Boston Red Sox Postseason Prospects: Genuine Contenders?

I want to talk to you about those Red Sox coming up here tonight against the Giants. If anybody would give me a non-biased look here at this Red Sox team, it would be you. Between them and the Dolphins, I can always get an unbiased opinion from you. So, Red Sox have an unbelievable July, put themselves in the postseason conversation. Right now, are you buying the Red Sox to be a legit contender? You know, I am, but only because the American League sucks, Joe. If they were in the National League, then it would be no. But could they beat Houston or the White Sox or even Tampa Bay? Yeah, sure. I mean, why not? Just like all those other fan bases, you'd probably say the same thing about their respective teams. But do I think they're a championship team? Would they beat in the World Series? No, I don't think so. And, you know, if not for the AL being so bad, I got a feeling they wouldn't make it. They're a weird team. You know, they got a better record against first-place teams than they do last-place teams. I mean, crazy. Who does that? I mean, they're 13-0 against division leaders, but then they lose series to Colorado or they lose series to the Angels. I mean, it makes no sense with this team. You know, they got Sonny Gray on the hill tonight. Logan Webb, big game. Robbie Devers comes back to town for the first time since the trade last year. So, you know, that's kind of the headline today. But ultimately, do I think they're a World Series-winning team? No. You know, they don't have the hitting. They don't have the consistent hitting. You know, the pitching's there. Bullpen is there. It's great, but you can't win games 3-2-2-1 all the time. You just can't do it. And you just don't have the consistency from the bats like you really need to have from a championship team. Yeah. I mean, it's a great story, and it just goes to show you what a hot month will get you, Scott, and where it can put you. And that's exactly what they've done. But I think a time will tell. Is Crochet coming back? Do we know? He's kind of like the Red Sox version of Aaron Judge with the Yankees. Nobody knows. You know, it's like a mystery. He's supposed to, you know, they're hoping, they're praying. You know, there was a bonus clause that if he didn't pitch so many innings, that would allow the Red Sox to not have an opt-out. So, you know, he passed that. So this is like a legitimate injury, obviously. So I don't know. Like I said, it's the same exact thing with Aaron Judge. You hear reports and stuff like that, right? But they're not positive. So it's like, go figure, right? I don't get it. Like, either he's going to be ready or he's not. It would be tremendous if he would be ready for them. You know, but you can't count on it, I guess, at this particular point. But to your point, what's the big competition? We know who the competition is. It's the Yankees and it's Tampa. And how much faith do we have? How do they size up? Because anybody and everyone else, whatever ends up coming out of the Central, who cares? Whatever comes out of the West, who cares? It's, to me, the final wildcard spot in the American League. Who's it going to be? Is it Toronto? Is it whoever finishes second in the West? I mean, who is Minnesota? Listen, I'll say this about Minnesota, because if it ended right now, it looks like Minnesota would be in, right? Let me ask you, Minnesota at least spent money and did something at the deadlines, got to try and get better to give themselves the opportunity to make a push. It's, I give teams like that in organizations a lot more credit than those that just happen to sell whatever they could sell. And okay, if we make it great, if we don't, we were really playing for next year anyway. Yeah. I mean, I don't think they're that team though, Joe. I like Toronto out of the whole, you know, mix, you know, and now they still got Vlad Guerrero. He's in concussion protocol, though. It's just to be available tomorrow, supposedly. He's going to miss another game today. So he's missed about a week, but you know, the Blue Jays are a half game back, three games under 500. You know, obviously they're a step away from winning the World Series last year. So on paper, they would be the best team. I kept on waiting for them to go off on one of those nine and two, you know, eight and one runs. It hasn't happened. You just keep on winning a couple, lose a couple, win a couple, lose a couple, right. But there they sit just a half a game back. So if I was going to pick one, it would be the Blue Jays. Tell you the truth. Yeah. Well, I don't know that unless just because you made the moves doesn't mean you're going to win anything, but at least an organization like Minnesota was like, Hey, let's try and bolster the bullpen. Let's try and make a run at this while other teams like Baltimore and except it's like, nah, we're just going to play for neck Detroit. Like I, I hope those teams don't even sniff the post-season because they don't deserve it.