Why The Boston Red Sox Continue To Be The Most Dangerous Team Left In The Playoffs

So, folks, we are now down to the nitty-gritty of the MLB Postseason. The final four of baseball are: the St. Louis Cardinals, the Los Angeles Puigers (also known as the Dodgers), the Detroit Tigers, and the Boston Red Sox. Today, I am here to prove that the boys of BeanTown are the best of the rest. I contend that, all around, the Sox are stronger than the other team in the AL and both in the NL. Let me start by comparing them to their current opponent, the Tigers.

Detroit has, over the past several years, been stronger in the postseason than the regular season. Last year, after almost missing the playoffs due to a strong year by the Chicago White Sox, the team from the Motor City took off, beating the A's and Raul Ibanez's Yankees and making the World Series. By that point, however, Jim Leyland's squad started to fizzle. As we all remember, San Francisco's pitching befuddled the Tigers for 4 consecutive games, as the G-Men swept them in impressive fashion.

Interestingly, the Red Sox's pitching could very well be just as strong as the Giants's pitching from last year. Even with a few out-of-the-ordinary performances by Clay Buchholtz, Jon Lester and Jake Peavy have been putting in fine performances. Tonight, John Lackey got the call, and he has been mediocre, at best, so far during the playoffs. The Tigers had Justin Verlander up, and as we all know, he's been dealing recently.  But, strangely enough, Lackey turned in a gem, and it turned into a major pitching duel. Verlander was racking up the strike outs, but Red Sox hitter Mike Napoli hit a long homer in the 7th, as the Red Sox continued their trend of waking their bats up late in games. In game 2, for instance, although Detroit's pitching held them scoreless early, as time went on, the momentum pendulum swung in Boston's favor. 'Big Papi' David Ortiz hit a stunning, yet exhilarating grand slam, and Boston had won. I personally think the momentum is all in Boston's favor for the rest of the series. Detroit's leaky bullpen was going to cost them some games in this postseason, we all knew that. I'd say the Tigers will once again, as they did last year, start to falter and lose this series with the Sox.

Now, I'd like to show that Boston is also better than both of the remaining National League teams. 

Let's start with the Dodgers. It seems that everyone is jumping back on the Hollywood Bandwagon after Big Blue beat Adam Wainwright and the Cards last night. Hyun-Jin Ryu overcame his inconsistency to, for the most part, shut down STL and get Los Angeles back in the series. But there are reasons why I'm not sold that they are the best club left. First, it is glaring to me how inconsistent the team really is. One game, they are demolished by the pitching of the young Michael Wacha. The next, everything goes right, as Yasiel Puig had a big triple, and they won. If I've learned anything over the years about the postseason of Major League Baseball, it's that if you are inconsistent with your play, your chances of winning it all are diminished dramatically. As you must recall, last year, the San Francisco Giants seemed to be just as strong from one game to the next, with production from all the players consistently. There is no consistency from the Dodgers this year. I say the Dodgers will go down to the Cardinals in this series, and if not, lose the World Series to the Red Sox for sure.

And finally, the team that I think is the strongest competition left for the Red Sox, the St. Louis Cardinals. Carlos Beltran is having another miraculous postseason, giving the Cards' offense the firepower it needs to be a buzz saw through the playoffs. Michael Wacha, the Birds exceptionally young starting pitcher, has shocked the sports world with his close-to no-hitters. Catcher Yadier Molina has also been a stud. But, sadly for the Lou, there are holes. One of the most obvious is the horrid play of star 2nd baseman Matt Carpenter and center fielder Jon Jay. Carpenter, who was an all-star during the regular season, is currently ice cold when it comes to hitting, almost like an automatic out for pitchers. Jay has had many shortcomings hitting-wise as well, and some embarrassing defensive blunders in the outfield. The back half of the Red Bird's lineup has really been the only big concern all year for them, and they are continuing to hope that those problems do not turn out to be killers in the playoffs. Why are the Red Sox better? Because Boston has even more depth in their lineup then the Cards, especially in the back end. Both teams are just about equal in their pitching corp, but the Red Sox's bullpen has something the Cards can't boast of: Koji Uehara. The Sox have worked hard all season to make their bullpen one of the most respected in the AL after the loss of Jonathan Papelbon 2 years ago.

And now, the Red Sox are ripping and roaring towards another World Series crown. If you disagree with any of my thoughts, tell me in the comments! Signing off, this has been Ben Anderson.