What are the chances the Boston Red Sox win the 2019 World Series?
There are a handful of teams in each season that have a reasonable chance of winning the World Series. The Red Sox have been one for the last few seasons.Helping their cause is that they are one of the most talented teams in baseball, but they are hurt by being in a division with two other very strong teams and in a league with more strong teams overall. It’s harder for the Red Sox to simply get to the World Series, let alone win it, than it is for the Dodgers, for example.If you checked the postseason odds at Fangraphs and Baseball Prospectus throughout the season, the Red Sox were almost never the favorites, even when they were playing better than .700 baseball in the regular season. Part of this is that the computers viewed Houston and (somewhat inexplicably) the Yankees as better teams all year long, but another is that they had a very difficult path to get to the championship. And they did, winning a division with a 100-win team and a 90-win team, then beating a 100-win team in the Division Series and a 103-win team in the ALCS before playing the NL team with the best run differential in the Series.Taking all of the different factors into account, the odds that the Red Sox repeat as World Champions is probably in the neighborhood of 10–15 percent.
Will the Red Sox or A's do better in the (2013) postseason, and why?
I'd love to say the A's, since I'm a slightly bigger fan of that team. However...The Red Sox will go farther in the 2013 MLB postseason than the Oakland A's. Ideally, they'll meet in the ALCS. That said, I'm having trouble seeing the A's beating the Tigers in the ALDS - they're just not a good enough team to beat three out of four of the Tigers' aces. If they do that, I'm a happy camper... but then they likely have to face the Red Sox in the ALCS.The Sox are already up 2-0 on the Rays, and it seems likely that they'll take one of the next two in Tampa. At that point, they'll be a well-rested, veteran team that's taking on a more tired (especially given the time zone changes), younger A's squad. So I would see them taking that series in 5 or 6 games and heading to the World Series to represent the American League.[ATA from Hillel Gray]
Can the 2018 Boston Red Sox overcome a bad bullpen and win the World Series?
It’s impossible to say if they will, but they have to be the odds-on favourite.For one thing, Boston enjoys home-field advantage (the first two games are in Boston, and a full seven game series would have four of the seven in Fenway.) This is not the huge advantage it is in football, where you basically win or lose based on a single game, and where home advantage is very important, but it’s significant. Having the first two at home gives a team a chance to build a strong lead should they win both.Second, the Red Sox won 108 games in 2018. The Dodgers won 92. And they did so playing in a division (the AL East) where the Yankees also won 100 games (and third place Tampa Bay won 90). A sixteen game difference, with 38 of 162 total (nearly 25%) against two very strong teams is a big gap.In intra-league play, Boston was 16–4, which is a remarkable result.Boston had a runs scored/runs allowed differential of 249 (they scored an eye-popping 876 runs and allowed 647. By comparison, the Dodgers scored 804 (which is itself remarkable in the National League and in a pitchers’ park like Dodger Stadium), while allowing 610. that’s a differential of 194.The Red Sox, based on win-loss are just a better team.In a short series, the Sox will send out Chris Sale, David Price, and Ricky Porcello to start. All will be rested. All are outstanding.The Dodgers will send out Clayton Kershaw in game 1, who can match Sale. After that, Alex Wood against Price and Walker Buehler against Porcello looks to give a good sized advantage to Boston (after you control for park and league effects).And then there is the Boston lineup. Betts, Martinez, Bogaerts all have OWAR numbers at six or higher. Not one Dodger is over 5 (Yasmani Grandal is their top, at 4.8).Nate Silver[1]puts the Red Sox as a 60%/40% favourite to win it all.Anything can happen - Betts could get hurt, Kershaw could step up, Price could flame out. If LA can win one of the games in Fenway and go back to LA at 1–1, the calculus changes. But if they come back 0–2….Footnotes[1] 2018 MLB Predictions
Who will win the ALCS featuring the Astros and the Red Sox?
It depends on when Kate Upton’s baby is due. Hopefully, he/she will arrive after the World Series. If so, I think Houston will win behind Verlander’s and Gerrit Cole’s arms.
Who will win the 2016 world series of baseball?
Good questionSince some of the spots are still up for grabs, I'll use the teams that are currently in the lead for those spots.With that in mind, the postseason match ups for the ALDS would be:Cleveland vs Boston with Boston have Home-Field advantageTexas vs Wild Card game winner with Texas having Home-Field advantageThe NLDS match ups would be:Washington vs LA Dodgers with Washington having Home-Field advantageChicago Cubs vs Wild Card game winner with Chicago having Home-Field advantageThe Wild Card games would be:Toronto vs Baltimore in Wild Card with Toronto having Home-Field advantageNY Mets vs San Francisco with NY having Home-Field advantageMy guess for who wins those would be the following (beware, I am a Red Sox fan so I’m a little biased):Toronto beats BaltimoreNY beats San FranciscoBoston beats ClevelandTexas beats TorontoWashington beats LAChicago beats NYThe ALCS and NLCS would then be:Texas vs Boston with Texas having home-field advantageChicago (Cubs) vs Washington with the Cubs having home-field advantageMy prediction would be Boston and the Cubs winning the ALCS and NLCS, respectfully. This means that Boston and the Cubs would fave each other in the 2016 World Series. In the World Series, I think the Cubs would win in 6 games, finally breaking the 107 year curse.I’m no professional, but this is just my guess as to what will happen.
2013 Boston Red Sox vs 2011 St. Louis Cardinals?
The cardinals got lucky back in 2011. the Rangers made some awful plays that costed them their first ever world series trophy. but you never know because they had pujols and the a different David freese that season. i would say redSox in 7 because they had so much momentum after defeating the great tiger pitching. well if the Tigers bullpen did not blow them the ALCS they would not have made it to the world series
Boston never had good pitching but in the 2018 World Series their pitching got really good, kind of out of nowhere. How did this happen?
Whoa, there, big fella. Back up a minute.The 2018 Red Sox pitching staff had a 3.75 ERA, third in the league. Now that’s the whole staff including guys who never pitched in the postseason.If you include just the guys who did pitch in the postseason, their season ERA was 3.47.Their ERA in the ALDS vs. the Yankees was 3.50.Their ERA in the ALCS vs. the Astros was 4.00.Their ERA in the WS vs. the Dodgers was 3.50.What happened was a few outstanding individual performances in short series.Joe Kelly: 6 IP, 0 R in the ALDSDavid Price: 13.3 IP, 3 R, 2 W in the ALDSDavid Price: 10.2 IP, 4 R in the ALCSRyan Brasier: 4.2 IP, 0 R, 4 appearances in the ALCS.Joe Kelly: 6 IP, 0 R, 5 appearances in the WSNathan Eovaldi, 8 IP, 2 R, 3 appearances in the WSDavid Price, 13.2 IP, 3 R, 2 W in the WS.Basically, Price, Eovaldi, and Kelly (and to some extent Brasier) were terrific in the post season. Which made up for Sale having a 5.40 ERA in the Series, 4.50 in the ALCS, and 5.40 in the ALDS.Cora was really good at identifying and riding the guys who were hot in all three series.
Will the bullpen ultimately be the downfall of the MLB Red Sox this year?
I thought it might, but the bullpen has held its own the last few games. One thing that’s different about postseason play that I didn’t consider is starters sometimes pitch an inning in relief on a rest day just to provide an extra boost in the bullpen. Rick Porcello did it in Game 1, Sale did it last night in Game 4. Both moves worked out. Being that they already have two starters now serving as relievers (Rodriguez and now Price), the Sox should be able to plug those bullpen holes with starters who have worked 5–7 innings on a regular basis, meaning 1 inning should, in theory, not be a problem. If Joe Kelly starts to be wild-pitch McGee, bring in a resting starter for a couple batters. If Home Run Hembree is on the mound instead of Handy Heath, plug in Price or Eovaldi or someone who didn’t just/won’t soon pitch. This shouldn’t be done religiously, as the natural relievers need to learn to hold their own, but it’s a good strategy.
Will the Red Sox bullpen be their undoing against the Astros?
The magic 8 ball is stuck somewhere between “answer hazy, try again later” and “signs point to yes”Certainly, in the series against the Yankees, the bullpen tried really hard to blow 2 of the three wins…although game 4 was more just a case of Kimbrel being Kimbrel…it definitely scares anyone who follows the team closely.But…Cora has shown a willingness to think outside the box on bullpen matters…so we shall see…and really, in game 4, most of the bullpen was exceptional…only Kimbrel really looked bad.