After defeating the rival Yankees with help from Gerrit Cole and a 37-foot wall, the Boston Red Sox now prepare to meet the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays for a five-game American League Division Series matchup.
The Rays will hold home-field advantage for this series and throughout the AL postseason thanks to their AL-leading 100 wins. The series will open with two games at the Trop, then head east to Fenway for at least one, potentially two games, and a tie-breaking fifth game will go back to Tampa Bay if needed.
Rookie left-hander Shane McClanahan will start game one for the Rays.
McClanahan started 25 games for the Rays during the regular season, to the tune of a 3.43 ERA through 123.1 innings with 141 strikeouts, 1.273 WHIP and 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings. McClanahan was solid for Tampa Bay throughout the regular season, but comes into this matchup allowing 16 runs in his last 10 appearances.
The Rays are poised to start three rookies - McClanahan, Shane Baz, and Drew Rasmussen - through the first three games of the ALDS, which would make MLB history.
Baz is expected to start game two, having gotten the call to the big leagues on Sept. 20. He’s pitched in just three games this year, starting and winning all three and pitching to a 2.03 ERA. It’s a small sample size, but the Rays have enough confidence in their rookie to trust him with the ball in game two.
Rasmussen is the probable starter for game three, but that could change if his manager Kevin Cash chooses to use him out of the bullpen during games one or two. Rasmussen has pitched in innings 1-10 this year, so it’s obvious he can enter a game at any time.
Cash is known for his unorthodox use of the Rays’ pitching staff, not relegating guys to starter or reliever roles and instead using his pitchers in varying situations throughout games. He will look to continue the team’s success with those tactics through the postseason.
The Red Sox will take a more traditional approach to their pitching. After a stellar performance from Nathan Eovaldi in the AL Wild Card game against the Yankees, the Sox will likely send either RHP Nick Pivetta or LHP Eduardo Rodruigez to the mound for game one.
Both carried similar stat lines through the regular season, pitching to ERA’s over 4.5, throwing over 150 innings, collecting over 170 strikeouts and striking out over 10.9 batters per nine innings. Pivetta carries a preferable 8.0 hits per nine compared to Rodruigez’s 9.8, but Rodruiguez’s 2.7 walks per nine is significantly better than Pivetta’s 3.8. Red Sox manager Alex Cora may as well flip a coin.
Chris Sale is likely to start game two. Sale has pitched 42.2 innings in nine games with a 3.16 ERA since rejoining the club in mid-September following Tommy John surgery in the spring of last year.
Eovaldi will likely be back on the mound for game three after a strong showing in the Wild Card game. Eovaldi pitched 5.1 innings, struck out eight and allowed only one run against his former New York club.
After missing the Wild Card game due to an ankle injury, Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez’s ALDS prospects are still in doubt.
Martinez’s exceptional season was a big part of his team’s success in 2021. He finished the year hitting .286 with 28 home runs and 99 RBI. He also led all of MLB with 42 doubles. With their DH’s status still in question, the Sox may once again have to gameplan without one of their primary offensive players.
Boston will try to dampen a white-hot Tampa Bay offense,which was among the very best in baseball during the regular season.
The Rays employed a free-swinging approach at the plate this year, which drove down their contact numbers, but dramatically increased their overall offensive production. Tampa Bay struck out 1,542 times during the 2021 season, yet still managed to hit 222 home runs, accumulate 810 RBI and score a total of 857 runs — good for top six or better throughout all MLB clubs.
Tampa Bay is the favorite to win this series, but the Red Sox have been counted out since their first series of the season. Every time they’ve had their backs against the wall, the Sox have found ways to keep fighting. Expect Boston to put up a good fight and take the series to five games, but in the end, the overpowering offense and new-wave pitching tactics of Tampa Bay will likely prove too much to overcome.
Comentarios