One of the biggest commodities to have in baseball is pitching. It’s hard to obtain, hard to train, and even harder to scrape from the minor leagues and have faith in. Over my entire baseball career, I have been able to watch the grandmaster of closing out games work out of my team’s bullpen. Yes, that would be The Sandman, Mariano Rivera. That luxury is gone now, and leads will never seem as safe. However, it seems as if the team I hate the most may have found that new luxury.
The Boston Red Sox are in the 2013 World Series due to their pitching. Feel free to look it up; they scored just over three runs a game in the ALCS. That average is in large part due to two timely swings of David Ortiz and Shane Victorino, without those eight runs they had less than two a game. The starters were not always perfect for the Sox in this ALCS, but their ‘pen basically was. The numbers were astounding, with a 0.45 ERA as a group (a run allowed in twenty innings of work) and a WHIP of 1.20. It is pretty easy to see why Koji Uehara received the MVP of the ALCS. The Tigers must have known that they needed to create scoring opportunities on the starters, and the Cardinals need to be thinking the same thing.
I am in no way shape or form excited for the Red Sox to be in the position they’re in, especially with the fact that they have a good chance to pull it all off. However, I think there are a lot of factors aiding them. The aura they have working in the clubhouse, a never say die attitude, clutch hitting, and a shutdown bullpen has turned this team from worst to first. Maybe it’s the playoff beards, or the Boston Strong, but much like 2004 this team seems destined to win it all. With the beards, they have the look of a baseball team. A team that enjoys the grind of playing every day, not a stoic business organization that can’t have facial hair (if you know who I mean). I am rooting against you Boston, but I can already see what will likely happen and it’s a good thing for baseball.
Sports Sarcasm 