Many Such Casas

So. The Red Sox' lead over the other AL Wild Card competitors has diminished. And now the Sox, Mariners and Tigers all have the same record, and are all waiting for the Twins to fall so that there's even the slightest chance of sneaking in. Now, as they say, it's a party.

The Red Sox, this year, have been one of the best okay teams in the bigs. At no point this year did they have any shot at first...but they were never a shoo-in for last either. They seemed to get over debilitating injuries fine, having David Hamilton and Dominic Smith cover for Trevor Story and Triston Casas, then got 'em both back by September. They're responsible for a Rookie of the Year candidate in Wilyer Abreu and a potential MVP candidate in Jarren Duran. They've held the same rotation for the majority of the year, and have kept behind Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford and Brayan Bello that whole time. Yet, at the same time, their bullpen is more 'fine' than good, 4 guys have over 130 strikeouts, and three starters have sub-.500 W/L ratios, including Houck. This is a very good team that, to me, is missing a dimension or two.

Yet, at the same time, you know who this Red Sox' team's key players are now. You know how much revolves around Duran, Casas, Devers, Abreu, Rafaela, Houck and Bello now, and those guys have proved they're consistent performers. So next year, knowing how good this team was at this point, there's so much more potential for improvement. The Yankees and Orioles may have dominated the AL East this year, but the Sox could be right back in it with them next year, if they don't end up sneaking in this month. 

Casas and Story's returns have been a nice boost though. Casas has 8 homers and 19 RBIs in 45 games, and has retaken 1st without much lag. Story has gotten a hit in each of his first 3 games back, and has an RBI as well. The team has lost a bit of ground, hence the other guys catching up, but just won big against the O's, and may look to keep doing so. After that, it's games agains the Yankees, Rays, Twins and Jays, so the road to a postseason berth is lined specifically with teams that put the Sox' status as a potential competitor into question. They're a good team, I just don't know if they're good enough yet, but we'll know once we're far enough into this last stretch of theirs.

Also...the humor in this team releasing Rich Hill, known to his friends as Dick Mountain, in favor of a reliever named Richard Fitts is....genuinely incredible. I hope they're in on the joke.

Coming Tonight: Of ALL PEOPLE to become the standout of the Mets rotation, I don't think anyone was expecting this guy.