The Year Great May Not Be Good Enough

As I write, the Red Sox are 55-36, 19 games over .500. They're on pace for 108 wins.

But then there are all those playoff games. The most notable, I'll predict, will be the ALCS. Those hapless Yankees are a mere 16 games over .500. So no problem, right? And then the World Series opponent is likely to be the Phillies, who happen to have the best record in baseball, 58-34 -- 24 games above .500.

Of course Philly plays in the weaker National League, so there's that. Then again, take a look at these National League pitching leaders and count the number of times you see "PHI."

Seattle won 110 games one year, then got swept by the Yankees in the ALDS. They haven't been back since.

The Red Sox are stacked. But so were the Miami Heat. They were great too.

I don't mean to be a nudge about this; I've just watched the Sox for a long time.