Red Sox: Predicting their final win total!
Three members of the Bastards of Boston give their final prediction on how the Red Sox season will end!
JASON KELLY:
The rollercoaster ride that is the 2024 Red Sox season is soon coming to a close with just over 20 games left. The team has lost ground in the Wild Card race, and as Dave O’Brien pointed out on the broadcast recently, they find themselves closer to last place in the AL East than to a Wild Card spot now.
The team’s pitching has kept them in a lot of games here late in the season. Unfortunately, the offense has gone extremely cold and the bullpen still struggles to hold on to leads late in games.
For most of the season the battle cry was “just wait until everyone gets healthy again”, referring to multiple stints on the injured list from key players throughout the course of the season.
At different points, the team was without Triston Casas, Tyler O’Neill, Wilyer Abreu, and several members of the bullpen. It’s also worth mentioning that Rafael Devers has been struggling with a nagging shoulder injury these last few weeks.
However, everyone is now (mostly) healthy and the team still can’t seem to find any traction here at the start of September. Craig Breslow’s biggest trade deadline acquisitions, Lucas Sims and Luis Garcia, have been completely useless and have not helped the Red Sox get back into the Wild Card race, not to mention the fact that both are now on the injured list anyways.
I expect the Red Sox to continue to flounder through these last few weeks and, inevitably, miss the playoffs once again with a final record of 80-82.
JEREMY SCHILLING:
79-83. Fourth in the AL East. Eight games out of a wild card spot.
Even though the on-field product gave the organization every chance to be successful in 2024, ownership and the front office did not invest, including at the deadline.
Unfortunately, the on-field product fizzled out as the resources became taxed. Without the reinforcements, this team simply ran out of steam as we exited August and entered September. They'll lose more games than they will win in September. What a shame.
TERRY CUSHMAN JR:
This 2024 season has been all about pretending. Every aspect of it.
• Pretending the pitching was sustainable
• Pretending this season would be different
• Pretending to take Breslow’s words seriously
• Pretending the deadline moves were meaningful
Yet ownership, Sam Kennedy, and the the rest of the front office expected us all to take them seriously.
But this rebellious, rowdy, steadfast crew of podcasters never strayed from reality. It was doomed from the beginning.
They will finish 78-84, because that’s where they finished last year, and it would be all too fitting.
Good enough for fourth place, with Toronto, the team that sold at the deadline, because they should have sold, will be bringing up the rear.