What's next for baseball's oldest player, Rich Hill?
So, why should this year be different?
Despite the vibes striking a different tone than 365 days ago, all things considered, it's a pertinent question.
The Red Sox currently sit at 66-56, 4 1/2 games out of first-place and residing in the second wild card spot. After 122 games last season, the club was 64-58, three behind the final wild card team at the time, the Royals, and trailed the first-place Yankees by 8 1/2 games.
Craig Breslow offered his take when appearing on the Greg Hill Show Thursday morning.
"It’s so hard to pinpoint a single thing," the Red Sox chief baseball officer said regarding why this late-season run might end up with a different result than 2024. "But I think when you look at the group of 26 guys and the coaching staff, there is a belief in each other. There is an excitement in coming to the field every day. We’re getting contributions from everybody on the roster. One day it’s the starting pitching that is leading the charge, and other days there are some big at-bats. There are guys up and down the lineup, maybe guys that have been assumed to be role players who are now stepping into more prominent spots. Ultimately, I think these guys, they enjoy each other. They love playing baseball. They love competing. Put all of that together, baseball has always been a whole being greater than the sum of its part type thing, and I think we’re seeing some of that now."
Besides a better record and more confidence in their roster construction, the Red Sox also have a favorable schedule to lean on. Record-wise, they have the seventh-easiest slate remaining in all of MLB, playing 24 of their final 40 games against teams under .500.
After that 122nd game last season, the Red Sox proceeded to go 6-12, finally landing on Sept. 4 at 70-70 and 5 1/2 games out of the wild card with 22 games to play. They would never get more than two games over or two games under .500 the rest of the way.
The expectations has Breslow's team hits the middle of August are clearly different than a year ago.
"I think we have been pretty adamant all winter, heading into the season, that our goal is having a deep postseason run," he said. "Certainly, making the postseason will be an improvement upon where we’ve been the last few years. But we believe our group is capable of doing more. I think we’re gearing up for a deep postseason run and ultimately I think that’s what we’ll be evaluated on."