#mlb 2016

I’m sorry this has taken so long. Better Sox writers than me were able to overcome emotion and all the other stuff to get their breakdown of the game and tributes to the amazing David Ortiz out much faster than me. I wish I could say that it’s worth the wait. That my hot take on a too soon end to the Red Sox post season run will either have that overlooked nugget of truth, or hilarious quip, that all the others missed. But I’m feeling a little empty. The last 2 series of the regular season, and then the ALDS, they all seemed like a bad run in June. As though the Sox were unaware that it was cowboy up time, that this was when it really mattered. Now, I know that’s not true. I know that they were well aware of what time of year it was and just how much it mattered - goodness knows Hanley tried to lift the whole team on his shoulders. And Pedey seemed to pull himself out of his two-game slump by the end. But it wasn’t enough. Everything that went wrong for the Sox (when they went wrong for them) in the regular season went wrong for them against Cleveland. Bats going cold and starters not seeing them through (though Buchholz, I would argue, put up a better fight than Price or Porcello). Part of me wonders if it was just timing. These Sox on a different set of days could’ve hammered those Indians, couldn’t they? They did, pretty consistently, throughout the season. 

At least it wasn’t a beatdown. But it was like a horror movie in slow motion... the dawning that this was it. When Ortiz was pulled for Hernandez in the eighth (which I both understand and don’t), that if there was a comeback, it would be without the large father. Chad Finn wrote about as good a take on the game as you’ll see. And if you haven’t read his appreciation of Ortiz in Boston, take a look. It’s great. No, I don’t know what Farrell was thinking when he subbed out Benintendi for Young. Nintendo was one of the few consistently good things in the lineup this postseason. But whatever. I just can’t bring myself to blame a manager for everything when the team won the division. 

However, as much as I don’t blame Farrell for everything, I blame him for some stuff, and if this series taught me anything, it’s that I want Tito back. Or, to be clearer, I never wanted him to leave. But he did. I’ll be rooting for his team, in spite of my grave misgivings about their mascot, through to the very end of the playoffs. 

As for the Red Sox, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic. David Price is a good enough pitcher, or has been, to assume that he’ll get over his freshman year stutters. Rick Porcello might not win another 22 games next year, but that he’s capable of such a feat is a source of comfort. 

With another year under their belts, the young core of the team will hopefully sort out their irksome droughts of the bat. It’s already exciting to watch them play.

Unless you count the ceremonies for Big Papi, that was a pretty quiet end to an extraordinary regular season. The bats were hapless for the most part, with the team once again struggling against young Sanchez. The idea that at least one rival from the AL East might return to haunt us later in the post season isn’t comforting to say the least. After the 11-0 run that sealed the division for us, going 1-5 is something of a concern. But I’m still confident in the team will get to the ALCS. We’ve played and beaten Tito’s Cleveland team a fair few times this year, and we’re good on the road. 

But it’s a touch deflating at the moment. Three days without baseball, the knowledge that next year there will be no David Ortiz on the team, an annoying loss... it’s a bit of a baseball hangover at the moment. Yes, there’s the thrill of the postseason, but after that it’s the dark days of winter and the offseason. 

Anyway, thank you for reading this season. This little experiment turned into something a little bigger and more time consuming than I expected. I never thought I’d manage to do every game (bar the first 7). I’ll be doing recaps of the playoffs as well. As for yesterday’s bright sides?

David Ortiz discovered that he will be the first Red Sox player in history to have his number retired just one year after his own retirement. I didn’t get a chance to see the ceremony sadly, so I’m waiting until I need a really good cry before checking out the clips. True story - an old friend of mine was mouthing off about Papi on Twitter and I flat out told him to go fuck himself and then blocked him. 

Hanley Ramirez went deep, and saved us from the ignominy of getting no-hit by Sanchez.