The Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-3 on Saturday night on the strength of a Dustin Pedroia grand slam home run to give them their 10th straight win. The victory clinches the team a playoff berth. At worst, they will get one of the AL Wild Card spots. Their magic number to clinch the AL East is now 3.
The Sox could clinch the division as early as Monday despite being idle that day. If the Sox win tomorrow and the Jays lose to the Yankees on both Sunday and Monday, the Sox win the AL East. Although I'm sure the Sox would prefer to clinch it in New York on Tuesday night.
In what has been a rebound season after back to back last place finishes in 2014 and 2015 after a World Series title in 2013, the Bosox have saved their best play for last and now have a five and half game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays. 40-year old David Ortiz could finish his final season with 40 home runs, Mookie Betts could win the AL MVP while Rick Porcello is the leading candidate for the AL Cy Young Award. Throw in Jackie Bradley, Jr., Hanley Ramirez, Xander Bogaerts and the emergence of Sandy Leon behind the plate and you've got a champion in the making.
With the Red Sox winning 10 in a row, I haven't heard any calls for the team to fire manager John Farrell lately. Farrell has been widely criticized for his use of the bullpen, but to me it's old-fashioned second guessing. If you can't win with a bullpen of Craig Kimbrel, Brad Ziegler & Koji Uehara there's not much the manager can do.
Of course, if the Sox lose two in a row there will be calls for Farrell's head. You'd think the team was 64-91 instead of 91-64. That's Boston for you.
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