The MLB never stops moving. Just two days after beating the New York Yankees in the American League Wild Card game, the Boston Red Sox are set to kick off their best of five series against the Tampa Bay Rays tonight. It’s a bit of a daunting task for Boston considering the Rays winning pedigree this season, but this Red Sox team has proven to be capable of beating any team at any time this season, and they could pull off an upset if things go their way.
This much was clear during the wild card game against the Yankees. The Sox had been reeling for parts of the second half of the season, but managed to put everything together when it mattered the most to send New York home for the season. Now they find themselves in a difficult matchup against Tampa, but it’s not one they can’t win.
The Rays excel at getting the most out of their seemingly desolate roster. They really don’t have a star player that is going to spearhead their team, but rather a solid roster from 1 to 26 that will find a way to wear you down. The Rays lost their best player in Tyler Glasnow pretty early on in the season to Tommy John surgery, but somehow found a way to get better as the season went on.
The Red Sox have come to rely on their depth more than they expected in the second half of the season, and they will need everyone on their roster to step up in a big way if they want to win this series. Here are three keys to taking down the Tampa Bay Rays, and moving onto the Championship round.
3 keys to the Boston Red Sox taking down the Tampa Bay Rays
No. 3: Using the bullpen correctly
It’s clear that Boston’s biggest weakness is their bullpen. After being so dominant in the first half, featuring one of the best closer/setup combos in Matt Barnes and Adam Ottavino, the bullpen has collapsed, with Barnes leading the charge. Barnes was so bad in the second half of the season that he was left off the ALDS roster entirely, leaving Boston without a true closer.
The bullpen plays an even bigger role in the postseason, with managers typically riding the hot hand to get them through the middle and late innings. Manager Alex Cora is familiar with how to properly use the bullpen, as he rarely made a mistake with the bullpen during the 2018 World Series run. He will need to be just as good this time around if Boston has any shot.
The lack of a closer isn’t ideal, but it won’t be an issue if the Sox can’t hold leads late in the game anyway, and that falls on the rest of the bullpen. Boston has a couple of really solid relievers, such as Ryan Brasier and Adam Ottavino, but they also feature some that struggle with consistency too often, such as Hansel Robles and Martin Perez. The thought of Perez as a viable late innings option isn’t exactly an enticing proposition.
Cora has to be careful in picking his spots with the bullpen here. Half of the guys, such as Perez, Garrett Richards, and Tanner Houck, are just starters who have been thrown in the bullpen, so no one really knows how they are going to react to coming out of the pen in the playoffs. Houck is probably one of the more reliable guys out of the pen ironically enough, and he was solid in the wild card game against New York.
Cora called on Garrett Whitlock to get the ninth inning against New York, and while I initially tabbed Whitlock to be Boston’s new closer due to Barnes’ struggles, I wouldn’t count on him being locked into any one role throughout the playoffs. Whitlock is easily Boston’s best reliever, and you can bet Cora will be quick to call on him to get out of some sticky situations throughout the game. Whether they come in the ninth inning or the middle innings remains to be seen.
Overall, how the bullpen is utilized is easily one of the biggest pieces of winning this series. Cora played his cards right in the wild card game, and that’s a big reason why they are in Tampa Bay right now. That will have to continue in this series, otherwise the Rays will make light work of Boston in this series.
No. 2: Don’t leave anyone on base
The 2018 Red Sox were one of the most clutch teams I can ever recall watching. They always found a way to come up with timely hits, and rarely left anyone on base. Their high-powered offense led them all the way to a World Series title. This offense isn’t nearly as good, but they have the ability to carry this team to victories.
They did just as much in the wild card game. Xander Bogaerts and Kyle Schwarber hit a pair of huge home runs that helped Boston get off on the right foot. But Alex Verdugo owned the night with a pair of clutch hits in the sixth and seventh innings that led to three insurance runs for the Sox.
Verdugo found himself at the plate with a chance to put some runs on the board, and he delivered. If the Red Sox want to keep winning, they would be wise to follow in Verdugo’s trail. You simply cannot afford to squander scoring opportunities in the playoffs. The Yankees did squander their few chances to score runs, and they are at home watching the playoffs now.
Continuing their clutch hitting from the wild card game will be imperative to winning this series. Boston has a solid group of veterans from the 2018 team in Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, and Rafael Devers that know the importance of bringing in those runs, and with those three guys at the heart of the lineup, it wouldn’t be surprising to see this team drive in more runs than expected.
The lineup has always been the Red Sox strength this season, and they will need to rely heavily on them to produce in this series. Tampa Bay has an extremely diverse case of arms in their rotation and bullpen, so it isn’t going to easy. Scoring runs is what wins you games, and if the Sox can capitalize on their scoring chances, they will have a good shot to prevail in this series.
No. 1: Keep the walks to a minimum
In the wild card game, the Red Sox pitchers issued a total of zero walks. It was huge, because it allowed them to avoid working around unnecessary traffic on the basepaths. Conversely, the Yankees administered seven walks, four of which ended up coming around to score.
This was the biggest difference between the Sox and the Yankees. Boston was patient at the plate and earned a free pass seven times. The Yankees were much more aggressive, and ended up making things way to easy for the Red Sox pitching staff.
Boston shouldn’t expect the Rays to take a similar approach in this series, especially after how poorly it went for New York. They will have to grind out at-bats at times, but it’s important that they find a way to get outs rather than sending people to first for free. The problem is, Boston has struggled with walks all season long, especially in the bullpen.
This is the biggest key for the Red Sox in this series. If they can limit the amount of walks they give up in these games, they probably will win the series. Boston’s pitchers seemingly always put themselves in these grave situations because they can’t get outs. They avoided that trouble at Fenway Park on Tuesday night, and they easily dispatched the Yanks as a result.
It’s no secret that some of these guys on Boston have some nasty stuff, but they’ve got to find ways to get guys out rather than letting them on base. Attacking batters won’t always work, but it worked quite well against New York, and they do have some guys who can overpower hitters with their stuff.
The Sox pitched scared for most of the second half of the season, and it cost them the top spot in the AL East. With the season on the line, the time to pitch scared is over. Attack these hitters and get some outs, otherwise the only out this team will get is out of the playoffs.