It Is Time for Red Sox Baseball to Matter Again

The old town team has found itself some solid footing during this homestand as they defeated the lowly Chicago White Sox by taking three games out of the four, which is saying something considering that in Chicago, the outcome was downright bad, ending in a series loss.

The Red Sox should not be losing to teams of Chicago’s caliber, especially if the playoffs are the goal this season.

As of this writing, they have a chance to win the series against the Mariners and honestly should have won Wednesday night’s game against them as well.

But that is life in baseball; it is wild and real, and it can be pure happiness or bring along the sting felt by losses.

This is a reason baseball is the world’s best game.

Pitching

The doom and gloom of seasons past should not be rearing its ugly head even though the stability of the pitching staff has already been this seasons big headache and the future is looking suitable for the staff to finally have some stability with Brayan Bello making his season debut Tuesday in what is hopefully the start of normalcy for the rotation again with Lucas Giolito not too far off in the future. Pitchers are pitching for spots on the big league roster at the moment.

Wednesday’s game against the Mariners did not put out a good audition for pitchers such as Sean Newcombe who against the Rays in his last start was efficient and getting out of jams and pitched a great game to give his team a chance but against the Mariners he seemed to be off all night and pitched five innings of work giving up four earned runs.

Offense

Offensively, the team is starting to find its stride, especially Triston Casas, who seems to have found his power here lately, homering in back-to-back games against the Mariners. It is a good sight to see since he has struggled mightily to open the season so much that rumors were that top prospect Roman Anthony was getting some work at first base, which ended up being false.

Still, the narrative was there that fans have grown tired of waiting for Casas to reach his potential and looking for the next best thing which I do understand, however the best version of this team honestly is Casas staying at first finding his stride and later in the season Roman Anthony manning the outfield giving Ceddanne Rafaela a super utility role off the bench.

The future is coming sooner rather than later; that much is a fact, but if October baseball is the goal, which it is, then those on the active roster this moment need to keep finding ways to win series and keep the team in contention.

The Yankees and Red Sox are holding down the first and second spots in the AL East. Seems like the good old days when both teams were fighting for the top spot. Those days are missed, and hopefully this season will be the one where the Sox start to find their groove again and start making Fenway the place to be like it once was.

Speaking of the good old days, a baseball town like Boston needs a commitment to winning.

The Boston Red Sox are one of baseball’s finest franchises.

Under John Henry, a curse was broken, and three more championships followed, but baseball is what have you done for me lately in business, and lately, times have been tough. Sellouts are not happening at Fenway anymore except for Opening Day. The fan base is ready and willing to commit to a team that wants to compete for championships. I have been to games and know the passion of Red Sox Nation firsthand, and it is unlike any other fandom in sports.

The Sox are a juggernaut waiting to explode. It is exciting that the future is so bright with a fantastic farm system and top prospects getting ready to be called up soon, and we will get to see them play at historic Fenway Park and square off against the hated Yankees. Times will be good again; ownership needs to know that commitment and match it, not just add a piece here or there.

If the Sox are thick in the pennant race by the trade deadline, it’s time to show that commitment and bring the missing puzzle pieces to this team.

This team is good, even better than their 14-12 record indicates. But a championship caliber team is most likely not going to be the final result for this team as it is currently but what if some missing pieces join the big league roster whether that is a few prospects who we all know are ready in Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony but also maybe a trade that gives you another ace for the rotation to pair up with Garret Crochet.

The future is so bright, but the present can be too, and I am ready to see Fenway rocking like the days of old, championship baseball returning to Boston, and Dirty Water following the final out of a World Series.

I can not wait for that feeling to return to Red Sox Nation; I know they cannot wait either.

PHOTO: Alisha/Facebook