Ben Cherington talks past, present and future
Searching for evidence that the Red Sox have landed in a pretty palatable place, soak in all the Labor Day things over at Fenway Park.
For starters, there were the images of chief baseball officer Craig Breslow standing alongside yet another player who punctuated his admiration for the organization with a contract extension, Aroldis Chapman.
Within the entirety of the 12-minute press conference announcing the Chapman news, four words from the reliever truly caught the spirit of the thing: "I wanted to stay here."
And, 37 years on this planet or no, when the best relief pitcher in baseball says he wants to stick around and not test free agency, you make sure that opportunity doesn't slip by.
"I feel like the term unicorn gets thrown around, but I feel like he is the true original unicorn, doing stuff maybe three people in the world in the world in terms of velocity and doing stuff that maybe one, being him, has done in the world which is maintaining that velocity for such a long time," said Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet. "It’s so funny every second or third outing he has we ask, ‘Is this the best year of his career.’ And we say, ‘Yes, it is.’"
Yes, yes it is. That was put on display once again when watching Chapman close out Monday's 6-4 win over the Guardians when the closer extended his hitless streak to 16 games, the third-longest in MLB since 1901. He has not allowed a hit to the last 47 batters he faced.
Yes, life is good for Chapman. Life is good for the Red Sox.
The Aroldis Chapman press conference
More evidence came in the form of Trevor Story 302-foot home run, which clanged off Cleveland right fielder Jhonkensy Noel's glove and off the right field foul pole. The final ruling was courtesy of some quick thinking by replay "coach" Mike Brenly, who alerted the coaching staff that it should challenge the original call of ground-rule double.
"Brenly was the one that saw the whole thing," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “We screamed Pesky [from the dugout] and kind of took off [trying to see it], and then they had the call, and [bench coach] Ramon [Vázquez] called Mikey, and he was like, ‘We have to challenge this one’. And we did."
As the Red Sox have already realized various times this season, all good fortune can do an about-face in a hurry. But it was on the first day of the final month of the regular season that it seemed fair to take a beat and appreciate where this team has landed.
There are best-case scenarios all over the place. Alex Bregman. Trevor Story. Roman Anthony. Ceddanne Rafaela. Lucas Giolito. Garrett Crochet. Garrett Whitlock. Justin Wilson. Romy Gonzalez. And they keep coming.
Carlos Narvaez's pinch-hit two-run single broke a 3-3 tie and reminded us once again what truly remarkable offseason Breslow managed.
While the trade deadline didn't land where the Red Sox, or their followers, had hoped, the acquisition of reliever Steven Matz has allowed just two runs in his 12 appearances.
And, in case you haven't been paying close attention, the perceived hole at second base left behind by the injured Marcelo Mayer against righty pitchers has seemingly been filled. Since Aug. 1, David Hamilton has hit .308 with a .938 OPS while playing well above-average defense.
Oh, and there is also the promise of a guy named Payton Tolle.
This is the here and the now for the Red Sox, which is all we have. While it doesn't guarantee any certainty heading into September, it does allow for the kind of last-season optimism that this team has been chasing for four years.
The Red Sox are just 2 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays for first-place in the American League, tied with the Yankees for the top wild card spot. They are 3 1/2 games ahead of the third wild card team, Seattle, while owning a five-game cushion over the next team in line, Texas.
As far as tiebreakers go, thanks to the first-tiebreaker (head-to-head), the Red Sox own the upper hand against the Yankees (8-2), but not the Blue Jays (3-7) or Rangers (3-4). They would have to go to the second tiebreaker against the Mariners since the teams split their six games, relying on who had the better record within their respective division. Right now, that's too close to call.
And if you really want to feel good about where the Red Sox have found themselves, take a look at the odds FanGraphs is giving them to make the playoffs. That stands at 95.9 percent. One year ago, that number was 13.4 percent.
Perhaps a week from now we're singing a different tune when it comes to the Red Sox. But on the day schools started, white clothes were put in the closet and summer was officially put in the rearview mirror, it is a pretty good existence for Breslow and Co.