball (which has been their downfall all season). After a season in which a majority of their starters have needed time on the IL, the team is seemingly back to who fans and the front office pictured would be lining the field with back in March. Story, Casas, Yoshida, and O’Neill all have been on the injured list for some time this season, and all are now finally finding their stride again, in hopes they can make a final push for that third and final wildcard spot making the postseason twenty years after the ‘04 team broke the “Curse of the Bambino” and went on to give the Sox their first World Series victory in eighty-six years.