Boston Red Sox win the American League East title

The Boston Red Sox have finally clinched the 2017 American League East title with a Drew Pomeranz win over the Houston Astros.

In the rain at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox became the 2017 American League East champions.

Drew Pomeranz pitched well through 6 full innings before turning things over to the bullpen. Carson Smith came in and struggled, giving up a run on three hits while recording no outs. Luckily, David Price came in and pitched a shutout inning, striking out two Houston batters. Addison Reed also pitched a scoreless inning. Closer Craig Kimbrel gave up a run, but was able to recover and shut things down to seal the 6-3 win.

Boston scored most of their runs in the middle of the game with 2 in the 4th and 3 in the 5th. Mookie had the lone Red Sox home run of the day, but Hanley Ramirez, Rafael Devers, and Andrew Benintendi also had an RBI each. Mitch Moreland had two RBI on the day.

Now, Boston will be able to rest Chris Sale on Sunday before the postseason begins. That was why clinching the AL East title today was so important. The Red Sox will be the #3 seed in the American League postseason, facing these same Houston Astros. The New York Yankees will have to play in the wildcard game against the Minnesota Twins. The winner in that series will have to face the #1 seeded Cleveland Indians.

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Ending the season with 4 games against the Astros and then playing a 5-game ALDS series against them, is pretty bizarre. These teams will be very familiar with one another as they shift to Houston to begin the postseason. Chris Sale will be the Game 1 starter, while Houston will likely go with Dallas Keuchel. Justin Verlander is also an option for them there.

Despite the win on Saturday, it seems like the Sox still have a ton of issues to address before the ALDS begins. The offense overall has struggled, as has the back half of the starting rotation. Chris Sale and Drew Pomeranz are clearly #1 and #2, but behind them there are tons of questions. Rick Porcello, Doug Fister, and Eduardo Rodriguez have all failed to live up to expectations this season and they each are fighting for a postseaosn rotation spot. For now, it seems like David Price is best suited to pitch out of the bullpen where he’s been lights out.

Next: Projecting the Red Sox ALDS roster

Shift your focus to October Boston baseball fans, because the Red Sox may need all 5 games to get past the Astros. I think they can do it an set up an ALCS with the Indians, but it’s going to be extremely tough. Who’s ready for postseason baseball!?

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