Did We Overreact With the Red Sox?



 Who would have thought that in early April it would be up to Daisuke Matsuzaka to save the Red Sox? Save may be too strong a word for this early in the season but something is going to have to change quickly before the Sox make their home debut at Fenway Park this Friday.

In acquiring Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, the Red Sox became a shoe-in for a World Series championship. Considering that they finished 89-73 last season with a roster full of injured superstars, it seemed only logical that they could win 100+ games in 2011. However, in a surprising twist, the Sox now find themselves at 0-4 with their most unreliable pitcher set to take the mound tonight. Considering that they were dominated in three straight games in Arlington, followed up by a 3-1 loss in front of 9,000 people in Cleveland, there is room for concern.

However, rather then saying that Boston is now destined to an 0-162 season, but at the same time not saying they will be 158-4, lets meet somewhere in the middle. Baseball media and fans alike (including myself), seemed to not only predict that the Sox would win the World Series, they virtually guaranteed it. The Rays had lost some of their cornerstone players, the Yankees had no pitching, the Rangers lost Cliff Lee, it appeared the door out of the American League was open only to Boston. Now, Boston may very well still be the best team in the American League and may still be the representative in the World Series, but it is time to stop acting as if nobody else has a chance. Hell, lets not count out the Baltimore Orioles. They have the best record in baseball since Buck Showalter took over as Manager on July 29th of last year.

Contrary to popular belief, Major League Baseball is not the most predictable professional sports league in this country. That title belongs to the NBA. Over the last ten years, the mighty Yankees have won exactly one World Series. Of the 30 teams in baseball, only the Blue Jays, Orioles, Royals, Nationals/Expos, and Pirates haven't made the playoffs during the last decade. Teams like the 2002 Anaheim Angels, 2003 Florida Marlins, 2005 Chicago White Sox, and 2010 San Francisco Giants came out of nowhere to win the World Series. The list of surprise teams that have shocked prognosticators by making it to League Championship Series and World Series over the last ten years is much longer then the average fan would think. Sure, baseball has issues with small market teams that seemingly will never compete for championships, but more teams have had surprise runs and more supposed powerhouses have fallen short then baseball gets credit for.

This brings up back to the 2011 Red Sox. They do have two young pitching studs in Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. They do have an infield consisting of three great players in Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and Adrian Gonzalez. Their outfield has an All Star in Carl Crawford and a .300 hitter who has lead the league in stolen bases in Jacoby Ellsbury. Oh and to top it all off, their DH is one of the better power hitters in all of baseball. In other words, they're stacked. But again, lets not guarantee that they are going to the World Series. The American League is made up of plenty of good/great teams. The Yankees, Twins, White Sox, Rangers, and Athletics are legit playoff contenders while teams like the Tigers, Blue Jays, Rays, and Angels have enough talent to stay in the race.

Things are bad in Boston right now. They might turn it around tonight or it might take a week or two before things begin to click. All in all, this does make it for a fun start to the season and hopefully an entertaining 2011 campaign.