Customs for Christmas: Red Sox

The Red Sox won the World Series last year, and celebrated by giving a lot of their best players to other teams. By September, you had a dilapidated, struggling roster in place of a pennant-defending team.

Xander Bogaerts is one of the young stars that will matter next year if the Red Sox want to compete. Sure, nabbing Sandoval and Han-Ram sure is nice, but homegrown talent that performs well is nicer.

And Koji Uehara is one of the best closers in baseball, and continues to be strong and consistent in the ninth.

Coming Tomorrow- Eventually I'll post the Reds' customs.

Custom Card of the Day: Uehara Edition

Welp. As much as the rest of the AL tried to prevent it, it's happened again. The Red Sox are heading to the playoffs.

But, I'll give them credit. They didn't get to the top by scheming, and by being awful and hateful. They got to the top by being better than everyone else in the AL. Which is kinda new for them. (awaits boos).

Alright, I know I'm gonna get heat for that one, but in 2004 the Sox were sort of the underdogs, as you'll remember. They snuck in as the Wild Card, and bested the team that actually clinched, and got to the top that way. In 2007 they tied for first in the league with Cleveland, so you could sort of say they were flat out dominant, but nobody saw a clear cut path for them.

This year, I'm not gonna lie, it could happen again. Not that I want it to, but it could. The Red Sox could potentially get to the end this year. Their surefire competition would be the Tigers and Athletics, who could be interesting matchups. But really, the playoffs are theirs to lose right now, because they've built themselves up to be so great.

All I'm saying is that I'll be content if the Sox make the world series. I just don't want them to.

Coming Tomorrow- A rookie pitcher for the Athletics.

Custom Card of the Day: Uehara Edition

I always thought that Koji Uehara would be one of Baltimore's biggest new stars. Of course I also said the same thing about Walter Young, Radhames Liz, David Hernandez and Brian Matusz, but all but the latter are now out of baseball. Still...Uehara couldn't seem to keep himself off the DL in Baltimore, and eventually he was relegated to the bullpen. I kinda thought that was the end right there, but it wasn't. Uehara went to Texas this year to finally add some decent pitching to the Orioles' roster. And as a starter again, Uehara didn't disappoint. He's now a Texas mainstay apparently, and I for one pretty happy for the guy. And I remember thinking...which is happier, the player given a second chance, or the team that accquired him?

(In order to get the full effect of that paragraph, read it in Morgan Freeman's voice. Trust me, it won't sound boring!)

Coming Tomorrow- He's had his highs and lows on the North Side, but now he's been having a comeback to remember.

Year by Year Customs: 1987

I made a few of these guys before, but wasn't really fond of their turnout, so I'm making 2 of them again, while sliding in 2 guys I hadn't made.

Tomorrow- Skipping the 88 and going straight to 1989.