Boston Red Sox
Boston has lost six of its last seven games. Parker is convinced its season is over.
Over are the days of the Boston Red Sox’ unbelievable run.
They won 32 of 36 games between June 25 and Aug. 6 in a historic stretch of nearly flawless baseball, which helped them gain major ground in the American League standings and turn their season around 180 degrees.
However, as expected, Boston has come back down to earth in the last week. The club lost five games in a row from Aug. 8-12, which featured series losses to the Athletics and Toronto Blue Jays. The Red Sox tied their season-high for consecutive defeats, but prevented the skid from worsening by claiming a win on Thursday to end the Toronto series.
Boston opened this weekend’s series against the Pittsburgh Pirates with an 8-4 loss on Friday, also. The loss continued an all-too familiar trend from earlier in the year of allowing its opponent to score several runs in singular innings and being unable to make up for it offensively.
Fortunately for the Red Sox, this hasn’t affected their place in the standings. The club maintains a five-game lead in the A.L.’s second wild-card spot while seven teams claw for the final spot behind them.
Nevertheless, Boston has its doubters.
Longtime sports analyst Rob Parker doubled down on his unpopular take from last week in which he declared the Red Sox’ season over in mid-August. Parker was one of the few people casting doubt on Boston’s legitimacy amid its ridiculous string of victories, which ranged from blowouts to come-from-behind wins.
“I respect the winning. I just don’t think they can keep it up,” Parker told Brian Kenny on MLB Network last Friday. “It’s impossible in baseball. They’ve done all of this to climb out of a hole. They’re in the mix now, whatever. One bad week can send this thing going the other way. They can’t keep winning at this clip.”
Parker appeared with Kenny on the network again on Friday, essentially telling the host “I told you so” following the Red Sox’ losing streak.
Kenny asked Parker, “Are you happy?”
“I’m not happy,” Parker said. “I tried to tell you a bad week would make people look at this team. The numbers don’t add up. They’re not as dominant or as good as that 32-6 run that they had. All I’m saying to you, BK, is: it’s not etched in stone. It could collapse. Because they were so bad, I’m staying that they will not make the playoffs.”
Kenny, who defended Boston last week, did the same again by offering a realistic perspective on the team.
“And I’m staying they will make the playoffs. They’re somewhere in between,” he said. “Not winning 26 of 29 anymore, but it’s a deep club. The rotation is excellent.”
Before the Red Sox’ five-game losing streak, they had a 96 percent chance at making the playoffs, according to FanGraphs.
Following their stretch of six losses out of seven, they still hold a 92.2 percent chance at competing in October. FanGraphs also tabbed them with a 90 percent shot at clinching a wild-card spot, up 6.6 percent from last week.
40 regular season games remain for Boston through Sept. 27, which includes series against lowly teams like the Los Angeles Angels and San Francisco Giants. The Sox will also face off against division rivals, like the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, with a chance to gain some ground.
It’s far too early to declare Boston’s season over. The same goes for much of the rest of the league with six weeks left.
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