Missed my guess about Rafael Devers; new term: a Jack Morris win; playoff teams with weak records; what the Red Sox should have their sites on

Monday 8/24/26

I was wrong about the Red Sox fans applauding Rafael Devers, which is what I thought they'd do during his first at-bat of the weekend series. That's often how it works if it wasn't some beloved player or just a fan favorite, and Devers was neither. You get cheered your first time at the dish, then maybe you get booed or at least vocally rooted against. But they booed him from the first.

Quite a nice weekend for the Red Sox, finishing off the sweep of the Giants yesterday, which was another nationally televised game, though with Lou Merloni doing the color commentary. Jake Bennett struggled early, but he righted his personal ship and they kept him in there for seven innings. Don't see that often. When a guy struggles early, best case scenario these days is he pitches five innings. I liked the decision here by Chad Tracy. That's a Jack Morris win. A pitcher giving up four runs in seven innings, though only three of Bennett's runs were earned. I wish there was more of this kind of thing.

I had mentioned that no team has ever made the postseason in baseball in a non-shortened season with a losing record but we could see that happen this year. We may actually see two teams make the playoffs with a sub-.500 record: the AL West winner and the third Wild Card team.

I'd say it's likelier that both finish above .500 and this thing that has never happened continues to be a thing that has never happened, but as a fan of statistical quirks I know what I'm rooting for. I always thought the 1973 were a cool story, as well as the 1987 Twins. The Twins won the World Series, and the Mets came damn close t do the same. They weren't under .500, but 82-79 is close. That World Series against the Athletics went seven games; the Mets had been up 3-2.

Here's where I'd set my sites for the Red Sox: the Yankees. Right now, New York has a three-game lead for that top Wild Card spot. The first two Wild Card teams play each other in that first round in a best-of-three with all the games being in the higher seed's ballpark.

The Red Sox have been good on the road all year. For a while, they were dreadful at Fenway. But watching the team over the summer, you can see that they got their Fenway mojo back. They've had some big wins at home. Improbable wins. Saturday was one of them. That game when they trailed the four or five times or whatever it was against the White Sox was one of them.

I think it's kind of a tall order to catch the Yankees. I feel like they'll probably play decent the rest of the way. But that would be my target. Try and get that top Wild Card spot. Having those playoff games at Fenway could be huge. Personally, I'd really like to see October baseball at Fenway. What's better than that in sports?