An Ode to the 2021 Boston Red Sox

     

Welp. Less than 24 hours after I wrote a blog about how the Sox are not out of this, they are out of this. For the first time in franchise history we lose a game 6 and the Astros advance to the World Series. I could sit here and write a god damn dissertation on how we coulda, shoulda, woulda done more in that game and the series in general. I'm not going too. 

    Instead of bashing all of the bad things that I know everyone who creates content on the Sox is going to. I want to pay homage to this god damn team. At the start of the season it was predicted that this team was barely going to break even with a 20% chance of making the playoffs and 7% chance of making the ALCS. They finished the season with 90+ wins and put up a fight against the best team in the AL. They performed above every single persons expectations aside from their own. 

    I love this team I have loved the Sox since birth and there are certain years that just feel special. Sometimes in a good way and others in a terrible way. This team in particular captivated me for some reason. If we are looking at statistics alone this wasn't a special team by any means. It was something different. In an age where statistics are everything, teams focused on Run differential and fWar this Sox team didn't give a damn. They played to win when it counted and for the most part achieved that.

    The core players on this team are people I think everyone loved to root for. The Bogaerts, Devers, Martinez, Eovaldi, Hernandez core of this team has a personality, and way of playing that we haven't had in awhile. Specifically the fun they had this season was a refreshing difference that we hadn't seen since 2018. After a miserable season last year this team put up a fight. A fight that no one expected. 

    It was also a fantastic return for a manager that needed this. Cora made his mistakes I think we can all acknowledge that. He paid for them and made a return that I think shocked a lot of people out side of the Fenway Faithful. We have something very special with this manager and I hope people recognize that. The redemption tour of Alex Cora is far from over and this team knows it. 

    This season made me excited to be a Sox fan again. It made an entire city excited to be Sox fans again. Every time I went to Fenway this year you could feel the excitement in the air. It was a buzz in that city that I hope carries into next year. No scratch that, I know it will carry into next year. We need to make some moves in the offseason to improve this team I think everyone can agree on that. I will cover all of that. I have some big things in the works for this offseason and hopefully into the future so stay tuned for that. For now let's all raise a glass and celebrate a team that poured their soul out for this city and performed above everything we thought they could. 

See you soon. Go Sox.