The contest to be Boston’s Game 1 postseason starter may be more heated than the Cy Young race, a tribute to David Ortiz’s fashion sense and a bold move by the front office that you’ll love to hate. A look back at Boston’s week:
This is long overdue but congratulations to Boston Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello.
He suffered through the toughest season of his career in 2015, posting a career-worst 9-15 record with a 4.92 earned run average, which is tied for a career high. It was the first season in a four-year contract worth $82.5 million, and fans ardently expressed that if the Red Sox were going to pay him more than $20 million a year, 9-15 was not going to cut it.
Members of the media also joined in on the head hunt, which extended into 2016 after Porcello posted some deceivingly terrible numbers in spring training. Eric Wilbur of the Boston Globe referred to Porcello as an “underperforming bust” on March 30 in commentary headlined “The curious case of Rick Porcello.”
“Of all the disastrous contracts the Red Sox have handed out over the past half-decade, perhaps none comes closer to the deflating promise of starting pitcher Rick Porcello, who has yet to earn a dime of the four-year $82.5 million extension that Boston awarded him … before ever even throwing a pitch in its uniform,” Wilbur wrote.
Wilbur wasn’t wrong. And he wasn’t the only one classifying Porcello as a bust.
A July 29, 2015, shelling, courtesy of the Chicago White Sox, was a low point for the 27-year-old New Jersey native. And two days after giving up five earned runs on 10 hits – including two home runs – in just two innings of work, Porcello was placed on the 15-day disabled list with soreness in his right arm.
There were no visits to Dr. James Andrews reported, so some assumed the injury may have been more to Porcello’s ego than his right arm. And perhaps Manager John Farrell wanted to give him some time to work it out.
Porcello considered that 10-2 loss to Chicago in July 2015 as “pretty much rock bottom.” Well, when you’re that low, there’s nowhere to go but up, right? And that seems to be the exact frame of mind Porcello absorbed after that embarrassing loss in front of the home fans.
In his return on Aug. 26, 2015, Porcello pitched seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 win over the same White Sox team that took batting practice off him just 28 days earlier. Porcello has posted a 3.02 ERA in his last 39 appearances since coming off the disabled list. After picking up 15 quality starts in 28 appearances in 2015, Porcello has posted 25 quality starts this year, including a streak of 12 straight.
A look at Rick Porcello’s turnaround by the numbers. Pretty impressive stuff from the #RedSox Cy Young candidate. pic.twitter.com/WbBc0ZWbdv
— Michelle Berthiaume (@MonitorMichelle) September 25, 2016
If he were to win the Cy Young Award, Porcello would be just the 19th pitcher in MLB history to post a losing record the season before winning a Cy Young. Also on that list? David Price.
Even if Porcello doesn’t win the prestigious award, he silenced his critics in a major way this season. Red Sox Nation has crawled back to him with its tail between its legs, asking for forgiveness from the wonderful, magnificent “underperforming bust.”
In true, full-circle fashion, Porcello is now battling Price – another player who has been written off in a similar fashion far too soon – to be the Game 1 starter in a postseason series. Luckily, it doesn’t feel like either pitcher will have to look far for a little motivation. You’re welcome for being completely and unequivocally wrong about you both.
David Ortiz will end his final MLB regular season in style, thanks to New Balance.
The apparel company recently released a preview of what the best Red Sox designated hitter in team history would be wearing on his feet as the season comes to a close.
Ortiz’s custom set includes five pairs of cleats – and matching sneakers that can be purchased after Oct. 2 – are all designed with the teams Boston will face in the final weeks of the season in mind.
The set for last week’s series in Baltimore featured a crab on the toe, while the pair for a series against the New York Yankees coming up this week is designed like a New York City taxi cub.
Ortiz will feature two different pairs of cleats in the final series of the season at Fenway Park against the Blue Jays. The first is a sharp blue-and-white pair that has an outline of the Toronto skyline on the inside and a red maple leaf with Ortiz’s No. 34 on the heel.
The second pair, which Big Papi will wear in his final regular-season home game at Fenway on Oct. 2, is the best of the entire set.
The predominantly white cleats with red-and-black trim and red laces will feature a list of Ortiz’s 23 career walk-off hits at Fenway Park.
The @newbalance cleats that David Ortiz will wear for his last home game at Fenway Park have the dates of all his walk-offs on them. pic.twitter.com/SQteenevxj
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) September 21, 2016
New Balance design manager Jonathan Grondin told the Boston Herald that each pair “has a special story” behind it, adding, “Really, we’re trying to honor him and help him honor the last four cities that he plays in.”
Well done, New Balance.
The Red Sox are red hot. There’s no denying that. Boston’s 17-5 record in September is the league’s best. Their 5-game lead in the AL East is the largest for any team in the division since Baltimore on June 29. Isn’t it strange, though, that a franchise which suffered through an 86-year curse has zero superstitions?
The front office opened postseason ticket sales for Red Sox fans Friday and I’m not sure there’s a move I’ve hated more this season than this one. Sure, things are looking absolutely fantastic for the Boston Red Sox. But has Red Sox Nation really already forgotten about 1974? Or 1978? Or 2003? Or 2011?
In one of the worst collapses in baseball history, the 2011 Red Sox coughed up a nine-game lead in the AL wild card race with a month left to play, losing 18 of the last 24 games – and ended up missing the playoffs.
Another premature ticket-selling strategy did not fare well for a team still trying to break a curse. With a slim lead in the 2015 NL wild card race, the Chicago Cubs began selling postseason tickets in August for the NLDS, NLCS and the World Series. A little premature, don’t you think?
As you may know, the Cubs never made it to the World Series after being swept by the Mets in the NLCS. Another sad chapter in the history of that franchise.
In the NFL, the practice of selling postseason tickets before a team clinches a spot has been banned altogether and owners backed that decision fully.
Now, I’m not saying that the Red Sox are in any danger of a collapse that would thrust them out of the playoff picture entirely. Honestly, I’m fairly confident Boston will lock up this pennant race with multiple games to play. And there seems to be plenty of people in agreement on this. So what’s the harm in waiting a few more days until it’s official?
With a retiring David Ortiz driving this playoff-bound bus of young superstars into October, I guess it’s not all that crazy to assume that it’s “World Series or bust.”
(Michelle Berthiaume can be reached at 369-3338, mberthiaume@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @MonitorMichelle.)