So, is it possible that the Red Sox have been running their own version of Operation Fortitude all month long without us having any idea what is happening? For those of you who don’t have a clue what I am talking about, during World War II, the Allies developed two plans connected to the D-Day invasion. Operation Overlord was the official plan for the invasion of Normandy that we are all familiar with. Operation Fortitude was a ruse that involved providing the Axis with false information and even creating an entirely fictional U.S. First Army Group that was supposedly commanded by General Patton.
I say all that to offer up the possibility that what we thought was Craig Breslow’s plan to rest most of the roster and get the players prepared for a Wild Card round in New York might actually have been a smokescreen for the real plan of tanking the entire month so they could avoid New York altogether and play the winner of the Central as the final Wild Card.
As crazy as that might sound, the way the Red Sox have been playing and the way the schedule has unfolded might just give the theory some credence. Three games remain with the Cubs this season, and Chicago is still playing for its playoff life, so these three games are must-wins for them.
On the other end, the Guardians and White Sox are still battling for home-field advantage as the winner of the Central Division while also trying to lock up a Wild Card spot in the American League. The White Sox have three games remaining with the Rockies, and Cleveland has three in Kansas City. If the White Sox go 3-0, the Guardians go 2-1, and the Red Sox go 0-3, all very real possibilities, the scenario would play out with Chicago winning the Central, Cleveland becoming the second Wild Card, and Boston falling to the final Wild Card. It is amazing to think about, but could this really have been the plan?
I almost hope that it was because Boston’s offense has been rather pathetic down the stretch, even if the team hasn’t been playing many of its “main people.” With the impending monsoons this weekend, there doesn’t seem to be much hope of getting the bats heated up in time for the playoffs. Even if Contreras plays and guys like Rutschman and Rafaela are able to manage their lingering injuries long enough to play every day, the likelihood that they will present any type of sustained offensive threat is minimal.
Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better
There was a game on Thursday night, although I am not sure the Red Sox offense was aware that it has even begun yet. Nine scoreless innings and two hits later, Boston had lost another series and was vanquished by the same 1-0 score with which it had won the night before. Nick Sogard and Jarren Duran were the only Sox players to record hits in the game, and Boston managed to get only two men as far as second base the entire night.
From a pitching standpoint, Ranger Suarez pitched five nice innings, allowing only one run on an opposite-field home run by Angel Martinez that snuck just inside the Pesky Pole. Suarez allowed only three hits and one walk in his five-inning tune-up for the playoffs and was in control throughout the entire start.
Chad Tracy played musical chairs over the final four innings, giving Patrick Sandoval one last opportunity to infuriate the Fenway crowd, although he did manage to pitch a scoreless sixth inning. Erik Miller followed with a nice performance of his own, joining Guerrero, Whitlock, and Chapman as members of the bullpen whom Andrew Bailey really needed to see pitch well. Raymond Burgos then finished the final two innings.
The pitching ranged from good to excellent over the course of the three-game series, but the Guardians have an offense modeled more after this year’s Red Sox team than the Cleveland teams of the ’90s. Therefore, the fact that Boston surrendered only three runs over the duration of the series isn’t necessarily something to write home about, but it might actually be a precursor to what we see next week if this ruse of Craig Breslow’s comes to fruition.
Wouldn’t it be wild if the Sox really had been sandbagging all this time and intentionally neutered themselves offensively during this series to give Cleveland a false sense of security? I know it is nonsense. If nothing else, the last five years of front-office moves and non-moves have shown us that the only thing we know for certain is that the Red Sox do not have a long-term plan and are incapable of devising tactics as elaborate as the ones I have drawn up.
Please don’t blame me. I so badly want there to be a reason beyond the fact that the Red Sox really are just mediocre on the field and are run by incompetent stooges who act only as shills for the penny-pinching ownership group.