Boston Red Sox: Chris Sale key in hunt for championship October

Now that the Boston Red Sox have clinched home field advantage, focus is on building the strength of ace Chris Sale for an October championship run. 

The Boston Red Sox World Series hopes begins and ends with Chris Sale.  It’s just that simple.

Following a Cy Young worthy performance through most of the 2018 MLB season, Sale was named as the Game 1 starter when the team faces either the New York Yankees or Oakland Athletics in the American League Divisional Series.  A no-brainer with the Chris Sale we’ve seen through most of the season.

But, will the Boston Red Sox even have the best version of the dominant ace?

After a couple of stents on the disabled list due to inflammation in the shoulder, Alex Cora has been taking it easy with Sale to preserve him for the playoff run.  Following a couple promising outing, the lanky lefty stepped on the mound Wednesday night against the Baltimore Orioles and did not look great.

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In the 10-3 loss to the 100-loss Orioles, Sale pitched 4 2/3 innings and 92 pitches.  He gave up three runs on four hits, struck out eight, but his fast ball velocity only reached 94 mph.  That is not the kind of velocity a pitcher like Chris Sale can get away with to make him affective with his other pitches.

There is still time, but Wednesday night’s outing doesn’t leave great optimism about him regaining his dominance in time for the playoffs.  With the type of offense, the Red Sox have, Sale could get by with a mediocre performance, but the team needs much more to advance in the plays and ultimately win it all.

Although Cora didn’t have a good feeling after the outing, Sale still offered some optimism following the game.

"“It’s not the time to panic,” Sale said, via MLB.com.  “One hundred seven wins into the season and October ahead of us, so it is what it is.  You take it in stride, try to build off it and just try to get better.”"

The problem with that is the team has 107 wins mostly due to solid starting pitching.  With David Price stinking things in the first game of the double header on Wednesday, suddenly that starting pitching staff is not looking so great.  That’s why Sale regaining his strength and velocity is probably the most important factor for the team going into the playoffs.

An issue with mechanics

Now, there are some mechanical issues both Alex Cora and Sale have noted.  He is not driving off his lower half like he normally does.  That may be what is holding his velocity back a bit, especially when he is protecting a shoulder that has some wear on it.

"“I saw some things last week and even tonight, just not really driving off my lower half to really create that torque I have in the past,” Sale admitted.  “We’ve got extended time now to kind of figure out what we need to do, and we’ll go from there.”"

After last year’s performance in the playoffs, the Boston Red Sox did their best to preserve Chris Sale.  Unfortunately, he still had the shoulder issue.  Now, the team is focused on getting him right before that 100-win season becomes just another 100-win season.

Any chance of a championship October rests on the control and velocity of a man who has dominated on the mound through most of the season.  He has to someone find that dominance again.