Author: Billy Taylor
Editor: Brian Symons
As all baseball fans know, the Red Sox and Astros find themselves in the championship series. After last nights 5-4 nailbiter the Astros find themselves up in the series 1-0. Carlos Correa continues to be incredible in the postseason, and Kike Hernandez...yes Kike Hernandez is becoming a postseason legend. However, as many baseball fans know there is more to this series than just the baseball being played.
Nearly two years ago, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic released a story about a sign stealing scandal involving the Houston Astros. We all know the story by now; but when the dust settled from the cheating scandal, the Astros weren’t quite the same. Gerrit Cole left for the bright lights of New York, nearly everyone’s offensive production on the Astros declined, and Jose Altuve even had a bought with “The Yips”. Despite this, they made it to the ALCS where they lost to the Tampa Bay Rays in seven games after being down three games to none. Very impressive considering the circumstances; but with all-star outfielder George Springer poised for free agency, it seemed as though the beginning of the end had arrived for the Astros.
Just one month before the Astros sign-stealing scandal was revealed, Chaim Bloom took the helm of the General Manager position for the Boston Red Sox. Manager Alex Cora was fired for his involvement in the Astro’s scandal; and Superstar outfielder Mookie Betts was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, whom the Red Sox beat four games to one in the World Series just the year before. This ushered what was thought to be a full rebuild for the Red Sox, with the leader of their 2018 championship gone, Boston fans stared at a painful next couple of years.
After all the drama, controversy, and storylines from these respective teams the past few years they find themselves fighting for American League supremacy once again as they did in 2018. They both return to the playoffs with extremely potent offenses. Carlos Correa is slashing .385/.529/.539 in this year’s playoffs, continuing to add to his distinguished playoff numbers. Franchise cornerstones Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman continue to rake in the playoffs, and the supporting cast of Yordan Alvarez, Michael Brantley, and Kyle Tucker give the Astros lineup a balance that perfectly blends with one another.
For every weapon the Astros have offensively, the Red Sox have a formidable counterpart. Despite trading Mookie Betts, Chaim Bloom kept much of the championship core around; Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts, Christian Arroyo, and Christian Vázquez continue to be cornerstones in Boston’s lineup. Kiké Hernández is having the postseason of his life, slashing .435/.440/.826 this postseason. J.D. Martinez and Kyle Schwarber add incredible firepower from both sides of the plate. Newcomers like Alex Verdugo, Bobby Dalbec and Hunter Renfroe also add depth to a very strong lineup.
For how good the offenses are for Houston and Boston, their pitching is somewhat underwhelming. There’s not exactly one pitcher on both teams that could really sway the tides of the series, but this is the postseason after all. Ultimately though, the Red Sox pitching, and offense is slightly better than the Astros, and I think they will ultimately win the series and punch their ticket to the World Series. I would feel more confident in the Astros, but the fact Lance McCullers Jr.’s health is uncertain doesn’t forebode well for Houston.
The circumstances surrounding these teams in the past couple of years are different, yet very similar. They also happen to be quite similar on the field as well, with both teams bolstering offenses that should make for the most explosive games we have seen this October.
SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE
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