The Red Sox are having themselves quite the 2018. Their win on Thursday against the Blue Jays was their 66th of the season, and even though there are three games left before the all-star break, that victory signifies a new record for wins for a team before the MLB All-Star Game. It was also Boston’s 10th W in a row, and their 17th in their last 20 games.
Red Sox set first-half record with win 66, their 10th straight
Friday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at the surging Red Sox.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Obviously, the Red Sox are playing well. It’s worth pointing out a couple of things, though. “Wins before the all-star break” is a weird record, even if it’s pretty cool to hear, because the all-star break moves around and the beginning of the season moves around, and therefore the number of opportunities for wins before the break aren’t always the same. It’s not really first half wins in the mathematical sense, just in the “the break splits up the season into sections” way. That being said, 66 wins through 95 games is a lot of wins, and Boston is on pace for 113 on the year.
Despite that incredible pace, one that puts them pretty close to the single season wins record of 116, the Red Sox have just a 3.5 game lead on the Yankees in the American League East. The Astros, the defending champions, are on pace for 105 wins. The Mariners make for four different American League teams with a winning percentage over .600: they’re on pace for 100 wins, too, despite bringing up the rear among this foursome.
The Red Sox are exceptional, but they aren’t alone in the AL: they’re just a few steps ahead on their climb up the mountain that is the 2018 regular season. There’s still more than one-third of that mountain to ascend, too, and it’s not difficult to see the Yankees passing them in the East, or the Astros running ahead of them for the best record in the AL ... or for Boston to keep on doing what it’s been doing, and stay ahead of the pack from here on out thanks to the early pace they’ve set.
There’s a lot of season left for all four of these teams, but Boston achieved a nifty “first half” record with room to spare. That’s worth recognizing as we head into the last weekend before the all-star break, but it’s maybe not as celebratory an occasion as it could be just because the rest of the AL’s powers aren’t about to let the Sox leave them behind.
Is that coming off as nihilistic? It shouldn’t! Trying to balance “this team is doing something amazing” with “oh wow these other teams are also amazing” is difficult to pull off, you know, because someone is going to get upset about their team not getting enough credit no matter what. But maybe this closing paragraph and that exclamation point above will help recalibrate this editorial.
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- Whitney McIntosh’s Friday column is here to catch you up on the weird week that was. These past few days, we have Hunter Pence and Derek Holland cutting wrestling promos to support Brandon Belt, Kiké Hernandez’s engagement photos that you have to see, and, oh God, the Cleveland bullpen! Shut it off! SHUT IT OFF!
- There are a lot of Manny Machado rumors out there, so we put them together in one place for you. No need to thank us, unless you clicking on that link is your way of thanking us, in which case, thank us often, and scroll down the entire page, too, but not too fast, there you go, that’s the way.
- We also put all the All-Star Game replacements in one place for you, but I already did the bit about abusing clicks and scroll time to our advantage once.
- The Montgomery Biscuits announced a Millenial Night promotion, and, well, I’ll just let fellow Say Hey, Baseballer Liz Roscher handle this one over at her day job.
- The Yankees also set a first-half record on Thursday, this one for homers. They’re on pace to break the single-season record, too, and we haven’t even hit the hottest months of the year where the ball travels even further.
- The Reds might have revealed their trade deadline plans by talking 2019 budget.
- Mike Matheny’s clubhouse sounds like a terrible place to be.
- The Dodgers are now in first place in the NL West after defeating the Padres on Thursday.
- Lost in all the greatness of the AL’s top four teams is that the 2018 A’s are for real.
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