The Red Sox should see the 2013 Dodgers as inspiration.
Jorge Camargo
Contributing Writer
As of today, the Red Sox hold a 35-43 record, being 7 games behind first place. There are still 87 games left in this season, and we've seen every single team in the division go through a rough patch, so it's way too early to say who's going to make the playoffs. Most of the beat writers and fans are claiming that the Red Sox should start to focus on the 2016 season and raise a white flag this year, but is it fair to put the team in that position?
Let's go back to 2013 and take a look to a team that was having a similar season to the one Boston is having right now.
Los Angeles Dodgers ended up losing in the 2013 NLCS against the Cardinals, but they came close to facing the Red Sox in the World Series. The funny thing is that in 06/21/2013, the Dodgers had 7% odds of making the playoffs, being 9.5 games behind first place. In case you were wondering, Boston had 11% odds of going to October in 06/21/2015. Anyway, going back to the Dodgers... May began with an eight-game losing streak, where fans were asking for Mattingly to be fired while Hanley RamÃrez was struggling with injuries. Sounds familiar?
Weeks later, Yasiel Puig debuted. The Cuban sensation collected 44 hits in his first Major League month, but that wasn't enough because the Dodgers finished June with a 38-43 record. After three horribles months to begin the season, the Dodgers finished July with a 57 wins and 49 losses, with the sole position of the NL West first place. Since that moment, Los Angeles never looked back. They weren't involved in a blockbuster trade or shook their roster drastically; they just played baseball the way everyone expected them to do. The Dodgers finally became one of the favorite teams to win it all. I even remember their series against Boston in August and everyone saying that it was a World Series preview. And in case you think that playoffs probabilities during the season are not shocking, the Red Sox had 99.6% odds of making the playoffs in 09/03/2011 and we all know the end of that story.
I'm not trying to compare the 2015 Red Sox with the 2013 Dodgers because both of them are different teams and let's be honest, Los Angeles had more talent than Boston has right now. What I'm trying to say is that there are a lot of games left and even though it seems that Boston is being left behind in the division, it's not that late. They just beat the heck out of one of the best AL pitchers on Sunday and Buchholz is being better than ever. There are a lot of ifs facing this team and if they turn into yeses, we might see the Red Sox exorcise all the 2011-2012, 2014 demons.
Do you think the Red Sox can turn this season around like the Dodgers did in 2013? Leave your comments below and don't forget to follow us on Twitter at @RedSoxLife and once you're there, follow me at @iamjorgecamargo.
Contributing Writer
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| Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald |
Let's go back to 2013 and take a look to a team that was having a similar season to the one Boston is having right now.
Los Angeles Dodgers ended up losing in the 2013 NLCS against the Cardinals, but they came close to facing the Red Sox in the World Series. The funny thing is that in 06/21/2013, the Dodgers had 7% odds of making the playoffs, being 9.5 games behind first place. In case you were wondering, Boston had 11% odds of going to October in 06/21/2015. Anyway, going back to the Dodgers... May began with an eight-game losing streak, where fans were asking for Mattingly to be fired while Hanley RamÃrez was struggling with injuries. Sounds familiar?
Weeks later, Yasiel Puig debuted. The Cuban sensation collected 44 hits in his first Major League month, but that wasn't enough because the Dodgers finished June with a 38-43 record. After three horribles months to begin the season, the Dodgers finished July with a 57 wins and 49 losses, with the sole position of the NL West first place. Since that moment, Los Angeles never looked back. They weren't involved in a blockbuster trade or shook their roster drastically; they just played baseball the way everyone expected them to do. The Dodgers finally became one of the favorite teams to win it all. I even remember their series against Boston in August and everyone saying that it was a World Series preview. And in case you think that playoffs probabilities during the season are not shocking, the Red Sox had 99.6% odds of making the playoffs in 09/03/2011 and we all know the end of that story.
I'm not trying to compare the 2015 Red Sox with the 2013 Dodgers because both of them are different teams and let's be honest, Los Angeles had more talent than Boston has right now. What I'm trying to say is that there are a lot of games left and even though it seems that Boston is being left behind in the division, it's not that late. They just beat the heck out of one of the best AL pitchers on Sunday and Buchholz is being better than ever. There are a lot of ifs facing this team and if they turn into yeses, we might see the Red Sox exorcise all the 2011-2012, 2014 demons.
Do you think the Red Sox can turn this season around like the Dodgers did in 2013? Leave your comments below and don't forget to follow us on Twitter at @RedSoxLife and once you're there, follow me at @iamjorgecamargo.
