Are These Red Sox the ’98 Yankees or ’01 Mariners?
Maybe the biggest surprise of this season is that the Boston Red Sox are the best team in baseball. Many thought last year’s division title they eked out against the Yankees was just a fluke and this year New York would take its rightful place atop the division.
By just about any measure, the Red Sox have been dominating the league all year. They reached 90 wins before any other team had reached 80. They have scored the most runs in the league, and they have some flaws in their pitching staff. But they’re on pace to wind up with 110 wins—which would be the third most wins by any team in the last 60 years.
The 1998 New York Yankees won 114 games and the World Series. Soon after, the Seattle Mariners won 116 games in 2001. The Yankees, being the jerks that they are sometimes, decided to ruin Seattle’s season by knocking them out of the playoffs.
So, the only real question now is whether this season’s Red Sox are going to end up as the champion ’98 Yankees or the ignominious ’01 Mariners.
The Red Sox appear to have the American League MVP locked up with either Mookie Betts or J.D. Martinez. If Chris Sale comes back from his shoulder issues for a few Chris Sale-level starts, he’ll win the Cy Young. And first-year manager Alex Cora is a shoo-in for Manager of the Year.
Let’s take a look at how the different parts of the team compare to those dominant Seattle and New York teams.
The Batting Lineup
The top five hitters of the Red Sox lineup is as good as any you’ll see in baseball. Along with Betts and Martinez, there’s Andrew Benintendi, Xander Bogaerts, Mitch Moreland and Steve Pearce. All of these guys have big on-base numbers and power to boot.
The bottom of the lineup is a little spotty with Jackie Bradley Jr., Eduardo Nunez and their miscellaneous catchers. Ian Kinsler was a nice addition at the black hole of second base. Rafael Devers has been injured, but has shown that his power is real, even if his on-base and defense are works in progress. He’s 21 years old. So his future is bright, but his future doesn’t help them this year.
This lineup is a lot more like the ’01 Seattle team. They also had a strong top two-thirds and then a few guys who were role players but weren’t top-level hitters. That Mariners team that had just lost Alex Rodriguez to free agency, featured Edgar Martinez, Ichiro, John Olerud, Mike Cameron and a definitely-not-on-PEDs Bret Boone leading the way with 37 home runs.
The ’98 Yankees lineup was loaded from top to bottom. Of course there was Derek Jeter, Tino Martinez and Paul O’Neill, but there was also Bernie Williams having possibly his best season ever. The team’s worst regular starter was Chad Curtis, and he had a .355 OBP. This season’s Red Sox team is very good, but not this good.
The Starting Rotation
A lot of the Red Sox games this year have looked a bit like softball game score: 9-5, 7-3, 11-9, etc. While the offense has been rolling, the pitching has been rocky. Chris Sale recently had a stretch of eight games where he gave up two runs. Total. In eight games.
Then there’s David Price who started the season off looking like a sunk cost at $30 million per year, but he has really turned it around and is now looking dominant. The mostly consistent Rick Porcello and currently injured Eduardo Rodriguez figure to round out the playoff rotation. This leaves Drew Pomeranz and the other misfit lefty starters in the bullpen for mop-up duty.
The ’98 Yankees didn’t have anyone as awesome as Sale, though one could argue that no team ever has. Andy Pettitte, David Cone and David Wells all had very good years, but none near as good as Sale, who is currently pitching like that season’s Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez.
The ’01 Mariners had a very good rotation. You’d have to in order to get to 114 wins. However, much like the Yankees, they had pitchers with very good seasons, but no dominant starter. That season, Roger Clemens won the Cy Young as a member of the Yankees and helped knock Seattle out of the playoffs.
The Bullpen
In today’s game, the bullpen is more important than ever in baseball history. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, this is the one area where they clearly have a weakness. At the end of the game, they’ve got Craig Kimbrel who is among the top two or three closers in the game. That’s cool.
It’s the rest of the pieces that don’t quite fit on a regular basis. Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes, Tyler Thornburg, Heath Hembree, Ryan Brasier. Yikes. Kimbrel isn’t as awesome as Mariano Rivera was for that Yankees team because no one will ever be that awesome for that long ever again. Fair enough. But Kimbrel is better than Seattle’s Kaz Sasaki.
The ’98 Yankees bullpen shut down team after team while the ’01 Mariners bullpen struggled in the ALCS when the game mattered.
It’s baseball, so in the end, being the best team doesn’t mean you’ll be the champ. But this Red Sox team has a good a chance to win it all as any team in the last 60 years.
