Wacha the Line

 

Well, the inevitable may soon be approaching. After a nice couple of weeks, the Boston Red Sox might actually be approaching .500.

It was really a matter of waiting for everybody to get hot. So, now that Trevor Story has 9 homers and a team-leading 37 RBIs, Enrique Hernandez and Jackie Bradley are hitting more than they were, Rafael Devers is at full capacity with a .345 average and 11 homers, Christian Vasquez is actually hitting .300 for once, and Nick Pivetta, Rich Hill and Garrett Whitlock have nice seasons going, now we can actually talk about this team from a full perspective rather than just from 'oh, none of these people are actually doing what they're supposed to'.

What was funny was that even when the rest of this team was struggling, Michael Wacha was having his best season in years, with a 3-0 record, a 2.87 ERA and a 1.086 WHIP. He missed a few starts, and rejoined by the time the Sox were actually able to win games again, and now he's a lot more at home. The crappy part is that in this time we've lost Nate Eovaldi's better numbers after a few rough starts, but...somehow, Eovaldi-Wacha-Pivetta-Whitlock-Hill is actually a pretty strong rotation. I thought they'd be set back a lot without Sale, Rodriguez and Paxton, but this actually does work. I'm honestly really happy that Rich Hill can still strike people out at 42 years old. 

And now that Story and Hernandez are hitting, they join the already strong core of Bogaerts, Martinez and Devers, who were all doing pretty well before, and battering down opposing offenses. The Sox are now 2 games under .500, and are heading into series' against the Orioles, Reds and A's.

....oh crap.

I know I have enough to worry about with the Blue Jays' inevitable rise next month, but the Sox could very well lap some people and make a run at first as well. I kind of ruled things out from the start, but I also thought this Sox team would have the best playoff case before the season began, and...maybe they just took a bit longer to keep going. I'm still hoping they're not entirely for real, but...I did think they'd eventually put things together. Now we see where this puts them in relation to the other 3 competitors.

Coming Tomorrow- One of the many preventions against Rays salary cap overflow that's paying off for other teams this year.