As of this key stroke the Red Sox ( 63-58 ) sit 11 games behind the first place Baltimore Orioles ( 74-47 ) , The good news according to those still searching for good news in this 2023 Red Sox season is the Yankees ( 60-61 ) sit 14 games out of first place. Still searching ? The Sox are just 3.5 games out of the final wildcard spot in the American league. The silence you hear right now is me not reacting to that at all.
Since its inception 53 years ago the Yankees have won the AL East 20 times. 1976–1978, 1980–1981, 1996, 1998–2006, 2009, 2011–2012, 2019, 2022 The Red Sox have won the Division 10 times 1975, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1995, 2007, 2013, 2016–2018. 2018, the good old days. Of those 30 championship campaigns 15 times in one combination or another the Sox and Yankees finished first and second respectively. Yet here they are in 2023 staring at a three game set in the Boogie Down Bronx battling to not finish dead last in the most storied division in baseball.
Two of the three richest teams in baseball, scratching and clawing for a way out of last place for most of 2023. I'm glad Teddy Ballgame - Joe D and the Rem Dog aren't alive to see this. You would think for 183 Yankees and 137 Red Sox million dollars sitting on their 26 man payrolls we would all be getting one of those, knock down drag outs from decades past. But this is the 2020’s where brainwashing, stat smashing and propaganda departments are as highly coveted as left handed starters with an ERA below 3.0. So winning percentages of .496 NY and .521 Boston and a chance at a wildcard game will have to do as we go into yet another Most important series of the season.
Humor me people. Close your eyes and remember when that term “Most important series of the season “ was about first place. Not Last.
As always you can follow/give me grief on Twitter @Tmurph207