Rays 5, Red Sox 1

 

Okay, Red Sox, big fan here. This post's for y'all, so I'm going to take you by the hand, look directly into your eyes, and say this slowly so that I'm sure you'll understand - it takes more than one run to win a baseball game. 

Yeah, sure, sometimes (rarely) there are 1-0 wins. It happens. But you can't count on it. A team that expects to consistently win with 1-0 scores is going to finish a 162-game season with a record of, like, 2-160. 

It was great that yesterday Trevor Story hit a 9th inning solo home run. I cheered. But you were already down, 5-0, at that point. I also loved Roman Anthony's RBI double the day before that, but that was another one-run game. Single runs don't win games. 

Tampa Bay's a good team, sure, but it's not like you're playing against the 1995 Atlanta Braves here. You can score more than one run. It's allowed. It's okay.

Look Red Sox, you had me there for a minute. You won the first game of this series on Friday, and I thought that the old 27-3 Sox of mid-summer might have returned. But then the bats went quiet again, and two one-run games later, I see that you're 4-6 in the last ten games, 5-7 since you swept the Orioles in Baltimore.

How does it feel that you finally clinched a playoff appearance not with a win but because the Braves beat the Astros? That Mike Yastrzemski, of all people, clinched the post-season for you?

You're off today. Terrific. Head back to Fenway for the final half dozen of the season. Cleveland (81-75) and then the Cubs (87-69). 

Both teams will probably kick your ass. And after that, two more losses in the Bronx and then this will all be over. It won't hurt. You won't feel a thing. After that, nothing. No more pain, no more men left in scoring position, no more watching opposing batters knock it out of the park. Sweet, empty nothingness, and it will last until next April, when we can do this all again. 

Sleep well, gentlemen.