Red Sox
“I think we have to wait.”
The Red Sox are sitting in a relatively good position to make the postseason entering Saturday’s game against the Yankees, sitting in one of the American League’s three wild-card spots. But Alex Cora doesn’t want to talk playoff baseball quite yet.
Cora isn’t panicking about the Red Sox’ playoff chances. However, the Red Sox manager believes it’s too soon to be managing games with the postseason in mind.
“I think we should stop talking October, to be honest with you,” Cora told reporters when asked about trying to find the best possible lineup against left-handed pitchers before the playoffs. “There’s a lot of stuff going on, and we have to play better.
“I’m not saying we’re in a bad spot, but I think we have to wait, you know, to see if October is part of this.”
The Red Sox hold the second wild card spot in the American League as of Saturday afternoon, sitting behind the Yankees by 1.5 games for the top spot. They also trail the Blue Jays by 4.5 games for first place in the AL East.
On the flip side, the Rangers’ recent hot streak has helped them move just three games behind the Red Sox in the wild-card race entering Saturday. Record-wise, Texas is the top team that currently doesn’t hold a playoff spot as Houston holds the third wild-card spot.
Still, even with the Red Sox in a bit of a slump and the Rangers on a tear, most analytic models have Boston making the postseason. The Red Sox have a 90.6 percent chance to make the postseason, according to ESPN. FanGraphs gives the Red Sox roughly the same probability of making the playoffs as well (90.1 percent). Baseball-Reference is slightly more bullish about the Red Sox’ playoff chances, giving them a 92.9 percent chance of playing in October.
The Red Sox have a slightly more difficult remaining schedule than the Rangers, though. As both teams battle opponents holding a playoff spot this weekend, Boston has two playoff series against squads likely to make the postseason. Texas, on the other hand, only has one more series against a team holding a playoff spot. However, that series is against Houston, which is beneficial to Boston.
As for the Red Sox’ lineup against lefties that Cora was asked about, Boston has had to make some drastic changes to its lineup throughout the season when it goes up against left-handed pitchers. The recent injury to Roman Anthony has only made it more difficult for Cora to navigate his lineup card when the Red Sox take on a lefty, with only four regular starters in Saturday’s lineup against Max Fried.
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