Lest we all head downtown prematurely for tomorrow’s V-ALC Day Parade, let’s take a moment to size up exactly whom the Good Guys have been trouncing these days:
1. The Milwaukee Brewers, whose 42-35 would put them atop the American League Central and thus not really making them that much better than the Sox since the Sox, you know, are number two with a mind bullet right now.
2. The Cubs, who pretty much everyone makes look stupid (assuming they don’t do it to themselves).
3. The Dodgers, who currently boast the best record in the majors and are therefore doomed should the postseason start tomorrow (see: 2008 Angels, 2007 Indians, 2006 Mets, 2005 Cardinals, etc.).
4. The Cleveland Indians, current owners of baseball’s second-fewest wins.
In short, a little bit of something and a whole lot of nothing.
Now, before anyone starts flooding my inbox with quasi-literate screeds on how “littel [sic] baseball knowledge you have…!” (hello, J.S.!), let me say I do not, repeat, do NOT wish the Sox were still losing. I, like most of you who read this site, want this team to win and I want them to win all the time, and I will gladly laugh in the faces of every Indians fan in the world as their team and city both get the thunder brought down upon them on nights like this one.
But what the Sox haven’t done (yet) is show they can bring that kind of authority against regular teams, against mid-tier teams who aren’t really that good but, thanks some technicality, still have a shot in their division. The teams that keep the Sox out of the playoffs or, even worse, force the Sox to keep themselves out of the playoffs. Texas. Detroit. Oakland, for Chris Peters‘ sake. Because not every team is as bad as the Indians or Cubs, not every team is as “good” as the Dodgers or Brewers and not every outing is as extreme as an 11-4 savaging of a Tribe team that’s already folded up the tent.
The Sox, for the record, are still 13-15 in blowouts and 8-13 in one-run games; take those out, and we’re talking about an 18-18 ballclub. In other words, the Sox are an average team when it’s time to be average and a less-than-stellar team when it’s time to be anything more or less. This, friends is a team we can believe in. Because we must. Because it’s all we know how to do.
Get on the Bacon-Train! Buy your playoff tickets now! Believe!
Yeah, but the Tigers aren’t exactly running away with it. I think we can win this. Just a question of WILL we.